Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York
undisclosed property lines
We bought our house a year ago, and are now interested in selling. When I meet with my agent, I find out from her co-worker that the fence seperating our neighbor's property from ours is supposed to be two feet closer to our house. We were not told this when we bought the house, and if we had known the house was so close to the propery line, we would have thought twice about buying the house in the first place. Do we have any recourse?
5 Answers from Attorneys
Re: undisclosed property lines
Yes..and no. it depends on what you want. There are different areas of attach/concern.
Feel free to contact me further to discuss if you'd like.
Good Luck
RRG
Re: undisclosed property lines
This would have been picked up by a survey. I doubt you have recourse.
Re: undisclosed property lines
Your title company insured your ownership of the property as surveyed. If you don't actually own the property described in the report, which incorporates the survey and its exceptions, then you have a potential claim against the title company. However, title insurance is a contract of indemnity; the effect is that you do not collect unless and until you incur an actual loss. Feel free to call me at 212-367-9167 to discuss. I do not charge a fee for the initial consultation.
Re: undisclosed property lines
Your title company would have excepted this from coverage based upon the survey inspection.
What does the lawyer who handled the closing for you say?
Re: undisclosed property lines
Did you have a new survey done, or merely get a survey done before the fence was erected? This is critical to answer your question. If you performed no survey or if your survey showed the fence off line, you have no recourse, since you had constructive notice of this possibility. If you were given a survey without showing the fence, this also could have alerted you to a potential problem and a new survey should have been done. On the other hand, if you had a survey done, or if the original survey showing the fence missed its location, you probably have recourse against the surveyor. More information is needed to provide a more accurate answer.
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