- Just finished a survey for some folks that bought 20+ acres of some recreational land in the mountains. It was part of a large ranch that was divided amongst the heirs by aliquot parts and government lots. The heirs divided their shares in 20+ acres to avoid the then in effect subdivision laws.The Surveyor at the time assumed incorrectly that the meander corner was on the section line, hence a 14 acre wedge of property exits that nobody is listeded as owning or paying taxes on. Do you think my?ÿ client can file a quiet Title on the wedge and claim title to the wedge?
What do you mean by "listed as"? No occupation? How do the deeds for this and adjoiner read? What are the requirements in this jurisdiction?
Does the wedge have any other adjoiners?
There isn't enough detail to give a good answer, but if possible it's always better to "clean up" title.
Why not quit claim deeds and buying the land?
Someone still has 14 acres of land in the title chain, they should be compensated for it, it might be less expensive than a quiet title action. Think it through, the quiet title action will inform the heirs of their possible ownership, good luck getting it done cheaply after they know.
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If there really are 14 acres that the estate did not dispose of then the estate still has ownership. The 14 acres were owned previously so if they were not conveyed they are still owned by the previous owner.
The Surveyor at the time assumed incorrectly that the meander corner was on the section line
As a word of caution, please make sure you have sufficient evidence to back up that statement, or all hell might break loose if the land is worth anything. ?????ÿ
@flga-2-2 based on my experiences in looking for land in West Virginia, mountain land, at least there, is relatively cheap.?ÿ About ten years ago I waslooking at 168 acres in the center of the state, mountain top land with about 60 acres being flat meadow.?ÿ It had an existing garage on it with a bathroom and shower and a dently sized spring fed pond.?ÿ More importantly, it still had mineral rights that would pass with it.
My final bid, after a bidding war started, was $168K ($1K/acre), in the end it went for $175K after I walked a away.?ÿ My then wife and I spent almost every weekend, for a year, scouring the state looking for a retirement property and that property had everything we were looking for to build a few custom log cabins on.
purty sure we are talking about Montana with the OP. That land could be cheapish, or worth millions. All depends on the location, by cheapish; maybe 5-10k per acre.?ÿ
If the real estate market keeps crashing it may be time to buy soon.?ÿ
@mightymoe here in NJ, land is at a premium, you will be hard pressed to find a buildable acre for less than $40K, even after the crash of 2008, it didn't really affect property values.?ÿ I bought my home on a half acre in 1994 when the market was depressed for $149,500 and that was full asking price.?ÿ Now that same 1/2 acre and home is worth three times what Ipaid for it and is a rental property that I'm holdingon to until I retire.
@bill93 Nobody knew this wedge existed because the then Surveyor didn't perform a proper breakdown of the section and assumed erroneously that the meander corner was located on the south Section line and south boundary of the Government Lot which he divided up into three lots using metes and bounds descriptions. There is no mention of the created tracts having a boundary following the south boundary of either the Section line or the Government Lot. The wedge is raw unoccupied mountainous treed land. The County tax map does show the wedge, but there is no owner indicated and nobody has been paying tax on it.
@flga-2-2 It was an incompetent survey. It would have been a daunting task to survey the property at the time. Transit and chain. Only a few rich surveyors owned a Laser measuring device. Pretty obviously a paper survey without much field work if any.
@mightymoe The Land has access, though it might be tough to build a road, but a good cat skinner and a D-9 could get it done. It has a beautiful building site on level ground and fantastic view. I'd guess $300,000 to $500,000.?ÿ
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As has been previously stated the heirs would own it unless it was taken for back taxes.?ÿ Does your survey show the adjoining property owners? Tax maps are single purpose maps and it isn't to show property lines.?ÿ?ÿ
The County tax map does show the wedge
Something doesn't add up. If it was a legitimate error in the original survey lying undiscovered until now, how would the assesor know to plot the wedge on their maps? Sounds like an 'unsurveyed remainder' parcel to me and the title is still held by the original owner or their descendants. Getting clear title may end up costing more than the land is worth by the time it's all sorted out. Just how bad does your client want it?
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Whoever drew the Tax Map figured out the Meander Corner wasn't on the Section Line and depicted it as a "No Data Available" parcel on the Tax Map.?ÿ
@skeeter1996 Yea, but how did they figure that out is what I'd like to know. That would be a first for me, seeing a parcel with a land descriptor 'No Man's Land'. Any dragons? How do you know the original subdivider owned it to begin with? Have you done a title search back to patent? Before you could suggest any course of action I'd think they'd first need to be absolutely certain who owns it. I don't think you can file quiet title against the federal government if the error extends back to the original government survey. Too many unknowns.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I'm not seeing quiet title here, anyone with any sense once informed that they have 300k-500k sitting on the ground would be insane not to simply pay the back taxes. Even if it's split 10 ways.?ÿ
The subdivision I posted here last week has a tax map showing some parts of it as "owner unknown".?ÿ There was a development company that owned all.?ÿ The company ceased to exist.?ÿ Unsold parcels don't really have an owner, is the way I think they are handling that.
Unsold parcels don't really have an owner
The property is owned by someone, just not a private citizen.
Around the greater Puyallup area; they're called Tax Title Properties.?ÿ
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According to Google; Kansas has something similar: