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LadyWolf55

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Missouri

I purchased a home in 1992 from the Church next door. It had been their "pastor's house". They split the lot it was on, as they had built a gymnasium on part of the house's legal lot.

When I purchased it, unknown to myself (as it was my first RE purchase and I was a greenhorn) they accidently described the entire original lot on my Warranty Deed, as well as my Mortgage papers. This was the deed which was recorded.

They proceeded to sell the church three years later.

This year, the pastor of the new church called me, wanting to buy my house. He said he had "heard I wished to sell it", even though it was not up for sale. I became suspicious as to his real reason for wanting my house. I went to the courthouse and did a title search on my property.

I found out that, unbeknownst to me, the original owner filed a Correction of Warranty Deed in 1995,taking back 26 ft of my property for themselves, four MINUTES before they filed the sale of their church to the current church owners. I was never notified of this change in my deed, nor did I give permission of any kind.

Today, I was told by the title company (who bought the company from the previous owners who did the original transaction on my property) that my BANK also agreed to release the 26 ft of property from the loan back in 1995!
All without my knowledge or permission! I paid the loan off this past December, before I found out about all of this.

Is this legal? Is there a statute of limitations when a deed can be corrected? Can they change a Warranty deed without the buyer's knowledge and consent? Have Missouri or Federal laws been broken here?

I found out today, that the Church next door is trying to sell their property, and can't because of this "dispute". That is why they really called wanting to buy my property, but they were too dishonest to say so! The title company told me they would not sell title insurance for it, anyway, considering the problem.

TIA for any help you can give.

Teresa
 


JerryBear

Junior Member
Zoinks!

I'm no expert in MO law, but nobody can take a part of your property without notification and just compensation. The state can execute Eminent Domain to forcibly take property when it is deemed "in the public good" (freeways, road widenings, etc.), but they have to tell you exactly what they are taking and pay you fairly.
Mortgage or not, looks like somebody pulled a fast one on you, and imo you should probably invest in some real lawyer-speak.
From what you describe, you might barge into the pastor's office waiving papers claiming that you already own 26 feet of the gym, and am planning on tearing it down. That should be a good start to the negotiation.

Good luck!
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
Contact a real estate attorney in your town to investigate the matter. This is too complicated and convoluted for an internet forum.
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
LadyWolf55 said:
What is the name of your state? Missouri

I purchased a home in 1992 from the Church next door. It had been their "pastor's house". They split the lot it was on, as they had built a gymnasium on part of the house's legal lot.

When I purchased it, unknown to myself (as it was my first RE purchase and I was a greenhorn) they accidently described the entire original lot on my Warranty Deed, as well as my Mortgage papers. This was the deed which was recorded.

They proceeded to sell the church three years later.

This year, the pastor of the new church called me, wanting to buy my house. He said he had "heard I wished to sell it", even though it was not up for sale. I became suspicious as to his real reason for wanting my house. I went to the courthouse and did a title search on my property.

I found out that, unbeknownst to me, the original owner filed a Correction of Warranty Deed in 1995,taking back 26 ft of my property for themselves, four MINUTES before they filed the sale of their church to the current church owners. I was never notified of this change in my deed, nor did I give permission of any kind.

Today, I was told by the title company (who bought the company from the previous owners who did the original transaction on my property) that my BANK also agreed to release the 26 ft of property from the loan back in 1995!
All without my knowledge or permission! I paid the loan off this past December, before I found out about all of this.

Is this legal? Is there a statute of limitations when a deed can be corrected? Can they change a Warranty deed without the buyer's knowledge and consent? Have Missouri or Federal laws been broken here?

I found out today, that the Church next door is trying to sell their property, and can't because of this "dispute". That is why they really called wanting to buy my property, but they were too dishonest to say so! The title company told me they would not sell title insurance for it, anyway, considering the problem.

TIA for any help you can give.

Teresa
Q: Is this legal?

A: Yes. And, in fact, very common.


Q: Is there a statute of limitations when a deed can be corrected?

A: No.


Q: Can they change a Warranty deed without the buyer's knowledge and consent?

A: They didn't change your deed; they conveyed to you what you had originally contracted to buy.


Q: Have Missouri or Federal laws been broken here?

A: No state laws; federal laws (generally) do not cover real estate transactions.
 

LadyWolf1955

Junior Member
Strange...

That's not what a prominent Real Estate attorney told me this morning. According to him, this is a highly unusual situation, and I should have been notified of ANY changes, along with getting my signature for a Quit-Claim deed, which was not done.

Correcting a Warranty Deed three years after a sale, with no notification to the buyer, is NOT done all the time, according to him. No cigar..............

Teresa
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
LadyWolf1955 said:
That's not what a prominent Real Estate attorney told me this morning. According to him, this is a highly unusual situation, and I should have been notified of ANY changes, along with getting my signature for a Quit-Claim deed, which was not done.

Correcting a Warranty Deed three years after a sale, with no notification to the buyer, is NOT done all the time, according to him. No cigar..............

Teresa
I truly hope you did not pay that prominent Real Estate attorney any money since the advice he gave you was wrong.

If you did pay him money, you need to ask for a refund.
 

LadyWolf55

Junior Member
So, basically what you're saying.

Is that a Warranty Deed is as worthless as the paper it's written on to the buyer of property, as the original owner can change it at anytime without notice, taking any portion of his land BACK,without any compensation to the new Deed owner, and that it's legal to do so.

