Waste is a term used in the law of real property to describe a cause of action that can be brought in court to address a change in condition of real property brought about by a current tenant that damages or destroys the value of that property. A lawsuit for waste can be brought against a life tenant or lessee of a leasehold estate, either by a current landlord or by the owner of a vested future interest. Law (a loanword from Old Norse lag), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow... The term Immovable Property is synonimous with Real Estate. Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ... In the law, a cause of action is a recognized kind of legal claim that a plaintiff pleads or alleges in a complaint to start a lawsuit. ... A court is an official, public forum which a public power establishes by lawful authority to adjudicate disputes, and to dispense civil, labour, administrative and criminal justice under the law. ... The term Immovable Property is synonimous with Real Estate. Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ... A tenant (from the Latin tenere, to hold), in legal contexts, holds real property by some form of title from a landlord. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy. ... A leasehold estate is an ownership interest in land in which a lessee or a tenant holds real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. ... A future interest is one of a variety of potential claims to ownership of property, in particular real estate. ...

Property Law
Part of a series on the common law
Acquisition of property
Gift  · Adverse possession
Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property
Bailment  · licence
Estates in land
Fee simple  · Life estate  · Fee tail
Concurrent estate  · Leasehold estate
Nonpossessory interest in land
Easement  · Profit
Covenant running with the land
Equitable servitude
Other topics
Fixtures  · Waste
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There are three kinds of waste under the law: Image File history File links Legal portal image File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Property law is the law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land as distinct from personal or moveable possessions) and in personal property, within the common law legal system. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... A gift, in the law of property, has a very specific meaning. ... In real estate law, adverse possession is a means of acquiring title to anothers real property without compensation. ... In the common law of property, personal belongings that have left the possession of their rightful owners without having directly entered the possession of another person are deemed to be lost, mislaid, or abandoned, depending on the circumstances under which they were found by the next party to come into... Bailment describes a legal relationship where physical possession of personal property (chattels) is transferred from one person (the bailor) to another person (the bailee) who subsequently holds possession of the property. ... A license or licence is a document or agreement giving permission to do something. ... Fee simple, also known as fee simple absolute or allodial, is a term of art in common law. ... A life estate, at common law is an estate in real property that ends at death. ... Fee tail is an obsolescent term of art in common law. ... A concurrent estate or co-tenancy is a concept in property law, particularly derived from the common law of real property, which describes the various ways in which property can be owned by more than one person at a given time. ... A leasehold estate is an ownership interest in land in which a lessee or a tenant holds real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. ... A nonpossessory interest in land is a term of the law of property to describe any of a category of rights held by one person to use land that is in the possession of another. ... An easement is the right of use over the real property of another. ... A profit, in the law of real estate, is a nonpossessory interest in land similar to the better-known easement, which gives the holder the right to take natural resources such as petroleum, minerals, timber, and wild game from the land of another. ... A covenant running with the land, in the law of real property, is a nonpossessory interest in land in the form of an agreement between adjoining landowners to do or not do something with relation to the land that they respectively occupy - to maintain a fence, for example, or not... An equitable servitude is a term used in the law of real property to describe a nonpossessory interest in land that operates much like a covenant running with the land, requiring the landowner to maintain certain practices with respect to the land (e. ... In the law of real property, fixtures are anything that would otherwise be a chattel that have, by reason of incorporation or affixation, become permanently attached to the real property. ...

1. Voluntary waste (sometimes called affirmative waste) is any structural change made to the estate that intentionally or negligently causes harm to the estate or depletes its resources, unless this depletion is a continuation of a pre-existing use. Some jurisdictions follow what is called the open mines doctrine, which premits continued excavation from any mine on the property that is already open, but prohibits the openning of new mines. However, the majority of jurisdictions now follow a doctrine that allows any activity necessary to continue the exploitation of a particular resource, if the land has already been used for that purpose.

   Example: If there is a copper mine on the land, the current tenant can continue the mining operation to the point of extracting all available copper. If there were no such mine there originally, excavating property would constitute waste.

2. Permissive waste is failure to maintain the estate, both physically and financially. Rather than requiring some bad act on the part of the tenant, this requires a failure to make ordinary repairs, pay taxes, or pay interest on the mortgage. If the property is owned under a lease which places the burden of making physical repairs on the landlord, the tenant still has a duty to report the need for such repairs to the landlord. For the owner of a life estate, the tenant's obligation is limited to the amount of income derived from the land (if it is being put to commercial use), or to the reasonable rental value of the land (if it is being used as the life tenant's residence). The tenant is under no obligation, however, to buy insurance for the property.
3. Ameliorative waste is an improvement to the estate that changes its character, even if the change actually increases its value. Where ameliorative waste has occurred, the interested party can recover from the tenant the cost of restoring the land to its original condition. If a tenant tears down an old house on the property, and replaces it with a factory, then the landlord future interest holder can sue for the destruction of the original character of the estate - even if the factory is worth much more.

   There is an exception to this doctrine where a long-term tenant makes a change that increases the value of the property in a way that reflects a change in the nature and character of neighboring properties. If a tenant tears down a house and builds a factory on property in an area where residences have generally been replaced with industry, the tenant will not be liable for waste.

Remedies for waste

Where a court finds that a tenant is engaging in waste, there are a number of possible remedies which can be taken: A court is an official, public forum which a public power establishes by lawful authority to adjudicate disputes, and to dispense civil, labour, administrative and criminal justice under the law. ...

1. The court may award money damages in an amount sufficient to compensate the injured party for the lass resulting from the waste.
2. The court may directly require the party responsible for the waste to restore the property to its original condition.
3. The court may accellerate the passage of title in the land, divesting a tenant or life estate holder of the property and vesting it in the landlord or remainderman.

If the plaintiff can show that the defendant is currently engaged in voluntary or permissive waste of the land, the court may enjoin the activity complained of; however, courts are reluctant to enjoin ameliorative waste unless the property being destroyed has some unique historic value. An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that either prohibits or compels (enjoins or restrains) a party from continuing a particular activity. ...