Determining Personal Property from Real Property in a Business

When you own a business you own everything, or do you? A large portion of business law has to do with property.  There are two types of property that business law deals with and they are personal and real. Although individuals can also have real property and personal property, business property is not much different in terms of what is included.

Personal Property

Many people think that personal property includes things like your car and personal belongings in the home, office, or other location. They are right, but business personal property is a little bit different only because a business had things that a person might not such as office furniture. There are two separate types of items that fall under the personal property of a business. These types are intangible and tangible items.

Tangible items include things that the business owns that can be touched or felt with your hands such as furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other products or goods. It is very important to know the difference between personal and real property as some things that may seem like real property is actual intangible personal property. Intangible items that are classified as personal property of a business include bonds, intellectual property, money, and stocks.

Real Property

There is a big difference between personal and real property. The major difference is that real property is permanent. This means that any property such as buildings, land, mineral rights, and crops fall under the category of real property. Although it can be touched, it cannot be moved as it is permanently fixed, but still owned by the business itself.

Individual property and business property terms are not very different. Personal and real property can pertain to an individual. The real property would be the house, the barn, their garden, or any improvements that are intended to be permanent. Concrete driveways are real property owned by both individuals and businesses.

In some cases there may be disputes as to who has rights to certain real or personal property. These disputes may be held in court. When this occurs, hiring a business attorney to handle the matter and discuss the possible outcomes is recommended. There will be certain things that the attorney may find throughout the contracts and settlements that you may not notice before hand. They can actually save you more money and hassle in dealing with the legal system than if you were to go at it alone.