Incorrect Legal Description

[NatalieCallista]

What is the name of your state? California

My husband and I recently purchased a home in California. When we paid our property taxes in October I noticed that the taxes were significantly lower than they ought to be. My husband brought it to the attention of someone he knows in the Assessor's Office and they assured him it would be taken care of, and that they probably hadn't had a chance to reassess the property yet.

Fast forward to this week. I have received two letters in the past week regarding our deed. The first is asking for our information to receive our homeowners exemption because when the deed was recorded last year they took it off. No problems there, 100% understood.

The second letter states that the legal description of the deed is incorrect. I looked at the legal description, and sure enough, the description refers to the neighbors across the street. We didn't have anything to do with the deed transfer, and the notary used was the seller's real estate agent.

Herein lies my question: Who do I contact regarding this issue? Do I have to pay all of the fees associated with rerecording the deed ($704) or is someone else responsible? Is this an issue for the title company or is this something that we have to figure out?

Any assistance would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you!!

 

[nextwife]

Yes, contact your broker, your title company and your attorney!

A correction deed will need to be drafted and recorded, I am doubtful that your municipality would assess those fees for a correction of a legal. But call the title company immediately. If they searched the WRONG legal, hopefully, the wrong mortgage was not paid off at closing, and so on.

 

[LindaP777]

Natalie, interesting story, please post back with the results.

 

[NatalieCallista]

Well, we called EVERYONE involved in the original sale of our home (Title company, broker, mortgage company, etc) and the Title Company is taking care of the whole thing. They have claimed responsibility for any errors and fees we will incur from their error and any hits we will take on taxes.

They even paid to have the original deed sent back to them I will update after the whole mess has been cleared up to let people know the outcome. I was, however, suprised that this fell under "Title Company Issues" but I suppose that there wouldn't be anywhere else for it to go.

 

[Gadfly]

That's the purpose of the title company.