mercredi 22 mars 2017

Adverse Possession: Adverse Possession

My question involves real estate located in the State of: Florida

This issue is a complicated mess so I'll do my best to brief you and explain the issue! I'm the 3rd owner of my property. It has two parcels; parcel 1 has the house and parcel 2 has the cement shed; both are fenced in. The parcels have two separate legal descriptions and two separate tax bills. When the original owner sold the property to the second owner, the deed included both parcels; however, come to find out, the tax bill for parcel 2 never changed ownership to the second owner (assuming this is a county mistake?) and therefore, the second owner was unintentionally not paying the taxes on parcel 2 (assuming he ignored the bill each year due to the previous owner's name on it?). When I purchased the property (did owner's financing for about a year), I was supposed to purchase both parcels, but come to find out, my deed and title insurance only list parcel 1--I honestly believe the title company didn't realize there were two parcels because the legal descriptions were so long.

A few years go by and a certificate for tax deed was filed for parcel 2 then a few more years go by and parcel 2 was sold in a tax auction. I was never notified of this--yes, documents were being sent to my address, but not to my attention (only to the original owner and the second owner) and like an idiot, I did not open them. I had no idea of this issue until a few years ago so I sent a letter to the bank that was holding my note. They never responded and transferred my loan to a loan servicer. Now, just recently, I've found out that my loan servicer has been paying the taxes on parcel 2 for 8 years out of my escrow account--basically, when I sent a letter in 2014, they investigated it and paid all the back taxes from 2008 forward, which should have been paid by the owner that purchased it in the tax auction.

I purchased the home in 2001 and have maintained both parcels. Unfortunately, I had a home flood some time ago and lost important documents so I cannot verify that my contract did indeed include both parcels. In any event, do I have an adverse possession claim? I've been reading up on it, but I did see something that stated I had to file a claim within 1 year of possession...I also saw something that said I had to pay taxes within 1 year of possession. The title company is out of business--do I have a claim with the underwriter? I'm in contact with my loan servicer to investigate why they've been paying the taxes (hoping that they come back with a document that includes both parcels in my name). I also contacted the previous owner who is willing to provide an affidavit stating he intended to sell both parcels to me. What is the best way to get this resolved? Below is a timeline of events:

1999-original owners sold both parcels to second owner
2001-second owner sold the property to myself; however, the second parcel’s legal description is not listed on the deed
2002-a certificate for a tax deed was filed
2005-Revenue Collection Division issued Notice of Application for Tax Deed
2006-Revenue Collection Division issued Certificate of Mailing Notices (did not include my name)
2006-Tax Deed was sold

Any advice or attorney recommendation would be appreciated--I've called 3 different attorney's this week, but have yet to receive a call back.

P.S. parcel 2 is a very decent size of my property and I'm trying to get this done so a pool can go in :)

Thanks!


Adverse Possession: Adverse Possession

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