"Personal property" refers to any moveable or intangible item subject to ownership by a person.  Everything one has rights to except real property (land) is personal property, including moveable assets, money, and investments such as stocks and bonds.  In the legal system, personal property is also sometimes called "chattels."

Personal property may be tangible or intangible.  Tangible personal property, also referred to as corporeal personal property is property that has a physical form and specific characteristics, that can be seen, weighed, measured, felt, touched, or is otherwise perceptible.  Tangible personal property may include furniture, clothing, household goods, books, animals, merchandise, jewelry and the like. 

Intangible personal property, also referred to as incorporeal personal property,  includes assets such as savings accounts, stock and bond investments, annuities, patents, copyrights, and so on-things that cannot necessarily be perceived, but which are moveable in the sense that the owner of the property can have or transact some representation of the asset.

Rights associated with personal property are different than those associated with real property.  Personal property is not necessarily considered unique, as real property is.  Therefore, if a contract for personal property is breached, the breaching party will not always be subject to specific performance.  Instead, a more common remedy for breach of a contract for personal property is the receipt by the injured party of the monetary value of the property in question; the justification for this type of remedy is the thought that personal property can be easily replaced by something identical or similar.

The main right associated with personal property is the right of possession.  Possession requires some degree of actual control over the property in question and an intent to possess the property and to exclude others from its use and possession.  The right of possession entitles the owner of the real property to entitles the possessor to continue peaceful possession of the property against everyone (with the exception of some person or entity having a superior right), the right to recover the personal property if it has been wrongfully taken from the possessor, and the right to recover damages from  wrongdoers who have in some way inhibited the possessor´s right to the property.

There are two types of rights of possession or personal property: actual possession and constructive possession.  Actual possession refers to possession of property by someone with knowledge of the possession and direct physical control over the property at a given time.  Constructive possession refers to a person´s power and intent to have control over some personal property, even though he or she may not have physical possession of it at a particular time; an example would include the contents of a safety deposit box at a bank to which the possessor has a key.

The statute of limitations, or length of time between the occurrence of an event that gives rise to a legal claim associated with real property and when a legal action regarding that event is brought before a court of law, is typically shorter in the case of personal property than when real property is at issue.  In addition, personal property rights are enforceable for much shorter periods of time than real property rights.

In some United States legal jurisdictions, owners of personal property are subject to an annual property tax, which is imposed for the right of people to possess and use real property.  Examples of this type of tax include automobile and boat registration fees.  Most household goods, such as furniture, clothing, electronics, and so on, are exempt from the tax so long as they are limited to use within the household.

As collateral for a loan, personal property presents a greater risk to creditors than real property.  A lender may secure a lien on personal property, such as a car, which gives the lender the right to repossess the personal property in the event of default on payment by the loan borrower and to sell the property and use the proceeds of such sale to pay for the amount the borrower has defaulted on.  However, because personal property is moveable, there is still some risk involved to the lender.  In contrast, real property is much more reliable collateral to a lender, given that it can be more readily and more easily found and repossessed than personal property.

NOTE: Contact an attorney on all legal questions or legal issues. A real estate agent is not qualified to give legal advice or tax advice and is not licensed to give legal advice or tax advice.

GBrey