Residential Real Estate Legal Questions

Until the gavel falls at the sheriff sale, the current owner can exercise all rights incident to ownership of the property.  That would include the right to sell the property to you.  If you can pull off a sale before the scheduled sale, you can certainly end up with the property. You'd be well-advised to involved whatever creditor has out the house into foeclosure in the sale process to ensure the debt is paid off.  Sometimes the value of the liens on the property exceeds its value.  If that's the case for this property, then buying it probably doesn't make sense.  You can also bid on the house at the sale but you'll have to bid enough to pay all liens on the property and you'll have to come up with a deposit on the day of the sale plus the balance 30 days later.  If you do decide to try and buy the property. retain an attorney to conduct a title search and examination of the property before you pay the seller any money.... Read More

Like any other tenant he will need to be evicted in court.  He will claim the mortgage payment is rent.  You will need to send a holdover notice, and refuse the rent in the context of a case.  Nothing you can do now, but your matrimonial attorney should have specified this issue in the decree.  That was a mistake.... Read More

No one is required to tell you this except a buyer's agent, although sometimes closing documents prepared by a title company mention it.  In truth, no one can tell you when you purchase a property what the taxable value will be in the subsequent year.  When it "uncaps" in the next year, you don't get the assessed valuation the seller had in the year of the sale.  And in the new year, the assessed valuation can be substantially higher than it was before.  Some assessors neglect to keep assessed values current because taxes are paid on the taxable value and then, when a property sells, the assessor jumps it up to where it should have been.  I recently handled an appeal similar to yours in which the assessed values on a street fluctuated up and down over 40% over a period of a few years.  That is bad assessing, unfair to all.... Read More

Yes.  The usual approach is to report it to your insurer and let them pursue the neighbor after paying you.  If you do not have homeowner's insurance, you can sue the neighbor yourself.  Assuming the neighbor has homeowner's insurance you are likely to be paid.  If the neighbor does not have insurance, the law is still on your side but perhaps with a more difficult fight.  For future purposes, you have the right to remove any part of a neighbor's tree that hangs over your property.  ... Read More

I'm sorry.  I am not sure that I follow your question.  If you have signed a binding purchase agreement, you have the right to proceed with the purchase.  If you have an option to buy, it may be conditioned upon your not being in default of the lease.  Being in the process of buying does not excuse you from paying rent until the closing occurs and a pending eviction for nonpayment of rent would impair your ability to get a mortgage.  The seller may be threatening eviction to get you to pay until the closing, or the seller may be using a default, or alleged default, to get out of an option the seller does not want to honor.  I would recommend getting the landlord paid current and, in the second situation, suing to enforce the option if the purchase price is fair. ... Read More

You are legally responsible to the landlord--that is why they refused to release you from the lease.  Given the impact on your credit rating, your best course would be to try to reach a compromise with the landlord and then demand your former boyfriend pay them the compromise amount.  If he won't, you would need to pay them and then demand he pay you.  If he won't you could take him to small claims court if you can show he agreed to pay the rent.  The amount involved does not justify hiring an attorney and you don't need one to try to reach a deal with the landlord or pursue the ex in small claims court.... Read More

To remove tenants, the lease needs to be expired or subordinate to the mortgage, or you have to be able to prove the tenants are in default.  Assuming one of these is true, you have to go through the eviction process under summary proceedings. If the lease is subordinate to the mortgage, the process can be quick.  If the lease is expired or you need to prove default, it is longer.  Generally it will take 1-2 months to put them out.... Read More

This is a complicated situation involving the master deed and Section 67(3) of the Condominium Act, a recent amendment of which purports to apply retroactively.  It sounds like it is a site condominium so the phase would be developed when the infrastructure is in, with the timing of the building of houses within units not being relevant.  And the lapse period runs from the recording of the master deed or later expansions, contractions, or conversions, so it is not possible to say with this limited information if the lapse period has run but I would not assume that it has.... Read More

You should have a title search and examination done on the property in order to know what liens there are and what needs to be paid off in order for you to get clear title.  It would be very odd for an unpaid contractor to have a mortgage on the house.  That's really rare for an owner to give a contractor a mortgage.  But it's possible.  The contractor will have to be paid off -- if they haven't been paid already.  Sometime private mortgage holders get paid and forget to satisfy the mortgage (because they don't know how or don't know they are to do that). ... Read More

You'll have to bring a partition action for a court order to sell the property and to divide the proceeds equitably between the two of you. You can buy the house in the partition action from the other co-owner. You can get credits for payments made on the house, but you will also have to account for the reasonable rents that would have been due for living at the house.  Hopefully, these even out. Contact an attorney for a full consultation.... Read More

Your options are controlled by the contract, deed, and other documents between the two of you concerning the purchase of the home. A detailed review of all of those documents is required to fully evaluate your situation, though you say "they" (presumably the builder) made repairs to the home. These are factual issues that we can discuss. If you are interested in pursuing the matter further, I off an initial 1/4 hour consultation without charge. If you want to set an appointment for the initial consultation, feel free to telephone, or email, my office.
 David R. Hartwig
801-486-1715
drhlaw@ix.netcom.com... Read More

This is a situation with no easy solution.  I'd start with writing to the responsible party, set out his obligation to maintain, set forth the problems with the road as a result of lack of maintenance and set forth what you want done and by what date.  If that gets you nowhere, then you can either engage in self-help and see if he stops you OR you can file suit to compel him to live up to his obligation. ... Read More

You should file a claim against the decedents' estates for your out of pocket losses.  Although hoarding, in the extreme, may be a violation of local health ordinances, its probably not something that the local authorities can easily address.  I don't think a suit against the local authorities will get anywhere.  Plus you'll have to pay the expenses of the suit and you'll get to diminishing returns very quickly. ... Read More

This is a two step process. First, you'll have to determine whether a probate proceeding is required.  This will depend on the value of your mother's assets and whether she had real or personal property. Second, you will have to file a claim with the court for the excess proceeds, either for your mother's estate, or for your mother's heirs if no probate proceeding was required. Contact an attorney for a full consultation.... Read More

I'm sorry to hear about this family trouble.  There's no "clear" right for you to have this information but I suspect if you retain an attorney and make the inquiry, you'll end up getting the information.  Why would your sister withhold this information from you? What's her concern?... Read More

Every ejectment case is different. There's no cookie-cutter form to follow.  When dealing with something like your home, best bet is to retain counsel.  If affordabiliyt is the issue, you should at least call low income resources like Legal Aid to see if you qualify or if they can refer you to other resources that might be available.... Read More