Portland Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Portland Title Attorneys

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Title & Boundary Dispute Law in Oregon

There are times when neighbors will find themselves in a situation where how they've been using their land doesn't match up with the property boundaries that are on record. This can be a source of substantial conflict, as one might expect.

In a seemingly-ideal situation, the neighbors will choose to ignore this new revelation, and go on as they always have. Of course, this doesn't happen frequently, and might have consequences down the road, including title eventually changing to reflect the perceived property lines, without the choice of either neighbor.

Nonetheless, it's more common for the neighbor whose land is being encroached upon by the other neighbor to seek enforcement of the legal property lines. The other neighbor will almost certainly want to use the property as he had been, since enforcing the legal property lines would cause him to lose some of "his" land.

In Portland, Oregon, property can also be the subject of title disputes, rather than boundary disputes described above. These types of disagreements stem from disagreements over who owns a piece of property. Confusion in this area is more prevalent than one might think. If a deed is improperly recorded, land can be "owned" by 2 people simultaneously. Even more troublesome is when land is "sold" to more than one person. This is typically inadvertent, but some people do it deliberately, hoping to abscond the profits acquired by selling the same thing twice. In cases like this, a court has to determine which buyer owns the land. This is a big deal, considering how unlikely it is that a defrauded buyer could get his or her money back.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Portland, Oregon

One possible result of a boundary dispute is a court effectively re-drawing the boundaries to fit what the neighbors had perceived. This is most frequently done if the neighbors were aware for a long time of the "real" property lines, and didn't do anything about it. It also helps if the neighbor who is encroaching makes major improvements to the land, and enforcing the new property lines would place a major burden on him.

A court may do the opposite, and decide to enforce the property lines as they're drawn. This will always benefit one neighbor and hurt the other. A court will probably do this if one neighbor knew that his land was encroaching onto another person's property, and actively tried to hide that fact from his neighbor. Obviously, such bad actions shouldn't be rewarded. Conversely, if the neighbor whose land was being encroached upon knew about the discrepancy, and did nothing about it, the court will likely change the property lines to reflect this prior use, to prevent that neighbor from being rewarded for "sitting on his rights."

In the case of disputes over title, courts have to figure out who owns a specific piece of real property. Courts will consider many factors, and there are some difficult and (in some cases) antiquated legal issues that guide Portland, Oregon courts on these matters.

Suffice to say, you'll want the assistance of an expert on this subject. In general, however, you should know that courts almost always rule in favor of the buyer who first recorded the deed, AND (not "or") didn't have knowledge of any previous conveyances. This protects the buyer who was most diligent in vindicating his own rights, and acted in good faith (obviously, a buyer who knew about a previous sale of the same land isn't acting honestly).

What Can A Portland, Oregon Attorney Do?

Because of the high stakes, going it alone in a boundary or title dispute is rarely judicious. Therefore, it's almost always a good idea to get a good Portland, Oregon real estate attorney to help you with such legal problems.

Talk to a Real Estate Law Attorney now!

Life in Portland

Portland may be the 3rd most populous city in the Pacific Northwest but it's one of the most popular. Known as one of the greenest cities in the world, Portland has used city planning and public transportation to lessen residents' impact on their surrounding environment. In fact, Portland has been named the second most eco-friendly place behind Reykjavik, Iceland by Grist Magazine, and in top 10 greenest cities by Move, Inc.

P-town residents live among some of the most innovative microbreweries and distilleries. Widmer Brothers, Henry Weinhard, and Michael "Beerhunter" Jackson even dubbed Portland beer capital of the world. Portland Mayor Tom Potter nicknamed the city "Beertown."

Most people probably know Portland as the location of the Nike Headquarters (known as the Nike Campus) but the city also plays host to KEEN, Adidas, Columbia Sportsware, U.S. Bank, Oregon Steel Mills, Willamette Industries, and Louisiana-Pacific. Since the city is known as a "green city" you won't be too surprised to find there are a number of alternative energy companies there like Vestas Wind Systems.

Portland is unique in that the city hosts the worlds largest, and even legally sanctioned in Portland court, naked bike ride. The annual World Naked Bike Ride began in 1999 with less than seven participants but has grown to over 13,000. Another legal oddity you may not know is that there are very strong speech protections in the Oregon constitution that extend to full nudity and lap dances in strip clubs. Not by coincidence, Portland has more strip clubs per capita than Las Vegas or San Francisco.

If you need some help navigating these sometimes confusing courts, consult a local Portland lawyer today.

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