We purchased a home that actually has structures built over the adjacent property lines. This problem was not disclosed to us by the title company or the person who sold it to us. We approached the title company over the situation and they told us that the area in question is not within the surveyed boundaries so it is not insured or covered in our title policy? Is this right?

We need to sell due to the economy. This property fell out of escrow due to this unknown problem. We lost what equity we had. Now almost a year later after desperately trying to solve the problem we the property values have dropped and we are faced with foreclosure or short sale. Our credit will be damaged and we will not be able to buy another home. Is there anything we can do?

Thank you,
Bill and Larraine

THese structures encroach onto YOUR property... or the neighbors property...

If it was YOUR property you are darn tootin it is in surveyed boundries... which should have been YOUR property lines.

If I misunderstood... please explain better.

Thank you for your response. Our structures are on county property. It includes half of our driveway,our leach line, and a historical garage built in 1890. I hope this helps to clarify.

Ok... so what you are asking about are easments then. Which are legal rights of way... that entitles others to pass over your property.

You are going to have to wait for other answers... there are some aspects here I'm not sure about.

Incidentally what state, County and city do these fall under the jurisdiction of.

Your title search "should" disclose every easement, encroachment, whatever else exits. I would (and I appreciate your money is tight) ask an Attorney to speak to the title company - again. I'm also surprised that your real estate Attorney didn't catch this when he/she compared the survey and the title search.

If you had a survey done before buying the property (which most Title companies require) those structures would have been revealed. So I'm guessing that no survey was performed, and you probably relied on an earlier survey as provided by the previous owner - is that right? Seems to me that the previous owner should have disclosed the existence of these structures to you. Since they did not, your recourse is to sue the previous owners for misrepresentation.

As I understand what you are saying, you bought property including structures which encroach upon neighboring county-owned property. Since it is government owned, adverse possession will not apply. So your only remedy is against those involved in your purchase, including:

the person(s) who previously owned it and sold it to you
the title company - which you say disclaims liability. - get your own legal opinion on that.
your surveyer (You did get a survey, right?)

As has already been said, you might want to consult an attorney regarding whether you have a right of action against any of these.


... So I'm guessing that no survey was performed, and you probably relied on an earlier survey as provided by the previous owner - is that right? ...

Unless such an earlier survey was done prior to 1890, it should have showed the problem anyway.

As I understand what you are saying, you bought property including structures which encroach upon neighboring county-owned property. Since it is government owned, adverse possession will not apply. So your only remedy is against those involved in your purchase, including:

the person(s) who previously owned it and sold it to you
the title company - which you say disclaims liability. - get your own legal opinion on that.
your surveyer (You did get a survey, right?)

As has already been said, you might want to consult an attorney regarding whether you have a right of action against any of these.



Unless such an earlier survey was done prior to 1890, it should have showed the problem anyway.


What is your opinion on buyer's attorney not catching this? In my area the buyer's attorney also reviews the title search and survey.

I don't know if that's standard or if attorneys rely on the title company completely.

Wonder if there's title insurance - ?

My bet is there was no survey. So no way for an attorney or title company to be aware of the encroachment.

I just refinanced my own house, and no survey was required by my new mortgage company. All I was asked to do was "certify" that the old survey was still accurate.

What is your opinion on buyer's attorney not catching this? In my area the buyer's attorney also reviews the title search and survey.
...


It seems to me that if the survey said "Garage, etc. extends across the property line", sure an attorney (if one was involved) should have caught it. One would think the OP, and everyone else couldn't have missed it. Either it was more subtle than that (perhaps no depiction of the structures on and under the property), in which case I fail to see how an attorney would have been at fault; or there was no survey.

I guess an attorney for the buyers might have insisted that a survey show all improvements, but again, I don't think the attorney is responsible to actually look at the property and match it with the survey. That's more the buyer's role, I think.

In any case, the exact location of the leach line wouldn't necesssarily have been apparent to the surveyor or to anyone else. In my experience, a leach field is used, so I assume a "leach line" is a buried perforated pipe with associated crushed rock. Is there a vertical pipe coming out of the ground? That, presumably, would be the only part apparent to an observer such as a surveyor. One would have to deduce the precise location, presumably.