Chapter §23.2 Definition and Creation of Fixtures

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§23.2 DEFINITION AND CREATION OF FIXTURES

This section sets out the parameters governing classification of an article as a fixture and discusses how a fixture is created.

(1) Definition

A fixture generally is defined as an article that was once movable or transferable personal property, i.e., a chattel, but by reason of annexation to or use in association with land has come to be regarded as part of the land. Gasaway v. Thomas, 56 Wash. 77, 105 P. 168 (1909). A fixture, however, does retain its separate identity and may through severance be removed and become personalty again. Allied Stores Corp. v. N.W. Bank, 2 Wn.App. 778, 469 P.2d 993 (1970).

(2) Criteria for determining if a chattel has become a fixture

The general test recognized in Washington for determining whether a chattel has become a fixture has been stated as follows:

The true criterion of a fixture is the united application of these requisites: (1) Actual annexation to the realty, or something appurtenant thereto; (2) application to the use or purpose to which that part of the realty with which it is connected is appropriated; and (3) the intention of the party making the annexation to make a permanent accession to the freehold.

More recently, the general test for fixture determination has been stated as follows:

At common law, personal property is a fixture and, therefore, part of real property if (1) the property is actually annexed to the realty, (2) its use or purpose is applied to or integrated with the use of the realty, and (3) the annexing party intended a permanent addition to the freehold.

King v. Rice, 146 Wn.App. 662, 191 P.3d 946 (2008), review denied, 165 Wn.2d 1049 (2009).

Filley v. Christopher, 39 Wash. 22, 25, 80 P. 834 (1905).

Each element of this three-pronged test must be met before an article may properly be considered a fixture, although the last element, intention, is deemed to be the most important. State Dep't of Revenue v. Boeing Co., 85 Wn.2d 663, 538 P.2d 505 (1975). Each of the three elements of the test are discussed separately below.

(a) Annexation

Before a chattel may be termed a fixture, it must be "annexed" to realty. Annexation can be either physical annexation or constructive annexation. Whereas English common law placed great weight on the existence and extent of actual physical annexation in determining whether a chattel became a fixture, this factor has been given somewhat less weight in the American courts, which have demonstrated more willingness to deem slightly attached or even unattached chattels constructively annexed if they are integral or necessary to the use of the land. Ray Andrews Brown, THE LAW OF PERSONAL PROPERTY §16.2 (3d ed. 1975).

(i) Physical annexation

Physical annexation is the actual attachment of the article to the realty. Courts in several early Washington cases determined whether an article was a fixture based on the extent and permanence of the annexation through a "substantial injury" test whereby, if removal of the article in question would destroy or cause substantial damage to either the article or the underlying realty, then the article is a fixture. Strain v....