GLOSSARY OF REAL ESTATE TERMS

Save harmless. To indemnify another; to secure another against loss or damage or claims of a third party. Often referred to as hold harmless.

Schematic design. (1) A design concerning the building program resulting from inspection of the site and conferences with the client. The client's needs and requirements are carefully analyzed. Zoning regulations and codes affecting the work are studied. Sketches and statements of probable construction costs are prepared for the owner's approval. (2) A suggested plan, design or program of action.

Sites
The location of a property.

Specific Performance
When a court requires a defendant to carry out the terms of an agreement or contract.

Square Feet
The usual method by which rental space is defined. It is the area of that space, calculated by taking length times width. For example, a room 30 feet by 60 feet has an area of 1,800 square feet.

Statute
A law established by an act of a legislature.

Statute of frauds. A state law that requires certain classes of contracts, engagements and/or transfers of interest in real estate to be made in writing in order to be enforceable in a court of law. Details of this law vary from one state to another. (The original Statute of Frauds was passed in England in 1677.)

Statute of Limitations
A law barring all right of redress after a certain period of time from the moment when a cause of action first arises.

Subagent
An agent of an individual already acting as an agent of a principal.

Surrender
The cancellation of a lease by mutual consent of the tenant and the landlord.

Statute of frauds. A state law that requires certain classes of contracts, engagements and/or transfers of interest in real estate to be made in writing in order to be enforceable in a court of law. Details of this law vary from one state to another. (The original Statute of Frauds was passed in England in 1677.)

Sublease. A lease executed by the lessee of an estate to a third person that conveys the same estate for a shorter term, or a portion of the estate for the same or a shorter term, is a sublease. When the entire estate is sublet for the entire remainder of the term, it is call an assignment.

Subordinated ground lease. A ground lease in which the lessor (owner) places his right in relation to the structure behind that of others, such as the holder of the construction loan or permanent mortgage (see Ground lease).

Subordination. An agreement by which a lien holder, a lessee or one having an interest or claim in or against personal or real property places the interest behind that of another.