What happens to your ownership of "real estate" when the earth moves/slides/disappears?
"What happens to your ownership of "real estate" when the earth moves/slides/disappears?"
The earth is simply re-arranged, not gone missing.
The structures lost are probably not insured.
A procedure is in place to reduce the taxable value, in events such as this.
I just heard on KCAL:
"every hill wants to be flat"
Geology lesson.
The people in Laguna Beach have better attitudes, than some class enviers on FR.
That's a very interesting question Lainie.
Real estate, especially in California is not usually located by reference to geographic coordinates. Instead survey markers or monuments are set out to control the location of smaller parcels cut from a larger one by a process known as "Subdivision". When an earthquake shifts the geographic location (Latitude and Longitude) of real property, two things tend to occur. As a result of the quake, land is often stretched on one side and compacted on the opposite boundary of the fault zone. Near the center of the zone land may retain substantially its original surveyed shape, but be located in a different geographic position. Those properties lying along the margins of the zone may be compressed or expanded in dimension.
In another scenario such as when a river which forms a property boundary, suddenly and violently alters its course, eroding the bank and thereby changing the size and shape of the property, procedures are in place to restore the boundary to its former position.
In the quake scenario, the property near the center of the zone will probably be resurveyed based upon the local control monuments and the owner will have substantially what he held before the quake but located in a different geographic location. In the Laguna Beach situation, the problem of boundary location in not exactly like the change river scenario and an entirely different solution will most likely be used to locate ownership lines in the future.
California state law provides a process known as “Reversion to Acreage” whereby the streets, alleys and lots shown upon a recorded Subdivision Map are abandoned and the land within the subdivision boundary is considered to be one large parcel, just like it was before the original subdivision took place.
A reversion to acreage is a very expensive and time-consuming process. Anyone undertaking this procedure will have to get the approval of the local government (the City of Laguna Beach), and preferably a single entity will need to hold title to all of the real estate.
It will be years before anyone will be able to put the pieces of this puzzle back together. There will be lots of bankruptcy filings followed by several banks repossessing some of the lots in this area. The city will probably not step forward to try and reconstruct the streets to their original alignment and grade. This one is a big mess and someone with deep pockets will have to come forward with a solution if the land is to be used for anything other than a city park.
I hope this provides a simplified answer to your question.