Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: property sale

"Putting my property in a friend's name" can be literally translated to "giving my property to a friend."

You must keep in mind that the law recognizes gifts in addition to sales and creation of partnerships.

Perhaps you have evidence that will show that no gift was intended when you did whatever you did to convey your property to your friend, but absent good concrete written evidence of some kind of a business deal, a court would be forced to consider the possibility that the transfer was indeed a gift, and that the gift, having been accepted, cannot be revoked.

The paper trail you allude to may be useful to establish what your prior relationship was with the other person, and may even be sufficient to overcome the strong legal presumption

that title as shown on the public record is absolutely correct. I must caution you that this, although possible, will be an uphill battle.

I have additional questions for you, such as (a) how was title held before your "gift" to the other person? (b) why were you collecting only half the rent - did you previously co-own the property with your friend? (c) were you paying all the taxes and repairs, and if so, how is this reconcilable with collecting only half the rent? (d) did you get the loan? (e) what other loans encumber the property, and who are the borrowers? (f) what is the current landlord-tenant posture on the property, i.e. what are the terms and who is the landlord on any existing lease? (g) finally, what did you tell the lender or your broker on your application about ownership, and was any of it a "fib" to induce a lender to cooperate?

As you can probably tell, you are in a very complex situation, and extricating yourself with your body parts and pocketbook intact may be rather difficult. On the other hand, it may be possible to establish that this was indeed a (legitimate) business deal and that the equities require you to be put back in "status quo ante" without penalty for trying to bamboozle a lender.

With a Zip code of 94927 you seem to be a near neighbor and I have a lot of specialization in disputed title and co-ownership disputes; maybe I can help you and I encourage you to contact me directly for a free detailed consultation.