Adverse possession nightmare!

[Kristinski]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

I bought a house situated onn approximately one acre. I bought it at auction and have possessed it for 5 years. I recently received a letter from a third party (not even a neighbor) stating that they have recently purchased the 8 feet of my western border, cutting off my driveway completely and taking a big chunk of my yard. Evidently, this 8 foot strip was not in my legal description, despite the fact it was represented as part of the yard at the public auction. It appears that the woman who sold me the property may have held that portion of the property by adverse possession, but did not realize it. 5 years after she sold me the property, she sold a quit claim deed to this 3rd party who has now told me to get off. It doesn't seem right that she could sell us the property with every intention of conveying all of it and never coming back (in fact we have paid th taxes for the past 5 years) and then come in and sell it to somebody else to make a quick buck. Does anybody have any idea what I can do about this?What is the name of your state?

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

I bought a house situated onn approximately one acre. I bought it at auction and have possessed it for 5 years. I recently received a letter from a third party (not even a neighbor) stating that they have recently purchased the 8 feet of my western border, cutting off my driveway completely and taking a big chunk of my yard. Evidently, this 8 foot strip was not in my legal description, despite the fact it was represented as part of the yard at the public auction. It appears that the woman who sold me the property may have held that portion of the property by adverse possession, but did not realize it. 5 years after she sold me the property, she sold a quit claim deed to this 3rd party who has now told me to get off. It doesn't seem right that she could sell us the property with every intention of conveying all of it and never coming back (in fact we have paid th taxes for the past 5 years) and then come in and sell it to somebody else to make a quick buck. Does anybody have any idea what I can do about this?What is the name of your state?

Did you purchase title insurance when you bought the property?

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

I bought a house situated onn approximately one acre. I bought it at auction and have possessed it for 5 years. I recently received a letter from a third party (not even a neighbor) stating that they have recently purchased the 8 feet of my western border, cutting off my driveway completely and taking a big chunk of my yard. Evidently, this 8 foot strip was not in my legal description, despite the fact it was represented as part of the yard at the public auction. It appears that the woman who sold me the property may have held that portion of the property by adverse possession, but did not realize it. 5 years after she sold me the property, she sold a quit claim deed to this 3rd party who has now told me to get off. It doesn't seem right that she could sell us the property with every intention of conveying all of it and never coming back (in fact we have paid th taxes for the past 5 years) and then come in and sell it to somebody else to make a quick buck. Does anybody have any idea what I can do about this?What is the name of your state?

You could go to court and ask the court to reform the deed, although that is one tough battle to win. Since the strip was not included on your legal description and since you did not get a survey showing what you bought, you will have a difficult time getting a court to believe your story.

 

[Kristinski]

Did you purchase title insurance when you bought the property?

Yes, we did. But doesn't that just insure the lot as described?

 

[Kristinski]

You could go to court and ask the court to reform the deed, although that is one tough battle to win. Since the strip was not included on your legal description and since you did not get a survey showing what you bought, you will have a difficult time getting a court to believe your story.

What are the requirements to get a court to reform the deed? Or in what cases does a court do that?

 

[seniorjudge]

What are the requirements to get a court to reform the deed? Or in what cases does a court do that?

Title insurance covers only what you bought, not the neighbor's next door property.

In any event, a court will reform a deed (i.e., change a legal description in this instance) if there is OVERWHELMNING evidence that y'all intended to buy and the sellers intended to sell what you got plus the strip in question.

Your problem, of course, is you have no survey.