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Title & Boundary Dispute Law in California

Finding out that property lines are improperly drawn and learning that you have been partially occupying your neighbor's land, or vice versa, can cause some very serious legal issues.

Ideally, the neighbors could just dismiss the situation, and go on as they had before, effectively agreeing to change the property lines to reflect their past use. This doesn't always happen, however. Additionally, such a course of action is not free of issues, and could eventually result in ownership of the land legally changing to reflect the past use, even if one of the neighbors opposes this.

Consequently, neighbors more frequently end up in some type of legal dispute over whether and to what extent the property lines should be enforced. Obviously, when the property lines are changed, one neighbor wins, and the other loses. It should come as no surprise, then, that legal fights are often the result.

While the boundary disputes discussed above occur fairly regularly, they aren't the only type of land dispute that can happen in Daly City, California. There are also title disputes. These disagreements arise when it isn't clear who owns an entire parcel of land. There are many reasons why such confusion might arise, but a common one is failure to properly record a deed, or subsequent loss of a deed by the recording office. While typically innocent in origin, these disputes can also be the product of fraud. Sometimes, a landowner will sell his land to more than one person, with each buyer assuming that they are the only buyer. Having "sold" his land multiple times, the fraudster presumably flees the jurisdiction with his ill-gotten gains. This leaves the buyers to figure out who truly owns the land that each of them thought they had just bought. Obviously, whoever loses this dispute will typically have to absorb the loss of the land's purchase price, if the fraudulent seller cannot be found.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Daly City, California

One customary resolution for boundary disputes is a court re-drawing the boundaries to fit with what the assumptions that the neighbors were operating under before the error was discovered. This typically happens when both parties were, for many years, aware of the actual property boundaries, and did nothing about it. Moreover, if the neighbor who has been encroaching onto the other neighbor's land has made costly improvements thereto, this weighs in favor of that neighbor, since changing the property lines would impose significant hardship on that neighbor.

Of course, there are plethora of reasons why a court might determine to enforce the property lines as the records indicate. If one neighbor knew about the discrepancy, and hid it from the other neighbor (presumably because the neighbor with the knowledge of the discrepancy benefited from it), a court will, of course, not reward this kind of dishonesty, and will decide against that neighbor. On the other hand, if the neighbor whose land would be expanded by enforcing the "real" property boundaries knew this fact, and took no action for many years, a court will probably not be receptive if he or she suddenly tries to enforce them. This is referred to as "sitting on one's rights," and courts will not reward this, either. If you have a legal right, you're expected to make efforts to vindicate it as soon as possible. If you don't, a court will typically say "I guess it wasn't that important to you if you waited 10 years to bring this to our attention. Next case."

With title disputes, a court has to decide who owns a particular piece of land. There are many factors that a court will consider, and this decision is governed by some fairly intricate laws in Daly City, California.

Usually, the person who records the deed first will be the one who takes ownership. Of course, this will only be if they had no reason to know about the other deeds).

What Can A Daly City, California Attorney Do?

The legal problems that can come up in boundary and title disputes can get very complicated. Given this fact, and the high stakes of such disputes, most people shouldn't approach these issues without good legal representation. It should therefore go without saying that the counsel of a knowledgeable Daly City, California real estate attorney is essential in most of these disputes.

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Life in Daly City

Daly City, California is a city in San Mateo County. It has a population of about 102,000 people.

Daly City was founded in the 1770s, when the Spanish first settled California. Later, when Mexico gained independence from Spain, the area now known as Daly City was part of Mexico, until Mexico lost California in the Mexican-American War. It got its current name in the late 1800s, and is named after John Daly, a prominent local businessman and landowner. Daly City, California is known for being one of the only cities in the United States in which a majority of the population is Asian-American.

The economy of Daly City, California is largely based on healthcare, public education, retail, and services. Most of the professionals who live in Daly City, such as lawyers, work in the larger cities nearby. However, there are still many lawyers who practice within Daly City, and specialize in serving Daly City residents.

If you live in Daly City and are in need of legal services, it's almost certain that there is a Daly City, California attorney who can help.

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Daly City Boundary Dispute Lawyers and Daly City Title Attorneys

Title & Boundary Dispute Law in California

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Daly City, California