Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

We were sold a piece of land by a relative. The property was misrepresented (not in a flood zone). This was 5 years ago. We just tried to sell this land at a fraction of the cost and discovered that the previous owner had/has 6 leins on said property. At the time of sale, she put her hand up at the clerk's office and swore that there were no leins. Is there any recourse? We are talking about an original purchase price of $15,000 &, new sale price $6,000 and $2,500 in leins.

Thanks, Mary


Asked on 4/02/11, 12:49 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Jay Rigdon Rockhill Pinnick LLP

Hopefully you got title insurance, as you always should when buying real estate. You can file a claim against it.

If you did not do that, you can sue your relative for not passing clear title. However, it does not sound like this relative has much money, so that may be a wasted effort.

Those are your two choices.

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Answered on 4/03/11, 4:44 pm

I don;t know what you mean by " At the time of sale, she put her hand up at the clerk's office and swore that there were no leins". I have never heard of that procedure for title. The norm is to receive a warranty deed which is basically a guarantee from the seller that there are no liens. If you received a quitclaim deed, you are out of luck.

Otherwise, I agree with Jay, hopefully you have title insurance, if so, file a claim. If not, and you have a warranty deed you can file against the relative.

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Answered on 4/04/11, 5:44 am


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