The right of possession is the right of a person to

possession Possession may refer to: Law * Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance * Drug possession, a crime * Ownership * ...

of property. It is a right of a person who currently holds property in hand or under their control to retain such possession, or alternatively for another person who claims superior title or right to possession of the property. There is a legal dictum in law that “

possession is nine-tenths of the law Possession is nine-tenths of the law is an expression meaning that ownership is easier to maintain if one has possession of something, or difficult to enforce if one does not. The expression is also stated as "possession is ten points of the law", ...

”, meaning that a person in possession is presumed to have a right to such possession unless another person claiming possession proves they have a superior right to it.

Examples

Several examples have been given of the right of possession: * A business buys a vehicle and obtains financing. The entity purchasing the vehicle becomes the registered owner and has both

and ''right of possession''. The finance provider would be the

lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the pers ...

holder and have a

security interest In finance, a security interest is a legal right granted by a debtor to a creditor over the debtor's property (usually referred to as the ''collateral'') which enables the creditor to have recourse to the property if the debtor defaults in makin ...

that, upon default, would become a ''right of retention''. If the business that bought the vehicle then rented it to someone, that individual would then have ''possession'' but would not have ''right of possession''. The company renting the vehicle to them could repossess the vehicle, for example, if they hold the vehicle past the contract period. Also, if the rental company missed payments to the lienholder, the lienholder could also repossess the vehicle from the person having possession. * I purchase a pen at a store. I have all three attributes (possession, right of possession and right of property). If I loan the pen to someone, they have only possession. If they fail to give it back, they conceivably could have all three, if I was unable to find them, since it is unlikely it would be possible for me to prove that an inexpensive item such as a pen was borrowed and not returned. * An owner of a residential rental property wants a property management company to manage the property and to handle the necessary legal matters in the event an eviction (

unlawful detainer Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgag ...

) is necessary. So that the owner does not have to be personally named as the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

in the unlawful detainer lawsuit, the property management

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

includes an

assignment Assignment, assign or The Assignment may refer to: * Homework * Sex assignment * The process of sending National Basketball Association players to its development league; see Computing * Assignment (computer science), a type of modification to ...

of the right of possession so that the property management company may be the named plaintiff in the unlawful detainer action.

References

Property law {{law-term-stub