do I have a leg to stand on? adverse posession?

[beck4ever]

I'll try again....I've attempted 2 posts since last night and they aren't posting to the thread....ok, here goes.

My search through my morgage info showed no morgage survey...nor do I recall one mentioned let alone offered at time of purchase...of either of my homes. Is having this done typically the buyer's responsibility to ask for, or is it the broker's responsibility to offer/suggest it take place to ensure such issues don't surface? i know ultimately it's our mistake to have made the assumption, yet I have a hard time believing most people wouldn't make the same assumption. I mean really....fenced in yard (OLD fence), both neighboring yards maintained and one fenced as well! Really!

I still have a hard time believing I wouldn't have grounds for AP given this situation. Nothing was said for OVER 17 years about this land! (I've gotten proof of placement of the fence)...and prior to that, the land was undeveloped and unmaintained. Wouldn't they have responsibility at ground breaking (at the MINIMUM) when building the condos to know where the lot lines are? They HAD to know and didn't say a thing. It just angers me the more I think about it.

Time to talk to an attorney. I feel I've picked about Iowa laws so much and have done pretty well understanding them (for a layperson)...but some are just over my head and I need things simplified.

I won't sleep until this is over! Ugh! Thanks again everyone!

 

[justalayman]

in all cases I have ever seen a mortgage survey done is due to the lender requiring it. As I said, it is intended to protect their interests more than anything else. The buyer just gets to pay for it since they are the party wanting to borrow the money.

I still have a hard time believing I wouldn't have grounds for AP given this situation. Nothing was said for OVER 17 years about this land!

well, the statutes do state this:

564.1 requires the true owner expressly be put on notice.

express notice
See: actual notice

actual notice
Actual awareness or direct notification of a specific fact or proceeding. Actual notice occurs when an individual is directly told about something -- for example, when a tenant notifies the landlord that a window is broken, the landlord has actual notice of the broken window. "Personal service" of court documents is another common method of delivering actual notice. Also called "express notice." (Compare: constructive notice)

as opposed to:

constructive notice
The fiction that someone got notice even though actual notice was not personally delivered to that person. The law may provide that a public notice put on the courthouse bulletin board is a substitute for actual notice. Or the court may authorize service by publication when a spouse has left the state to avoid service in a divorce action. The legal advertisement of the summons in an approved newspaper is treated as constructive notice, just as if the summons and petition had been served personally

possession such as you have would be constructive notice, not express notice.

 

[beck4ever]

OK. I have not a problem in the world with walking over and directly telling them if I have to that I believe I have claims for adverse posession of the property and I am seeking independent council to be certain. No problem at all. I have an appointment with a local attny a week from tomorrow. Until then, I will continue to study. Thanks for the help!