Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

Sub-division Property?

I live on the river and the road dead ends next to me into a small plot of land. I have maintained that land for the 9 years I have lived here and before that the previous owners maintained it. it is supposed to be a small boat landing. The problem is, people party till the early morning, drive off road vehicles and dump rocks and garbage. You can no longer even launch small boats anymore without getting stuck or destroying a tire on your trailer.

I originally thought the land belonged to the township and they were going to lease it to me, long-term. When they discovered it was not thiers, they then refused to do anything with it, including fixing the ruts and cleaning it up.

After a search, it turns out that the property belongs to the sub-division I live in, the same people that have destoyed it and made it un-maintainable. There is no covenent that the county can find, but they say the land cannot be sold or leased because it is a ''park'' ''owned'' by us the property owners.

No one seems to care about this property but me. Is there anything I can do, is there any legal way to obtain this property?

The building of this sub-division goes back to the early 70's

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Asked on 3/21/09, 1:01 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Adam S. Tracy Securities Compliance Group Ltd

Re: Sub-division Property?

Thank you for your question; there are a number of ways to approach resolving this problem.

First, to be clear, who exactly owns the property? The original party that subdivided the land? Whomever it is, they have created and/or allowed a nuisance to occur on the parcel. You can take direct legal action and compel the owners to abate the nuisance.

Second, you may wish to check the zoning. You mentioned that it is "park" - I would be curious to see what that means in the context of your county/township's zoning scheme. You may be able to control what occurs on the parcel given the appropriate zoning ordinance.

Third, you could identify the correct owner and simply purchase the parcel? Probably not the ideal situation, but they obviously don't seem to be gaining any value from their ownership?

There are a few moving parts to this issue, and I would be happy to answer any further questions you may have. Feel free to email me: [email protected]

Thanks -

Adam Tracy, Esq.

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Answered on 3/21/09, 2:30 pm


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