They sold the street

holy-cow · 2014-07-03T00:35:00Z

Average people should be able to rely on knowledgeable professionals to keep them from doing something stupid...like selling the street.Roughly 12 years ago we prepared a subdivision plat to assist a landowner and city to work together to make money for the landowner and to add new housing in the city. It was a simple rectangular tract with existing city streets on three sides. In order to cut the parcel into eight tracts there was a need for a street stub up the center so far in order to provide access to three lots that would be landlocked otherwise. Said street was correctly handled on the plat and the wording on the plat explaining how the street was dedicated to public usage, etc. etc. All the standard phrases were used.Immediately upon finalizing the plat, the landowner sold seven of the eight lots to a quasi-governmental organization to erect seven, subsidized, low-income housing units and the city promptly assisted in constructing a proper street and extending utilities to each lot. The landowner kept the lot where his residence was already situated.A couple days ago a fellow saw me in the grocery store, strolls up and asks if I'm still surveying. Following a brief discussion he decides to have me survey his tract, which happens to be the one lot that had been retained by the landowner of the above subdivision. Today I do a quick check to make sure that he was, in fact, deeded Lot 4 a few years ago. Imagine my surprise when I discover his deed says Lot 4 AND a tract described (by some unknown person) as : beginning here, going there, then over there, then so forth and so on; aka Steuben Court Street.The original landowner clearly didn't understand that he had relinquished all claim to the area dedicated in the plat as Steuben Court when the plat was accepted and filed with the County. No one else bothered to mention this fact when he included the street in the deed with Lot 4. Not the buyer. Not the title company. Not the bank who loaned money to the buyer. Not the bank employee who typed up the deed and mortgage papers and whose husband is a real estate broker. No one at the courthouse when the deed and related paperwork made the standard circuit from the Register of Deeds Office, to the County Treasurer Office, to the County Clerk Office, to the GIS Department, to the County Appraiser Office and back to the Register of Deeds Office.Oh, and even better, Steuben Court does not abut Lot 4 because Lot 3 and Lot 6 separate those two entities. It had to be a simple case of a simple landowner trying to deed away the remainder of what he thought he owned.....but didn't.

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Strictly Surveying

Last Post by wayne-g 12 years ago

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wayne-g

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Interesting sequence of problems/comments. My question though is what ever happened to the concept/doctrine that you cannot sell what you do not own.

I agree, the seller could be in some doo-doo if it was via a warranty deed. Shame on the title company too. Sounds like your buyer should have called you before buying the property, but we see that all the time from somewhat ignorant folks thinking that they're thinking - in an effort to save some moola on the front end. Only to spend it on the back end.

Posted : July 3, 2014 2:12 pm

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They sold the street

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