Ownership of small property

[Whom1968]

I live in California. I sold my condo to a buyer last year. On the grant deed was a small storage with the condo. The buyer wished not to purchase it. My realtor hired a title company to take storage out of escrow papers which also gave buyer a price reduction. Many months later, the buyer finds the storage still on the grant deed. Goes to storage(in the basement of the condo building) breaks in, goes through all my things. Then he changes the lock. Says he is the owner. That the grant deed makes all other transactions moot. What must I do to either make him pay for storage or give it up?

 

[Eekamouse]

You sold your condo. What made you think you could leave your storage container on the property after you sold?

 

[Whom1968]

You sold your condo. What made you think you could leave your storage container on the property after you sold?

I didnt include this detail but I actually transferred the ownership via personal transaction to another owner in the building. She was going to notify the HOA after she paid me in full. This is what residents of this condo do all the time. But the HOA does not want wish to get involved and asked we solve it personally. So basically, I am asking the buyer to give the storage to new owner or pay for the storage if he wishes to keep it.

 

[Zigner]

You need an attorney. Period.

 

[Just Blue]

Didn't this OP have another thread about this that had more detail? S/he reduced the selling price by 20k?

ETA: Never mind...OP posted this down the street and that is where I saw it.

 

[Eekamouse]

I didnt include this detail but I actually transferred the ownership via personal transaction to another owner in the building. She was going to notify the HOA after she paid me in full. This is what residents of this condo do all the time. But the HOA does not want wish to get involved and asked we solve it personally. So basically, I am asking the buyer to give the storage to new owner or pay for the storage if he wishes to keep it.

If you transferred it to a neighbor, why did it still have your stuff in it? You said the guy went through your things, not your neighbors things.

 

[adjusterjack]

The contract says he is not purchasing the storage unit. The price knock down was just taken off the original listed price.

You'll probably have to sue him to regain possession of the storage unit.

The contract may be all you need to prove that the intent was for him not to buy it and the grant deed was a mistake.

Although how you managed to miss that little detail on the grant deed is beyond me. Well, no it's not, you just didn't pay attention to the paperwork and got yourself into a big mess and now you're going to have to hire a lawyer, as suggested on the other sites that you posted.

 

[Whom1968]

If you transferred it to a neighbor, why did it still have your stuff in it? You said the guy went through your things, not your neighbors things.

It has her stuff in it too. She just let me keep some stuff in it until she paid me in full. The buyer knew full well that there was a storage that he was not willing to purchase. It was signed on the escrow papers. The grant deed shows the very first original ownership of the storage.

 

[FlyingRon]

You need a lawyer. It may not even have been legal under the law (or your condo master documents) to subdivide the property like you claim you intended. Note that while you may have a verbal intent to not transfer the entire property, unless you have something ELSE in writing indicating the intent was not to transfer the storage unit, that means nothing. Statute of frauds requires property sales to be in writing.

The best you're likely to hope for is to sue for possession of the contents of the locker.

 

[LdiJ]

It has her stuff in it too. She just let me keep some stuff in it until she paid me in full. The buyer knew full well that there was a storage that he was not willing to purchase. It was signed on the escrow papers. The grant deed shows the very first original ownership of the storage.

You really do need a lawyer. From some of the language you are using I think that some of us might be misinterpreting what you are saying. See an attorney who can review the actual documents.