If a property owner and a neighbor have a wall installed on the neighbor's property that becomes part of the property when sold, can the neighbor tear down the wall after purchase of the land?

• A. Yes, because the wall is personal property of the neighbor who paid for it.
• B. No, because the wall cannot be removed once installed on another's land.
• C. Yes, because the wall cannot be treated as a fixture.
• D. Yes, because fixtures become part of the real property and the buyer owns the wall.

Answer: (D)

The key idea is that fixtures—items attached to land with the intent to become part of the property—pass with the real property when it is sold. A wall that is built on someone else’s land and is permanently affixed to that land is a fixture. When the land is conveyed to a buyer, the wall transfers as part of the real property to the buyer. So the buyer owns the wall and may decide what to do with it, including tearing it down if they wish, because it is no longer personal property but part of the land they now own. The other choices misstate the fixture rule: it’s not simply personal property of the person who paid for it, and it isn’t inherently non-removable merely because it was built on another’s land; fixtures generally pass with the property to the new owner.