What is the proper course of action for this situation? The deed reference for an adjoining property of a subject property references a different property that is in a different county township. The corners of the adjoiner along the subject property do not seem to be in the ground anymore and may never have been set. The register of deeds recognizes the deed references a different property but there is nothing they can do. How can these corners be reset if the deed references the wrong property? How can these corners be shown on a plat if a computed point cannot be set?
Maybe there's another deed - a correct one - for the adjoining property. I often find incorrect references in the assessor's database. You have to track down the correct deed. First question to ask is where did you get that deed reference from in the first place?
The poster's profile says North Carolina, which might be relevant to the discussion.
Start with the lawyer who drafted the deed. If that doesn't work, go to the tax agency and see if you can send a letter to the owner.
I have had two of these over the years. One I was able to contact the owner as he was my client and happened to own the adjoining property. The other I contacted the law office that drafted the deed and sent them a sketch showing the mistake and the path forward to correct it.
I'm up to three times I've had to be the one to explain to a landowner that the lot their real estate agent sold them was not the beautiful view lot they were shown prior to purchasing. The agents weren't fraudulent, but certainly negligent (and one was gross too ).
- I would go to the clerk of court office and start researching the title back to when the property was severed or created. Louisiana does not have a register of deeds but I assume it is equivalent to our clerk of court. Anyway I would start to research the title to the adjoining tract back to find previously used recorded descriptions and plats.
I'm up to three times I've had to be the one to explain to a landowner that the lot their real estate agent sold them was not the beautiful view lot they were shown prior to purchasing. The agents weren't fraudulent, but certainly negligent (and one was gross too ).
I was almost on the wrong end of a transaction with the same type of issue when purchasing a vacant lot out of state for a summer place. I hired a local surveyor and he caught the issue with a quick driveby. The for sale sign and the listing photos showed one nice lot, the legal description in the sales contract described the adjacent swampy lot. My attorney took it from there and sorted it out.
Hire a good surveyor and a good attorney.
You know the old saying “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”
You will probably have to research the chain of title for the previous deed references. You may want to check with the tax assessor to see what they have listed for deed references in their historical records,
@peter-lothian The county's GIS parcel viewer. Register of Deeds said that is the deed they have on file for that property and they agreed it was referencing a completely different property.
@kevin-hines There are no previous deed references associated with the property. The tax assessor's site directs you to the GIS parcel view for tax information which is where I obtained the information from.
Your profile says you’re a Project Engineer. I suggest you hire a Licensed Land Surveyor to survey the property. He will know what to do.
I stumbled onto a survey about 20 years ago done by a firm that rarely does work in my home county. I was looking at something unrelated and saw this survey on the next page. Saw where it said it was located and I knew something was wrong. The client's name did not match the owner of that property as I definitely knew who owned it. And, the true owner would have called me to do the job. After thinking about the client's name for this new cutout I shifted myself one township further to the east and saw the client's name. Everything on the survey and the description called to the wrong range.
@kevin-hines There are no previous deed references associated with the property. The tax assessor's site directs you to the GIS parcel view for tax information which is where I obtained the information from.
This comment would imply that the deed you have is of an original survey - ie, the property had never been set on the ground before the creation of that legal description (and may have not been set since either). In NC, and most or all other US states, there has to be at least an original govt patent (kingdom grant in my case) that would describe that parcel or what encompassed it in some way. If not, someone has literally created a new nation-state with that piece of paper, so I highly doubt there are "no previous deed references associated with the property". The tax assessors office is not (in my experience) any place to get legal boundary location information. They usually take minimal info (ie acreage) from said legal and paste it onto a document for purposes of taxing the owner. Have you looked for bounding or adjoining property deeds as well? I hope I'm not sounding like a pompous ass or am writing in complete ignorance of something here (which, yes, has happened), but I think you need to either take it on as a learning exercise in property research or talk with someone who does that for a living - like a local land surveyor or land attorney.
@tdblack31 If you ask the tax assessor's office to pull the archived card (recorded before it went to a digital system), there will be a reference. That reference may be before this particular parcel was cut from the parent parcel, but doubtful. The GIS data parcel view and the on-line tax assessor's land roll records will not accomplish anything. Visit the assessor's office and and ask to see what is in their hard cards. Good luck.
@dave-o When I click on the property card info it lists the previous owners. The only previous owner shown on the property card is the person who currently owns the lot and the deed reference is the same deed mentioned in my original post. I can search the county register of deeds by the owner's name but haven't found anything describing the lot shown on the parcel viewer.
@fairbanksls I obtained my surveyor's license early this year. I'm aware my experience is limited and I have much to learn still.