Quitclaim or quiet title action - weird boundary issue

[jaye]

What is the name of your state? California

I bought a house 3 years ago. When the house was first being built in 1949, a neighbor offered a little bit of land in the back of the property if the house was built 10 feet back, to preserve their view.

This extra parcel in the back was deeded to the original owners of my house, but it stayed as a separate parcel and was lost in the shuffle and ignored every time the house was subsequently sold. No one paid taxes on it for almost 50 years.

The parcel in question is a small rectangle inside our enclosed back yard, only accessible through our house or through a neighbors back yard.

This all came to light right before we bought the house - the sellers did what they could and paid all the back taxes but this didn't fix things. We agreed to buy the house and take care of this.

So - the people who are on the title are deceased but I have name and address of their son. I'm getting ready to send him a letter. Hopefully he will see that it was a bureaucratic error and just sign it over to us.

What is easiest and cheapest way to deal with this - quitclaim deed? quiet title action?
We have no money for lawyers so I'm trying to do as much of this as I can myself.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[jaye]

uh oh - 20 views and no responses

Does this sound too complicated? Should I post it somewhere else?

 

[danno6925]

Quit Claim

I am NOT a lawyer, but have been working in title insurance and land transfer for almost ten years -

Based on the facts as I understand them, you have followed through to the best of your ability. A prefect scenario would have the heir to the proprety simply sign a quit-claim deed as grantor to you as grantee. You should be able to find state-specific legal docs on the web.

Don't know about your state, but in PA anyone can draft a deed so long as they note who prepared it, and it meets county recording standards. Check with the folks at your County Clerk's Office where the deeds are recorded, and ask if they can tell you what is required to make a quit-claim deed recordable. Hope this helps.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? California

I bought a house 3 years ago. When the house was first being built in 1949, a neighbor offered a little bit of land in the back of the property if the house was built 10 feet back, to preserve their view.

This extra parcel in the back was deeded to the original owners of my house, but it stayed as a separate parcel and was lost in the shuffle and ignored every time the house was subsequently sold. No one paid taxes on it for almost 50 years.

The parcel in question is a small rectangle inside our enclosed back yard, only accessible through our house or through a neighbors back yard.

This all came to light right before we bought the house - the sellers did what they could and paid all the back taxes but this didn't fix things. We agreed to buy the house and take care of this.

So - the people who are on the title are deceased but I have name and address of their son. I'm getting ready to send him a letter. Hopefully he will see that it was a bureaucratic error and just sign it over to us.

What is easiest and cheapest way to deal with this - quitclaim deed? quiet title action?
We have no money for lawyers so I'm trying to do as much of this as I can myself.

Thanks for any advice!

If the son is the current owner of the property, through inheritance or whatever, he can sign a quit-claim deed, and you can record it, and all it will cost is the recording fees. Then, maybe later on down the road, maybe you can see about merging the two properties into a single parcel.

However, if the son refuses to sign, it's unlikely you can make him sign, and unless you can prove somehow that the original owners transferred the property to the original owners of your house, a court might not make him sign either.

 

[jaye]

However, if the son refuses to sign, it's unlikely you can make him sign, and unless you can prove somehow that the original owners transferred the property to the original owners of your house, a court might not make him sign either.

Thanks for your replies!

So if he refuses to sign, what would be my next step? The parcel is totally inaccesible - it is within my yard and surrounded by neighbors yards. I could just ignore the problem but want to get title problems cleared up for when/if we sell our house.

 

[divgradcurl]

If he refuses to sign, what you want to do next is really up to you. You could continue to ignore the situation. You could also try and negotiate with the son -- maybe a few bucks changing hands would do the trick. If that doesn't do it, or he wants more than a few bucks, then you'll probably need to get a lawyer involved and take him to court. At this point, it might not be a bad idea to consult with a local attorney anyway, just so you know what your options are, and how strong any evidence you might have to support your side is. If the son refuses to cooperate willingly, maybe a letter from a lawyer would be sufficient to get him moving. Ir maybe simply filing suit will be enough to bring him to the bargaining table.

Of course, maybe he will just be reasonable in the first place!

 

[jaye]

thanks very much! I sent him a friendly letter tonight, explaining the situation. Hopefully he will be a reasonable person and just sign it over.