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lot line adjustment

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J

jjcjh

Guest
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? california
My parents bought a vacation home in a subdivided "park" of some 2200 lots with a minimum area of one acre. Shortly after their purchase in 1992 my father determined that a parking structure, a shed, and the septic system was actually located on the property adjacent to theirs. He determined that the original builder did not build the house on the property where the plans called for it to be built (it was built in 1977). In 1988 a subsequent owner had an addition built on based upon where the original plans said that the house sat on the property. The addition falls within the 10 foot setback required in the code. The adjacent property is 10.72 acres, unoccupied, and unimproved. The owner lives out of the area (approx. 300 miles away). My father contacted the title company, the seller's realtor (who was their realtor also) and the representative of the parks owner's association. My father worked out a equal land exchange on his own but was ultimately advised to "let the property line problem lie" since previous dealings with the adjacent lot's owner led the park's representative to believe that he would not be open to an equitable solution. My parents followed that advise.

In 2002 my parents decided to sell their vacation home and disclosed the property line problem to their realtor. They promptly received an offer on the property which was withdrawn after the buyer had second thoughts about taking on the property line problem. My parents, along with their realtor, decided to take the house off the market and try to resolve the problem. They decided that the most reasonable solution would be an equal land exchange. My father contacted a surveyor who worked out a proposal for him to present to the other property owner which my father did in Nov. 2002.

And there it lies to this day. He told my dad that he was very busy and it would be very expensive to fly him up there to see "what he was getting" and he couldn't sign the adjustment until he did so. In the mean time, my father got sick and died in Sep 2003. My mother is emotionally unable to deal with the whole issue well and it is costing her quite a bit of money monthly to pay for a house she is physically unable to travel to alone (she lives 200 miles away). I offered to talk to the other property owner which has proven to be very difficult since he doesn't return calls in a timely manner and really has no interest in resolving this issue. Today he told me to contact the title company so he could see what kind of a "budget" we had to work with since they should cover this kind of thing. In the title policy it has an exclusion that states it doesn't cover "discrepancies, conflicts in boundary lines, shortage in area, encroachments, or any other facts which a correct survey would disclose, and which are not shown by the public records". So it seems to me that the title company doesn't cover this particular issue.

Do you have any suggestions at all about how we can resolve this issue?
 


nextwife

Senior Member
A title company is ONLY responsible for issues like that IF they gave "survey coverage" to the party in their owners policy, which would have required a current survey showing the location of all improvements. And when the title company reviewed the survey which SHOWED those encroachments, the title company would have included language in their policy which provided an exception to coverage for any claim resulting from those encroaching structures.

See why surveys should be used? When one builds in the first place, when one places any improvments on a property- especially an improvement which changes the "footprint" of the house or garage, and when one buys, surveys can disclose these problems before you take them on. or before they are created in the first place. I'm always shocked that anyone would actually build a house, a garage, or place an addition on a house WITHOUT bothering to get a survey!

Get a local RE attorney, he may have some thoughts. But, if the adjacent owner just doesn't wish to deal with it, you have a problem property that any buyer has reason to be wary of.

How long have those improvements sat where they sit today?
 
J

jjcjh

Guest
The septic tank has been there since the house was originally built in 1977. The garage and shed have been in place since 1988.
 

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