| Illegal Contract - A contract that is unenforceable because it violates the law. |
| Illusory Offer - Under the law of contracts, an illusory offer is a statement that looks like an offer to purchase but that is so conditioned and worded that the person making it has really made no legally binding promise at all. |
| Implied Contract - A contract that is implied from the conduct of the parties. It is not the result of an express agreement between the parties. |
| Implied Easement - An easement created by implication by operation of law as a. result of the circumstances of a conveyance. For example, a grantor wholandlocks a grantee has created an implied easement known as an easement of necessity. |
| Implied Warranty or Covenant - A guaranty or assurance the law supplies in an agreement, even though the agreement, itself, does not express the guaranty or assurance. |
| Implied Warranty of Fitness (New Dwelling) - As an exception to the doctrine of caveat emptor, the North Carolina courts have recognized that in every contract for the sale of a recently completed dwelling (or one under construction), a builder-vendor is held warrant to the initial vendee that, at the time of the passing of the deed or the taking of Possession by the initial vendee whichever occurs first), the dwelling, together with all its fixtures, is: (1) sufficiently free from major structural defects; and (2) is constructed in a workmanlike manner. |
| Implied Warranty of Habitability - A theory of landlord and tenant law holding that a landlord renting or leasing residential property irnpliedly warrants to the tenant that the property is habitable and fit for the use intended. The North Carolina Residential Rental Agreements Act incorporates this concept into a statute. See Fit Premises and Residential Rental Agreements Act. |
| Impossibility of Performance - In contract law, the defense of impossibility of performance will excuse a party to a contract from performing in some instances. The defense must be in the nature of the thing to be done and not the inability of the promisor to do it. |
| Improvements on Land - Structures, of whatever nature, usually privately rather than publicly owned, erected on a site to enable its utilization, e.g., buildings, fences,driveways, retaining walls,etc. |
| Improvements to Land - Usually relates to publicly owned structures, such as curbs, sidewalks, street lighting systems, and sewers, constructed so as to enable the development of privately owned land for utilization. |
| Income - A stream of benefits generally measured in terms of money derived from labor business, property, or capital. |
| Income Approach - An appraisal method or procedure used to estimate the value, usually the market value, of property based on the amount of net income the property is expected to produce over its remaining economic life. See Capitalization. |
| Indenture - A formal, written instrument made between two or more persons in different interests. The word comes from indenting or cutting the deed on the top or side in a wavy line. |
| Index, Grantor, and Grantee - An indexing system used in Register of Deeds offices whereby records of documents affecting title to land are listed in both the grantors and grantee's name. |
| Index Lease - A lease calling for periodic increases or decreases in rent based upon some reliable government or private index or standard. |
| Informal Reference - The description of real property in an informal but adequate enough way so as to identify a parcel of land. Use of a street address, for example, is an example of an informal reference. |
| Injunction - A writ or court order to restrain one or more parties to a suit from doing an inequitable or unjust act in regard to the rights of some other party in the suit or proceeding. |
| Innocent Misrepresentation - A representation made by one believing it to be true although it is in fact untrue. While an innocent misrepresentation is not fraud, it is not necessarily harmless, and it can constitute negligent misrepresentation or, in some cases, willful misrepresentation, or, in some cases, willful misrepresentation especially if made by a real estate agent. |
| Installment Land Contract - The sale of real estate by the seller on the installment method with the vendee given possession and with the vendor retaining legal title until all payments have been made or until some other agreed upon time. Sometimes called a Contract for Deed. |
| Insurable Interest - A requirement in insurance law that the insured party have a legitimate financial interest in the subject of the insurance. |
| Interest - A sum of money paid for the use of another's money. |
| Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act - An act that closely regulates the sale of certain subdivision lots in interstate commerce. |
| Interval Ownership - See Time Share. |
| Intestate - A person who dies having made no will, or one whose will is defective. |
| Investment Real Estate - For income tax purposes, real estate that is used in a business or held for income-producing purposes. |
