29.3 Fixtures
Key Takeaways
- A chattel becomes a fixture when it is so attached to land, adapted to the land's use, and objectively intended to be permanent that it becomes part of the real estate; intent is judged from the circumstances, including who installed the item and how.
- Fixtures installed by an owner pass with the land to a buyer or mortgagee unless the parties exclude them, and a mortgage generally covers fixtures added after it is recorded.
- A tenant may remove trade, agricultural, and domestic fixtures it installed if it removes them before the lease ends and repairs any damage caused by removal.
- Under UCC § 9-334, a purchase-money security interest in fixtures perfected by a fixture filing before the goods become fixtures or within 20 days afterward generally has priority over earlier real estate interests, but a construction mortgage recorded before the goods become fixtures has priority if they become fixtures before construction is completed.
- A secured party that removes fixtures after default must reimburse the owner or encumbrancer for the cost of repairing physical damage caused by removal, but not for any loss in value caused by the goods' absence.
29.3 Fixtures
Fixture questions arise when personal property (a chattel) is attached to land and people disagree about who owns it: a seller and a buyer, a landlord and a tenant, a mortgage lender and an equipment seller, or a life tenant and a remainderman. NCBE's Real Property outline lists fixtures, including relevant matters under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, as a separate topic under rights in land.
What Makes a Chattel a Fixture?
Courts ask whether the item has become part of the real estate. Most apply a three-factor test:
- Annexation: How firmly is the item attached? Items that are bolted, cemented, plumbed, or wired in place are more likely to be fixtures. Physical attachment is not always required: under "constructive annexation," items such as keys, custom-fitted storm windows, or a heavy machine held in place by its own weight may be fixtures.
- Adaptation: Is the item specially adapted or essential to the use of the land or building, such as cabinets built for a particular kitchen or a furnace sized for a building?
- Intent: Would a reasonable observer conclude that the person who installed the item intended it to remain permanently? This objective intent is usually the most important factor. Courts infer it from the manner of attachment, the item's adaptation, the relationship of the parties, and any agreement.
Damage from removal also matters. If removing an item would seriously damage the building, courts are more likely to treat it as a fixture.
Fixtures in Common Relationships
Owner and Buyer or Mortgagee
- Sales: Fixtures installed by an owner are part of the land and pass with a deed even if the deed does not mention them. A real estate contract includes fixtures unless the parties exclude them, so a seller who wants to keep a chandelier or built-in appliance should reserve it in the contract.
- Mortgages: A mortgage covers fixtures on the land when it is given, and generally also covers fixtures the owner adds later.
Landlord and Tenant
- Trade fixtures: A commercial tenant may remove equipment it installed for its business, such as ovens, shelving, or dental chairs.
- Agricultural and domestic fixtures: Courts give similar treatment to farm structures installed by a farm tenant and to household items installed by a residential tenant, such as window blinds or a light fixture that the tenant brought.
- Limits: The tenant must remove the items before the lease ends, or within a reasonable time after a tenancy of uncertain duration ends, and must repair any damage caused by removal. Items whose removal would cause substantial damage, and items installed to replace the landlord's own fixtures, generally stay with the land. The lease can change these rules.
Life Tenant and Remainderman
A life tenant who attaches chattels to the land is treated much like a tenant. The life tenant, or the life tenant's estate within a reasonable time after death, may remove trade fixtures, but items intended to improve the land permanently pass to the remainderman.
Trespassers and Mistaken Improvers
At common law, anything a trespasser attached to land became the landowner's property. Many states now have "betterment" or good-faith improver statutes. These statutes let a person who mistakenly builds on another's land recover the value added, or in some cases buy the land, and courts may grant similar relief in equity.
Crops and Emblements
- Sales: Growing crops generally pass with the land when it is sold, unless the seller reserves them.
- Emblements: A tenant whose tenancy of uncertain duration ends without the tenant's fault—for example, because the life tenant who granted the lease died—may enter the land to harvest annual crops the tenant planted.
Manufactured Homes
Whether a manufactured home is personal property or part of the land depends on state law. Many states treat it as real property once it is permanently attached to a foundation and the owner surrenders the vehicle certificate of title or records a required document.
Security Interests in Fixtures under UCC Article 9
A seller or lender may take an Article 9 security interest in goods that become fixtures, such as a furnace, elevator, or commercial boiler. Conflicts between that security interest and the interests of the real estate owner or mortgagee are resolved by UCC § 9-334.
| Situation | Who Has Priority? |
|---|---|
| General rule | The owner or mortgagee of the real estate, unless an exception applies |
| Purchase-money priority | A purchase-money security interest (PMSI) beats an earlier real estate interest if it is perfected by a fixture filing before the goods become fixtures or within 20 days afterward |
| First to file or record | A security interest perfected by a fixture filing beats a real estate interest recorded later |
| Readily removable goods | A security interest in readily removable factory or office machines, equipment not primarily used to operate the real estate, or replacement household appliances that are consumer goods beats real estate interests if perfected by any method before the goods become fixtures |
| Construction mortgage | A construction mortgage recorded before the goods become fixtures beats even a PMSI if the goods become fixtures before construction is completed |
- Fixture filing: A fixture filing is a financing statement filed in the real estate records where a mortgage on the land would be recorded, with a description of the real property.
- Ordinary building materials: No Article 9 security interest exists in ordinary building materials incorporated into an improvement on land, such as lumber or bricks built into a wall.
- Removal after default: A secured party with priority may remove the fixtures. It must reimburse an owner or encumbrancer, other than the debtor, for the cost of repairing physical injury caused by removal, but not for any reduction in the land's value caused by the absence of the goods. The owner may refuse permission to remove the goods until the secured party gives adequate assurance of reimbursement (UCC § 9-604).
Applying the Rules
- A built-in bookcase: A homeowner's custom bookcase screwed into a wall and painted to match the room passes to a buyer. It is attached, adapted to the room, and objectively intended to stay.
- A tenant's salon chairs: Hydraulic chairs bolted to the floor by a salon tenant are trade fixtures. The tenant may remove them before the lease ends if it fills the bolt holes.
- A financed boiler: An equipment seller that installs a boiler in a mortgaged office building on credit should record a fixture filing within 20 days after installation to defeat the earlier mortgage lender.
A restaurant tenant under a five-year commercial lease bolted a walk-in freezer and pizza ovens to the floor and connected them to the building's electrical and gas lines. The lease said nothing about fixtures. Two days before the lease expired, the tenant began removing the equipment, safely capping the gas and electrical lines and patching the bolt holes. The landlord objected, claiming the equipment had become part of the building. Who is entitled to the equipment?
In 2020, a bank recorded a mortgage on a factory building owned by a manufacturer. In 2025, the manufacturer bought a new central heating system for the building on credit from a supplier and gave the supplier a purchase-money security interest in it. The heating system was installed and became a fixture on March 1. On March 15, the supplier recorded a fixture filing in the county real estate records. The manufacturer later defaulted on both loans. As between the bank and the supplier, who has priority in the heating system?
A homeowner signed a contract to sell her house. The contract did not mention a crystal chandelier wired into the dining room ceiling or a freestanding refrigerator plugged into a kitchen outlet. Before closing, the homeowner removed the chandelier, replaced it with a basic light fixture, and took the refrigerator. At closing, the buyer objected. Which items was the buyer entitled to receive?