What is Chattel?
Chattel is a term in the financial world which refers to personal property which can be moved; it is also known as movable property. Some examples of chattel include jewelry, cars, and furniture. The opposite of chattel is immovable property, like real estate and buildings, although in some circumstances, of course buildings can be moved. Some people just call chattel “personal property,” differentiating it from things like real estate with the term “immovable property.” The word is derived from the Middle English chatel, which means “movable property.” It is related to the Old French chatel, meaning “cattle,” a reference to one of the most famous examples of movable property of all time. Humans have had chattel for thousands of years; movable property was probably the introduction to the concept of property for early humans, as people learned to make and use things, thereby attaching value to them. This term has another, more sinister meaning, which dates to 1649. In the 1600s, abolit
Chattel is personal property utilized in rental property, and is deductable from your federal income taxes over 5 to 15 years. Rental properties are full of items the investor owns but is for the exclusive use of the renter. Examples of chattel are: appliances, flooring, draperies, light fixtures, cabinets, landscaping, and many other items. Chattel is anything owned and tangible, and not permanently attached ot the property, other than real estate (meaning the actual building itself) or the land.
Simply put, “chattel” is personal property. It can also be thought of as movable property in contrast to immobile property – the land and the buildings (i.e. the house itself). Chattel in your real estate investments includes things like appliances (stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washer/dryers, etc), curtains and window blinds, furniture you own as the owner of the property (vs. that owned by the tenant), carpets not permanently attached (not glued down), etc.
