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Tuesday, 9 August 2011

The History And Importance Of "Chattel"

By Adam Ciboch


In lay-men's terms, the definition of "chattel" is simply possessions which you can relocate. Chattel is also called "movable property". Household appliances can be considered as chattel. Antiques and collections are also.

"Immovable property, on the other hand, is not meant to be repositioned. Good examples of immovable property are acreage, and architecture. A building is never thought of as "chattel", even if it can be relocated. People often call chattel "personal property" so that it it not confused with that which cannot be moved.

The word "chattel" came from the Old French word "chatel" which referred to cattle. Livestock is perhaps the first and most famous examples of chattel. Humans have possessed chattel for thousands of years. A more sinister meaning of the word dates back to slavery, when humans themselves were considered chattel. This is because slaves, just as any other property could be confiscated and sold by the government and sold to repay a debt.

In economics, chattel is very different from immovable property because it depreciates in value much more quickly. For example, the value of a new car will be far less in five years that real estate which may have been purchased for the same price. This is why chattel is very important in real estate.

A residential property has almost a thirty year depreciation schedule. When counting in the total value of a rental property, the amount which can be deducted off of rental income can be quite low. If the value of the chattel is taken into account, however, the deduction for the first five years would be much more, since the value of such items will depreciate much faster. This way we can speed up the depreciation deduction in the first few years of owning the property.

If you are a renter or own your own house, and are looking into insurance, you should definitely figure in the worth of your chattel. Over a short period of time, most people acquire a great deal of chattel. If those people only insure their home, then replacing all of their movable property could erase most of the insurance money. That is why most people include their personal property in their insurance policies.




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