Posted on 07/18/2011 11:49:23 PM PDT by lowbridge
A little-known Texas law and a foreclosure could have a man in Flower Mound living on easy street.
Flower Mound's Waterford Drive is lined with well-manicured $300,000 homes. So, when a new neighbor moved in without the usual sale, mortgage-paying homeowners had a few questions.
"What paperwork is it and how is it legally binding if he doesn't legally own the house?" said Leigh Lowrie, a neighboring resident. "He just squats there."
Lowrie and her husband said the house down the street was in foreclosure for more than a year and the owner walked away. Then, the mortgage company went out of business.
Apparently, that opened the door for someone to take advantage of the situation. But, Kenneth Robinson said he's no squatter. He said he moved in on June 17 after months of research about a Texas law called "adverse possession."
"This is not a normal process, but it is not a process that is not known," he said. "It's just not known to everybody."
He says an online form he printed out and filed at the Denton County courthouse for $16 gave him rights to the house. The paper says the house was abandoned and he's claiming ownership.
(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...
Once the property has been occupied, the following time limits apply -- against a person claiming superior title to the occupier:
Three Years: If the occupier has a recorded deed from the prior recorded owner. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, sec 16.024.
Five Years: If the occupier also cultivates, or uses the property, pays the taxes, and has title under some sort of recorded, non-forged deed. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, sec 16.025.
Ten Years: If the occupier also cultivates, or uses the property, and pays the taxes, but does not have a recorded deed. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, sec 16.026.
These periods can be extended for various reasons, such as a claimant who is a minor, or in military service, but in no circumstance can a lawsuit be brought to eject the occupant more than 25 years after occupation, and use, of the property began. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, secs 16.027-16.028.
This guy is a naked trespasser. He will have some sort of title if he is able to stay there ten years, and a clear title if he can stay there after 25 years.
Big "ifs." Squatter's rights in Texas isn't meant to give free $300,000 homes awaiting foreclosure, to some clown who thinks it is his just because he filed a piece of paper at the court house. Squatters rights are meant to (1) clear up potential title problems for folks who are not really squatters, and (2) in those very rare instances where the owner of a tract of land simply wanders off and leaves it for over a decade, give some one the ability to use or cultivate the tract, and put it back to use.
“Adverse possession rules are in the law books for JUST THIS PURPOSE”
Exactly. The neighbors can comfort themselves that their neighborhood is worthy of adverse possession.
I’m guessing an owner with standing will show up now, forcing him to vacate and leaving an empty house to be sold at a deep discount in a year or two. That will hurt the neighbors worse than an adverse possession I’d wager.
All true. The free lunch bunch cannot grasp the facts as they are. Most people do not even understand that if you acquire property by paying unpaid taxes that the real owner has a number of years to reclaim his property, by simply paying the person that paid the taxes.
BTW, there's always some way you can get into a house without breaking the doors or windows.
Don't get caught up in "break and enter" doctrines ~
NOTE, those recovery laws are of relatively recent vintage.
Nope...won’t happen. He followed due process .
Done deal in Texas.
Seen this done many times on all kinds of property including vehicles etc...
A person can't claim ownership of a vehicle just because he finds a car on the street with the keys in the ignition. Same would be true for a house. This is not a game show. This guy is breaking down the rule of law for the rule of force.
My cousin was advised to move back into his “foreclosed” home after being out for a year. He lost his business due to the great recession and couldn’t make the payments.
The trigger was that the city was going to start fining him for not mowing the lawn. They were all over him. Apparently the bank lost interest and never followed through on the foreclosure.
His attorney told him to move back in. And there he is.
I would think the HOA has already taken action due to fees.
Has the HOA kept the abandon property up. (Mowing etc)
This article makes this sound uncomplicated, that I doubt very much.
If the titled owner brings a trespass suit within the that period, the adverse possession is gone.
I can think of a few absolute ways to get this jerk out of the house, very quickly!
You may be in real estate, but you are no lawyer.
The primary function od adverse possession is to settle fence line disputes.
Most tax lien properties reqire that the debt be aquired at auction then x amount of time must pass. If the original owner does not pay the owned taxes then the property transfers to the person from the auction. It requires that the city or county hold the auction first. If he went that way which was not called out in the article than it is ok if not then most likely he will lose.
Yahoo-News, July 18, 2011
You have to buy it at auction from the county after they take position of it
I tried to point that out in a nice way, I assumed he did not score well on his real estate exam.
Takes me back to my college daze...
LOL, auto correct on the old Droid does that crap all the time, changes words.
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