Posted on 06/29/2024 12:25:44 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
A house mistakenly built on the wrong plot of land in Hawaii is set to be knocked down after a developer got it confused with the neighboring lot. A judge ordered the construction company that made the mistake to foot the bill for the demolition.
Annaleine "Anne" Reynolds bought the one-acre plot of land in Hawaiian Paradise Park on Hawaii's Big Island for $22,500 at a tax auction in 2018.
Reynolds, who lives in California, previously told Business Insider she had planned to use the land for a home for her children as well as to host women's retreats, but said in legal filings that she discovered in June 2023 that a house worth roughly $500,000 had been built on the plot.
PJ's Construction, which was contracted by Keaau Development to build twelve properties in Hawaiian Paradise Park, mistakenly built the property on the wrong plot after using telephone poles to try to identify Lot 115 — but accidentally built it on Lot 114, the other side of the telephone pole, per legal filings.
Patrick John Lawrence, Jr., the owner of PJ's Construction, said that he was first made aware that the property had been built on the wrong lot when he was informed by the real-estate agent after the house was sold.
Keaau Development then sued Reynolds, claiming she was "unjustly enriched" by the property.
PJ's Construction has to pay for the demolition of the house on Reynolds's property, Judge Robert D. S. Kim wrote in an order on Monday, viewed by BI. The company may seek contribution or indemnity from Keaau Development at a subsequent trial or hearing, Kim wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.in ...
I hope they do a salvaging demolish rather than bulldoze it.
“PJ’s Construction has to pay for the demolition of the house on Reynolds’s property, “
Lousy remedy. Construction and demolition would obviously disrupt any spiritual connections that existed.
Having owned several lots, I can assure you that a “reasonable” owner or builder is very careful to make sure searching county records, looking at development plats and getting a survey when it matters is just good practice. It’s amazion how many folks pay no attention to assuring that they have clear title and know with sufficiant precision [10 or 20 ft is good enough perhaps if you are not building anywhere near and no one else is building anywhere near that boundary. If you have to stay outside of setbacks or easements then a few inches matters] where all of their property boundaries lie.
The law today is so without heart and consideration of the people involved at times.
Seems like a deal could have been made here, such as trading the lot next to it in exchange for keeping the house (that assumes the next door lot is both empty and an ocean view.
But I think I see the problem here: Reynolds, likely a far left whack job. She would rather see a $500,000 house torn down, so she could build a new place with "sustainable materials."
Seems like such a waste to knock down a $500,000 home
“such as trading the lot”
She claimed that her lot had a special spiritual connection.
We had an issue with a project we did last year. The detached garage had been built w/o benefit of permits sometime in the '80's. We were converting the attached garage into a living room.
The clerk asked the distance from the detached building to the attached. It was 4.5 ft. (5.5 ft. was the minimum acceptable distance).
He gave us a choice, tear down the unpermitted building, or tear down the wall, only to build a new wall one foot further away. We lost one foot of the new living room. The decision was easy, and by rights he did not have to 'grandfather' in the unpermitted garage.
LOL. Figures.
she should have agreed to pay whatever the cost of demolition would be for the home. Then everyone wins.
She sounds too hateful to have a women’s meditative retreat. What God does she serve? Self, I’m guessing.
Imagine if a developer could build on your land without your knowledge or permission, and then demand payment or the land itself.
Likely Plex plumbing and composite mains and joists. Maybe carefully remove the toilets, tub, vanities, sinks, and cabinets. All the other materials probably aren’t worth salvaging.
The house is a sunk cost. Zero value, unless you can move it.
Demolition seems to be the last thing to consider, just adds expense.
The owner of the parcel is clearly not the bad actor in this case.
She legally purchased a parcel, at which point an unrelated third party, Keaau Development hire a general contractor, tells him to build a house on that particular parcel and then has the gall to sue the property owner for “unjust enrichment”, due to the “benefit” of the new house that had been (illegally) constructed on her private property.
You could (maybe) argue that she had a duty to secure the parcel from trespassers, though in this case the construction was undertaken while the State of Hawaii was making travel from the mainland expensive and difficult. On the other hand, the developer could have avoided the whole thing by paying ~$2,000 for a survey to clearly identify which lot belonged to the developer, and which lot was someone else’s property.
My bet is that if you went on vacation and came home to find a second unit built in your back yard you’d take exception to that, just like this lady did.
Far left, far right, doesn't matter, it's her property.
Contractor should have sued Developer but probably didn't want to upset current and future business.
Now he's forced to.
Would she not accept a similar vacant lot near the original plus some dollar amount?
Plenty of goodies in there though, doors and trim, windows, moldings kitchen counters, cabinets, bathroom fixtures, light fixtures, switches and plugs, electrical stuff, everything new, everything reusable, garage door and stuff, water heater, any skylights.
Our way with old houses was to salvage and sell everything possible and then sell the remainder to the locals to strip, sell or use everything they could, and then dispose of what was left.
This was more egregious than that. Even without a survey, anyone standing in the footprint of the planned house holding a GPS unit (or a GPS App on their smartphone) would have known that the were standing on someone else's property.
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