Expert: Dottie Worthington - 2/9/2010

Question
What are the rights (or protection laws) of a person that purchased a home soon to discover that the (brick) house is built half way on a vacant lot (someone else's property)and no mortgage taxes have been paid because the tax office can't access any? The builder and the person who surveyed the land are supposed to be deciding who is at fault. In the meantime we  cannot move, pay taxes on the house or anything. What are we supposed to do and who is at fault.                 Thanks

Answer
Ruthie:

There are a lot of ifs involved here. Did you use a Realtor? Who did you buy the house from, the builder? If so, he should be the one who has to make it right. Where do you live? In Texas the property taxes would have been paid at closing. The surveyor should also have caught that before hand. Also the title Policy you received should be useful to collect on. You have many resources for recourse on this depending on your contract. If you used a Realtor, all that verbiage would be in the contract to protect you.

Good Luck!

Dottie (Ruth) Worthington