Fee simple is an estate in land in common law. Fee simple is also distinguished from land that is jointly owned by a office condominium or other arrangement whereby nearby office buildings share the property in common with you, even though you each own your own building. Fee simple is the most common type of ownership that allows you to have unlimited control over a property most homes are held in fee simple.

The fee simple estate is also called "estate in fee simple" or "fee-simple title". According to William Blackstone, the great common law commentator, fee simple is the estate in land that a person has when the lands are given to him and his heirs absolutely, without any end or limit put to his estate. Land held in fee simple can be conveyed to whomsoever its owner pleases; it can be mortgaged or put up as security as well. In a sense, one might say fee simple owners "own" the property "forever"; however, holders of an all o dial title on land really do own the land forever, and the land is not subject to property tax.

It also could be limited in the way that it was inherited, such as by what was called an "entailment" which created a fee tail. If previous grantor's of a fee simple estate do not create any conditions for subsequent grantees to own the conveyed property in fee simple title, which is commonly the case these days, then the title is called fee simple absolute.

Other fee simple estates in real property include fee simple defeasible (or fee simple determinable) estates. If the grantor uses durational language in the condition such as "to A as long as the land is used for a park" then upon the happening of the specified event, the estate will automatically terminate and revert to the grantor or the grantor's estate; this is called a fee simple determinable. In the United States, fee simple owners are subject to property tax and its funds directed to the municipality's general fund.

"Fee simple" just means that the owner owns it, as distinguished from holding a 99-year lease, for example, or a title that will revert to someone else on his death.

Other estates in land include the fee simple conditional, the fee simple defeasible, the fee simple determinable, the fee simple subject to a condition subsequent, the fee simple subject to an executory limitation, and the life estate.

It is not unusual for there to be some fee simple property and some common property in a real estate deal (commercial or residential).

As a general rule you should always contact a good real estate attorney when it comes to contracts, deeds or anything else as it pertains to real estate.

Wishing you success with all your real estate ventures

Sean McAlister