We are talking about a legal deed here, signed and registered by BOTH parties to the sale, not a contract of sale.

Teresa
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
LadyWolf55 said:
Is that a Warranty Deed is as worthless as the paper it's written on to the buyer of property, as the original owner can change it at anytime without notice, taking any portion of his land BACK,without any compensation to the new Deed owner, and that it's legal to do so.

We are talking about a legal deed here, signed and registered by BOTH parties to the sale, not a contract of sale.

Teresa
http://dirt.umkc.edu/archives/dirt2005/jan2005/fwd re dirt correction quit claim deeds.txt

In my opinion, the CORRECT way to do this is for both parties to convey to the original seller and then have the original seller convey again to the original buyer the correct legal description.

HOWEVER, as I said in my first post, it is very common for a seller to execute a new correction deed to correct the legal description (or whatever).

If you read the info on the forum above, your very question (in general) has caused a big furor.

You should've received a copy of the correction deed. If you will go to the recorder of deeds in your county, you will be able to get a copy of that correction deed; the recorder's office records will show where the deed was returned. Also, your address should be on the correction deed since you are responsible for taxes and the assessor needs to know where to tell the collector to send the taxes.

While you are at the courthouse, also check with the assessor to see if that office has the correction deed listed on their records.

My point is, you got (in the correction deed) what you thought you were getting the first time you closed the sale. In other words, the correction deed had the legal description that was on the original sales contract.


We are talking about a legal deed here, signed and registered by BOTH parties to the sale, not a contract of sale.

Unless you live in the City of Saint Louis, you did not sign the warranty deed when you bought the land.
 

LadyWolf55

Junior Member
I never received a correction Deed

Nor did I ever receive notice of a Correction by the seller or the Recorder of Deeds. I only found out about all of this yesterday when I went to the Recorder's office to get a copy of my Warranty Deed. I then found out about the change of the Deed three years after the sale.

I still believe I have a case here. I never signed a quit-claim deed to reverse the 26 ft of land. Furthermore, the corrected deed listed the wrong name, as I had married in the three years after the original sale. That tells me they circumvented myself in the process of taking the land that was deeded to me originally.

Teresa
 

LadyWolf55

Junior Member
One more thing..........

The original contract of sale states the same description which is on the original deed, NOT the description which is on the correction deed, regardless of how they verbally intended to state it.

Teresa
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
LadyWolf55 said:
The original contract of sale states the same description which is on the original deed, NOT the description which is on the correction deed, regardless of how they verbally intended to state it.

Teresa
That is not what you first posted:

When I purchased it, unknown to myself (as it was my first RE purchase and I was a greenhorn) they accidently described the entire original lot on my Warranty Deed, as well as my Mortgage papers. This was the deed which was recorded.

Go hire that prominent real estate attorney and see if you have a case. Post back with results. If the first deed had the same legal description that the contract and the survey (the one you ordered before the sale) and your title insurance all four agree, you may have a case.


The title company told me they would not sell title insurance for it, anyway, considering the problem.

They will always sell title insurance; the title insurance company will just exclude from coverage any problems they find.
 

LadyWolf55

Junior Member
Actually, both statements are correct. What was offered to me VERBALLY, and what was actually put into the contract for sale and the warranty deed, differed by 26 ft.

The survey was contracted and paid for by the SELLER, not myself. The legal description was a correct one, from a survey done many years before. The TITLE company failed to use the most current survey for the deed description. I just found that out by speaking to the survey company a few minutes ago.

What I wish to make clear, is that I am NOT trying to take land that I didn't intend to buy. What bothers me is the WAY this was all handled. The shady "under the table, good ole' boy" back-scratching going on, while I was never legally notified of any changes whatsoever. This is resulted in my finding out I don't apparently have clear title after 13 YEARS.

Also, I did not lie. The title company word-for-word stated they would NOT sell me insurance to insure a sale transaction of my property due to this problem.

Teresa
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
LadyWolf55 said:
Actually, both statements are correct. What was offered to me VERBALLY, and what was actually put into the contract for sale and the warranty deed, differed by 26 ft.

The survey was contracted and paid for by the SELLER, not myself. The legal description was a correct one, from a survey done many years before. The TITLE company failed to use the most current survey for the deed description. I just found that out by speaking to the survey company a few minutes ago.

What I wish to make clear, is that I am NOT trying to take land that I didn't intend to buy. What bothers me is the WAY this was all handled. The shady "under the table, good ole' boy" back-scratching going on, while I was never legally notified of any changes whatsoever. This is resulted in my finding out I don't apparently have clear title after 13 YEARS.

Also, I did not lie. The title company word-for-word stated they would NOT sell me insurance to insure a sale transaction of my property due to this problem.

Teresa

Okay, you keep changing things.

What was offered to me VERBALLY, and what was actually put into the contract for sale and the warranty deed, differed by 26 ft.

Just answer ONE question, please!

Does the legal description on the correction deed match the legal description on your sales contract?


Yes or no?
 

LadyWolf55

Junior Member
In a word...

NO.

I have been advised to file a claim with the Title insurance company to settle the dispute, as there is no law precedence for this matter.
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
LadyWolf55 said:
NO.

I have been advised to file a claim with the Title insurance company to settle the dispute, as there is no law precedence for this matter.
Post back with results...now I am intrigued....
 

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