Who Owns the Dock?

[ETex2]

What is the name of your state? Texas

We bought "lakefront" land 5 years ago, on a lake owned by a local municipal utility district in TX. Got their necessary permits and built a boat house behind our land. Access is by annually renewable "ingress and egress permits" to the water front. The district has now declared the land where my dock is, to be "surplus land", and they intend to sell it, along with my boat dock; no compensation to us whatsoever. Because a friend of the exec. director wants it. My main question at this point is: "who owns the dock?" They won't tell me because I don't think they know. This will cost us $100,000 loss in value to our property.

BTW, I've already consulted with 2 R.E. attorneys, who tell me a suit will cost $50,000-$60,000. We can't afford that. We're hoping someone here might have knowledge or experience in a similar case. Thanks for any responses.

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? Texas

We bought "lakefront" land 5 years ago, on a lake owned by a local municipal utility district in TX. Got their necessary permits and built a boat house behind our land. Access is by annually renewable "ingress and egress permits" to the water front. The district has now declared the land where my dock is, to be "surplus land", and they intend to sell it, along with my boat dock; no compensation to us whatsoever. Because a friend of the exec. director wants it. My main question at this point is: "who owns the dock?" They won't tell me because I don't think they know. This will cost us $100,000 loss in value to our property.

BTW, I've already consulted with 2 R.E. attorneys, who tell me a suit will cost $50,000-$60,000. We can't afford that. We're hoping someone here might have knowledge or experience in a similar case. Thanks for any responses.

Have a title company run a title search on the piece of property; that will tell you what you want to know.

Are you saying you built a boat house on land you did not own?

"Got their necessary permits and built a boat house behind our land."

 

[ETex2]

Have a title company run a title search on the piece of property; that will tell you what you want to know.

Are you saying you built a boat house on land you did not own?

"Got their necessary permits and built a boat house behind our land."

Yes, all of the boathouses on this lake are built on land that the water district owns - hundreds of them. This is quite common in Texas, but most water districts and cities that own these lakes issue typically issue leases or long term permits. This lake issues 1 year "ingress and egress" permits in order to use your dock. Essentially they issue a building permit for a permanent dock, then only give you permits renewable on an annual basis to go across their land to get to this structure. A title search has been done. There's nothing there since we built the dock after buying the land. My attorney told me there was probably had nothing recordable at the time we built the dock, and no members of the lake property owner's association had ever heard of recording any type of instrument when building a dock.

I am thinking that some type of easement by necessity, implied easement, easement by estoppel, etc. would be appropriate here, in addition to inverse condemnation charges. Their published rules and regulations say that adjoining land owners must appear before the board in person to get a permit. The inspector said they don't do that anymore, and I got my permit without going all of the steps spelled out in their rules. These are rules which have safeguards in them that would have prevented this situation from happening.

 

[nextwife]

In the absence of a long term lease. the use of the land adjacent to your own is apparently discretionary and renewal is only on a year to year basis. If they (the owners) were only obligated a year at a time, then you took your chances and lost. Whenever one improves another parties property, they need to first establish their long term legal right to continued use of those improvements.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

And by the way, the water district can't just "Sell" the land to a board member's friend. They have a legal process which must be followed, including either open or sealed bids.

I suggest you follow up on this avenue. And there is nothing keeping you from dismantling the dock and boat house. Is there?

 

[ETex2]

And by the way, the water district can't just "Sell" the land to a board member's friend. They have a legal process which must be followed, including either open or sealed bids.

I suggest you follow up on this avenue. And there is nothing keeping you from dismantling the dock and boat house. Is there?

They have told me privately that they will be posting it for bids. But actually, the Water Code in Texas clearly states that surplus land owned by a water district may be sold either by private sale or public sale.

Yes, I can dismantle the boat dock. It will probably cost as much to dismantle it as I would get for the materials. The boat dock is about $20,000 of my value; the remaining $80,000 loss is due to my loss of lake access.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

They have told me privately that they will be posting it for bids. But actually, the Water Code in Texas clearly states that surplus land owned by a water district may be sold either by private sale or public sale.

Yes, I can dismantle the boat dock. It will probably cost as much to dismantle it as I would get for the materials. The boat dock is about $20,000 of my value; the remaining $80,000 loss is due to my loss of lake access.

So dismantle it or put in a bid.

You can always dismantle it after the bidding since the dock and boathouse do NOT transfer unless there is something in your lease that transfers ownership rights to the district.

 

[ETex2]

So dismantle it or put in a bid.

You can always dismantle it after the bidding since the dock and boathouse do NOT transfer unless there is something in your lease that transfers ownership rights to the district.

The "bids" they will be seeking is for 24 acres of land, which wraps around the cove, that has about 3,000 feet of lake frontage. Except for the acre or so behind me, the rest of this parcel is completely useless to us. Of course, this whole 24 acre parcel will be much more that we could ever afford. And we have no lease; only permits to access the lakefront where our dock is.

 

[justalayman]

So dismantle it or put in a bid.

You can always dismantle it after the bidding since the dock and boathouse do NOT transfer unless there is something in your lease that transfers ownership rights to the district.

BB please don't jump on me because of my ignorance but I have a question regarding this point.

Unless the buildings in question are of a temporary nature, do they not become part of the property and therfore not actually owned by the OP and therfore not able to be removed by the OP?

Maybe I was taught wrong but I was under the belief that if you improve anothers property, barring an agreement to the contrary, the improvements became part of said property.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

BB please don't jump on me because of my ignorance but I have a question regarding this point.

Unless the buildings in question are of a temporary nature, do they not become part of the property and therfore not actually owned by the OP and therfore not able to be removed by the OP?

Maybe I was taught wrong but I was under the belief that if you improve anothers property, barring an agreement to the contrary, the improvements became part of said property.

Actually, in this case, HIGHLY unlikely. The existence of a permit does NOT transfer ownership of the structure.

 

[ETex2]

Actually, in this case, HIGHLY unlikely. The existence of a permit does NOT transfer ownership of the structure.

So if I built it, with their permission, etc.; do I own it?

I've seen many instances where permanent structures belonging to individuals have been built on government land or on land owned by others, typically with a long term lease. This is a little different, since it involves ingress and egress permits. But the building permit we got before we erected the structure, called for a PERMANENT dock, not a temporary one.

 

[ETex2]

Thanks for the replies so far. Anyone else wanna take a shot at this one before it slides off the front page into oblivion?