Posted on 07/20/2011 11:19:26 AM PDT by Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears
If someone you knew claimed to have bought a new house for $16, you'd probably expect it to be a rundown hovel.
But for Kenneth Robinson, that princely sum could see him as the new owner of a $300,000 home in an well-manicured part of Flower Mound, Texas.
On June 17, Mr Robinson took advantage of a little known Texas law to move into the abandoned home.
The house had been in foreclosure for more than a year and its owner walked away. Then, the mortgage company went bust.
After months of research, Mr Robinson used the obscure law 'adverse possession', filled out some paperwork costing just $16, and moved some of his belongings into the home.
Under the law, if someone moves into an abandoned home they have exclusive negotiating rights with the original owner.
If the owner wants them to leave, they have to pay off the mortgage debt on the home and the bank has to file a complicated lawsuit to get them evicted.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Now what if the original owner had a relative who assumed occupancy of the house then signed the title over to the former owner? Hmmmmm
There is going to be a lot of this around the country in the next ten years.
Somebody owns the paper on this house and he will be finding out who before long in the form of lawsuits and he will not be able to afford the legal fees.
That’s what I say. Are there property taxes related to the property? Those taxes will be his burden.
The mortgage company went bankrupt.
Likely the debtors of the mortgage company will eventually be awarded the assets including the title to this property.
But if there are enough debtors and properties involved, it might take more than three years before that get resolved.
This clown is another Obamamite who has committed a criminal act. He should use this knowledge he has to get a home the right way.
I'll wager he's a convicted felon.
Something for nothing.
Can one be sued and removed for not keeping the upscale property in an appropriate upscale condition?
Awesome.
Let's say the house is only worth $200,000. Somebody is out $200,000 with little to no recourse. Just because this guy broke in and moved in an old couch. And you see no down side?
So the guy with 200K on the line has no rights? Multiply that by a million. Do you still see no down side?
What about the neighboring property owners? Do you think this guy is going to keep up the property? What do you think is going to happen to the value of their properties? Would you like a squatter with no "skin in the game" living next door to you? Multiply that by a million.
Do you see the down side? If stuff like this becomes the norm, its all over. Sell ALL your real estate, gather your guns and your family and head for the hills.
That’s really stretching the concept of Adverse Possession almost to the breaking point. It was meant to cover things like people walking through your property to get to the beach. If you don’t make any attempt to stop them or to cut-off access, after seven years it is assumed you don’t care and it is considered to be a public thoroughfare.
“This clown is another Obamamite who has committed a criminal act. “
I too am suspicious of the squatter and wonder if this is a move by ACORN.
I’m very curious about his address.
The county owns the house,He must pay the “rent/Taxes” no such thing as “ownership”!
Watch as ACORN and similar Leftists groups start to take advantage of this. How would you like hoards of welfarists swarming into your neighbor.
Amazing how little thought is displayed around here where it is supposed to be important. I could understand DU cheering this kind of crap but FReepers? Geez are we screwed.
I do not see how he can live there without paying back taxes. Here in California if you are delinquent on your taxes they will seize your home and sell it at auction.
How is he getting around not paying taxes?
The mortgage crisis in this country is another shoe yet to drop. The banksters and other fraudsters may be the final straw in the fall of the republic.
LOL.
Texas Property law is pretty interesting. Adverse Possession kinda works in reverse too. In Texas if you own a piece of residential real estate or undeveloped property - with or without a structure and you own it with another person (non spouse) it is called Tenants in Common. This is just two people - not a commercial interest or business partnership. Anyway - if one of the co-tenants fails to uphold his or her financial contributions to pay for the property for a significant period of time (several years) then the paying co-tenant can file a petition to repudiate the ownership rights of the non contributing co-tenant. This is not a lawsuit per se... just a legally published notice. If it goes unchallenged via a lawsuit by the non paying co-tenant within certain period of time... the title is changed to show ownership by the paying co-tenant alone.
“This clown is another Obamamite who has committed a criminal act. He should use this knowledge he has to get a home the right way.”
“I’ll wager he’s a convicted felon.”
Bummer for you that you didn’t beat him to this deal.
It's one of the first things a first-year law student learns about in Property Law.
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