Bidding on a job with a unique situation. Last year the client purchased a piece of property from town "A" that is up against the town line via a quitclaim deed. On the other side of the line in town "B" there is another parcel of land that is going up for sale by town "B". Upon researching, I found both parcels lead back to the same deed in 1959. Would the parcel in town "B" already have ownership by my client? I know here in New Hampshire that a municipal boundary is an automatic subdivision line. The client is not to concerned about it because he feels that he can purchase it for around a couple hundred bucks. Far cheaper than legal fees. Just curious if anyone else has run into this.
Quitclaim deed,..hmmmmmm?
> Bidding on a job with a unique situation. Last year the client purchased a piece of property from town "A" that is up against the town line via a quitclaim deed. On the other side of the line in town "B" there is another parcel of land that is going up for sale by town "B". Upon researching, I found both parcels lead back to the same deed in 1959. Would the parcel in town "B" already have ownership by my client? I know here in New Hampshire that a municipal boundary is an automatic subdivision line. The client is not to concerned about it because he feels that he can purchase it for around a couple hundred bucks. Far cheaper than legal fees. Just curious if anyone else has run into this.
This is one of those situation where I would want to do a chain of title on both properties to see the big picture. Who owned it all? Who did they sell or lose it too? How did the town acquire it? Who's been maintaining or paying taxes on it. Your client may own it with clouded title if Town B has a legitimate claim.
Thats my thought too. I did put in some of my own time and took both propeties back to the 1959 deed. Pretty cut and dry title chains. Problem was by deed this was one parcel split by the town line. When the owner lost it to town "A" for taxes, town "B" got the remainder on their side of the town line by default. 30+ years go by and a couple different versions of tax maps now everyone thinks their is 2 parcels. But on the flip side, the town line may make it 2 parcels legally. Definitely a problem for the attorneys.
I don't know if I understand what is meant exactly by the following sentence.
> Last year the client purchased a piece of property from town "A" that is up against
the town line via a quitclaim deed.
Did the client purchase a piece of property from town "A" quitclaiming the property to him? And/Or is there a quitclaim to the town from the previous owner.
If the town just "gets" the property due to taxes not being paid, I would think that they only get the property that is within their town limits. If town "B" is also auctioning off the same property, then I would think they only had that part of the property that falls in their town.
I would think/hope your client would get a quitclaim from both towns for the full property description to clear up any title issues that might be clouding the title.
Are you sure the corporate or town boundary even splits it? I've seen where tax mapping departments split parcels by jurisdiction but, naturally, there is no actual recorded document that legally splits it. Its just a line on paper.
Yes, twice I have run into this, both times a big mess. In both cases the tax sale took precedence over town zoning/subdivision and the parcel that went up for tax sale became a bonafide lot, just with no access and in one of the cases not enough room to build on. Both splits were not deemed "pre-existing non-conforming" and therefore anything being done on them had to go to zoning which didn't end to well.
In effect they became landlocked with one of the new owners suing for access, not sure how that turned out.
Jim
Yes that is what we will be working towards. My feeling is like yours in that only the portion that is within town "A". And yes, the towns originally took these properties (or property) due to back taxes. The towns each received a deed from their respective tax collectors.
Here is a sketch of the area.
Bold linework is single deed description. Both title chains reference the same deed.
To clarify things a little, the creating deed gave a metes and bounds description without any calls for the town line. It did make a call for it being in town "A" but no mention of town "B". The parent parcel covered both towns and without a doubt, my clients description is beyond the town line into town "B".
Are you certain the property lies in two towns? Unusual, in my experience, to have a deed for a property in two towns not referencing that somewhere down the line.
I assume the deeds to the Town from the Collector simply referenced the Tax Map and Lot #? How good are these town's maps???
Quitclaim Deed Means Town A May Not Own It
Buying both is assurance of better title.
Paul in PA
Here is a sketch of the area.
Possible problem with tax sales, at least where I'm at, is other leans such as bank loans are not cleared. You get title to the property but only the tax lean is cleared. So the buyer should look into all of that.
Absolutely certain. When this parcel was deeded out of the parent parcel, the deed was more than likely drawn up by the landowner (which was common around here at that time). Yes the tax collector deeds referenced the map and lot and also referenced who the parcels had been taken from (the same person for both).
Here is a sketch of the area.
In the survey I was involved with, the owner had title to both pieces and quit paying taxes to the piece that didn't front on a public street. Went up for taxes, bought by another individual at tax sale. It was landlocked so he couldn't get to it.
