Help! I need legal advice re: easements

[BillyP]

I strongly advise anyone buying property to have it surveyed first. You don't want any surprises later on.

 

[MicroPilot]

BillyP, That's exactly what I'm trying to say. It blows my mind that these guys would buy property without a survey!!

 

[jayhawkRoy]

The situation you describe nearly happened to one of my wife's co-workers. The realtor and seller initially misrepresented the size of the lot, stating that part of a common area was actually part of the seller's lot. To make things worse, the seller had torn down an old deck, and put a new, larger deck up, and it encroached upon the common area. When this was discovered, after a deposit into escrow was made, but before closing, (during the property appraisal) the buyer chose to void the contract, since the property was not represented correctly in the sale contract. A notice to void the sale contract should have released the escrow money, but it didn't. No refund was forthcoming. The realtor then offered to to keep "only" half the escrow money "for services rendered". The buyer eventually got it all ironed out, but this shows how unscrupulous some folks can be. The property owner ultimately had to tear down the deck and build a smaller one that did not encroach and did meet city setback requirements before the house could be put back up for sale. A little awareness goes a long ways!

 

[Bob_Skurka]

billy & micro . . . I thought I wrote, I suppose I should scroll up and look, but I did have a plat of survey of the property I purchased. The property is also staked out on all the corners with surveyors stakes and they are clearly visible (although you don't have line of sight from on to the next because of terrain/woods/distance). Again, when I bought the land, I knew where the property lines were roughly placed. The neighbor is the one who had the problem as he assumed some things that were not true.

 

[Currmudgeon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( In my case we used a title company, got title insurance, etc. But since there was no mortgage on the property there was no reason to involve a bank. )</font>

Then the title company is insuring the title to the piece of land on the legal description, but without a survey, you have no sure way of knowing what planet that land is actually on. (Only exaggerating a little) The survey will catch things like the fact the corners are off, maybe even overlapping, or possibly there's a gap of no-man's land between your properties, or even a platted parcel that someone else owns. Surveys are so often in conflict or contain errors that just relying on a "courthouse survey" is risky. A lot of the art of surveying is puzzling out and rectifying previous surveyors' errors, or accurately recreating them.

 

[slowrev]

The first house I bought about 25 years ago had fence in the back on each side but not across the back. I did a survey ( was working in that business at the time) and found that all of the neighbors fences were wrong ! I put up mine right and created some unfriendly feelings in the neighborhood. I was not encroached upon, but the neighbors had encroached on the lots behind us and had to move their fences. Amazing that 6 neighbors had done it wrong for 15 years or so.

Amazing how much trouble you can get into for doing things right. I was urged by several neighbors to "just put up the fence so it matches everyone elses. I told them I did not want to fence in property I did not own. I guess it would have been different if they had owned the lots that were being encroached on /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I take no more or less out of life than I have earned.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="red"> The property is also staked out on all the corners with surveyors stakes and they are clearly visible </font>

The above survey was done by the developer and he gave me all the documents. I did not pay for a new survey because I already have everything.

I did not mean to imply that there was no survey.

I also had plats of the individual property, legal description of the individual property, as well as plats and legal descriptions of the neighborhood. And I had my lawyers approve everything to make sure it was all good. However, going back to the issue of using a bank, there was/is no reason to use one if you are paying cash. They simply charge you to make sure that you have all the correct documents and the title transfers properly.

 

[timb]

A good survey can cause a little fun with the neighbors as well. When we split the family farm in two for each half of the family to take respective possession (neither of which is going to "develop" it) our surveyor put a lot of effort into it - and per our request included a lot of intermediate pins to cover the line-of-sight issues. Since the necessarily meandering dividing line went through the middle of both a hayfield and a cornfield, I drove old mine roof bolts in about 3 feet deep next to the pins, and slid 10' sections of 1 1/2" white PVC over the bolt - with the top foot painted blaze orange. Gave great visibility from the tractor to avoid the pins - even in the middle of the corn.

In the end there were a lot of pins around and flags flapping.

An adjoining neighbor that had only lived there a few years had their place on the market for about (IMO) 20% too high and it wasn't selling. Eventually the signs disappeared and I found out they pulled it off the market because "when that new subdivision goes in on the old farm next door their place will be worth a lot more money". Oh well, hope they don't hold their breath. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

First you have to realize, we do have lawyers go over contracts before we sign. They do all the proper searches and such so that we know there is no extra surprises. Second, the sections we buy range between 20 and 40 acre parcels and we have very easy boundry lines (usually a ditch or fence row). We have two sets of power lines that help break things up as well as roads. If there is any question about where the line is it usually is which side of the ditch is mine and which is yours. As for any problem neighbors, we don't have any. The land that buts ours is owned by other farmers who are good friends of ours. Any land that comes up for sale is given first shot to other neighbors first as none of us want a development to come into here and ruin what we have. From where we own down two miles to where the section of land ends is all owned by 3 people, us and our two neighbors who own and live on land across the road. In the end if we had land that was all screwy like some of the places we have seen and lived in a town we would have it surveyed but it does not matter much to us around here. We keep our fences back a decent way from the borders so we can maintain the ditches and brush lines anyways. I hope that helps you understand why we don't have to have surveys around here. Small town where almost all the land is owned by farmers who get along have no need for extra expenses.

 

[BillyP]

<font color="blue"> The above survey was done by the developer and he gave me all the documents. I did not pay for a new survey because I already have everything.

I did not mean to imply that there was no survey. </font>

Bob, thanks for clearing this up. I guess I missed it. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif