Someones Building on my property? HELP!!!

[karen5]

My huband and I put a deposit on a piece of propert last October of 1999, and have a sales agreement signed. The problem is this..In January we noticed, all the trees were being cut, then the ground was being dug for gas lines, then a septic, then a foundation for a home..Now the home is FINISHED and they are moved in!!! We kept telling the realtor and owner of what was happening over the months, and then went to the zoning board...this was BEFORE the house was completed. The zoning said YES he was indeed on the wrong lot..his was exactly next to ours to the LEFT of it. The estate owners should have issued a stop building warrant for trespassing , but haven't done a thing...My husband went to the court house and and purchased all the deeds for the "surrounding" properties" to see what was going on...(according to the couthouse..yes he is on the wrong lot!) In the meantime...the estate owner spoke to this person who built on the lot...He said it is his, and he is on the correct spot, and will not let anyone see the survey he had done or who did the survey...They were going to purchase it. The realtor is just as disgusted as we are....We sent a surveyor to just do a drive by for an estimate, and he told us, that he is on his correct lot, and ours was farther to the right of his....Then he gave a bill for $500.00, and he did NOTHING!!! The realtor said the surveyor got scared off, because THERE IS NO OTHER LOT to the right of this one....ANd according to him, we put a deposit on the lot the house is now on of which the people are living in....It turns out that the person who built the home is the chief of polices son, who is also in politics......We have waited for so long to move our mobile home, there aren't many areas which will let you put a mobile even with a foundation. We have not paid the surveyor since he wasn't supposed to do a survey, just a drive by estimate....Help!!!! How do we find out for sure..if that is the correct lot he built on. The realtor said it is and the house is now ours, because there is no such thing as squatters rights. What if.it isn't the correct lot we have a deposit on? PLEASE HELP>>>>>FAST!!!!i've lost enough sleep and have been so depressed over this.

 

[JMK]

The best way to determine the boundaries of property is to hire a surveyor who will use the legal descriptions of the property in the deeds to determine boundary lines.

Nevertheless, if someone is building on your property you certainly have a civil cause of action and would probably be entitled to some sort of injunctive relief during the pendency of the action. You should consult an attorney regarding your options.

 

[Tracey]

1. It's time to stop dealing with the realtor and send in the varsity team. Go hire a real estate attorney and sue to quiet title to the property. Once the suit starts, the squatters will have to allow access for your surveyor.

You may have a quantum meruit problem. Quantum meruit is used when A is unjustly enriched by B's actions, even though B did not have a contract with A. The unjust enrichment stems from the fact that you knew of the building activities and did not inform the builders/contractor that they were on the wrong property. Nor did you run to court and obtain a temporary restraining order halting construction until ownership of the land was determined. The court may decide that it would be unfair to let you have the house for free, since you could have saved the builders a lot of money by acting quickly before they finished the house.

If you have any documentation of when you found out about the construction & when you gave the builders notice of your claim of title, get it together now. Start getting written statements from the city officials you talked with also.

You'll have to sue in your home county, but you may be able to change venue to a different county where the police chief's son is just another guy. Depends on the statutes.


2. You don't have to pay a surveyor for work done if you made it clear that you only wanted an estimate of the cost of a survey. Also, $500 for a drive-by with no resulting maps, stakes, etc. seems inordinate to me. Most businesses don't charge anything for an estimate.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.

[This message has been edited by Tracey (edited June 14, 2000).]