# You own an empty lot and discover a home was built by mistake. What do you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265 "2014-10-23T17:31:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/41 "2014-10-24T14:27:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Ultimately the homeowners have to purchase that land. Not necessarily. It is possible to own a house on a rented property. Granted, it’s most common in mobile home parks. But if you want an extreme example there’s the city of Salamanca, NY. The entire city has been build inside an Indian reservation and the reservation retained ownership of the land. So you can buy a building in Salamanca but you can’t buy the land it’s located on. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/42 "2014-10-24T14:33:34Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Ummm… Be an adult and negotiate? So I guess ‘other’. > > No need to rip down a perfectly good house. Yep, I would hope to come out on top a bit. Maybe a bit more than a bit depending on how much I liked the lot. But shit happens. That’s the way I’d handle it. I’m assuming I have no extraordinary attachment to that particular piece of land. I’d sell them the lot at a reasonable price and I buy a new lot if I still wanted a piece of land of my own. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/43 "2014-10-24T15:04:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s the way I’d handle it. I’m assuming I have no extraordinary attachment to that particular piece of land. I’d sell them the lot at a reasonable price and I buy a new lot if I still wanted a piece of land of my own. Who are you selling the lot to? The homebuilder or the homebuyer? If you’re talking about the homebuyer, why should he have to purchase another lot? He paid to have a house built on his lot. It is up to the builder to fulfill their contract. That poor guy shouldn’t have to buy another lot because the builder fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/44 "2014-10-24T17:21:17Z")
> [@](#): > > The parties have hired lawyers and are currently trying to negotiate a settlement. That’s what I would do. I just had a $680,000 permanent improvement made to my lot and I don’t want to pay taxes on it. The lawyer would get me a handsome chunk of change for that home, whether from the builder, the sucker who hired them (who really isn’t the “homeowner” because they don’t own the home), or on the open market. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/45 "2014-10-24T18:06:43Z")
I can’t imagine commisioning a $680k house and never once going to personally inspect the progress during construction and again when completed. The couple just assumed everything would be done correctly and to their specs? That’s a poor assumption even if the house was built on the correct lot! ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/46 "2014-10-24T18:22:18Z")
I would ask for considerably more than fair market value for the lot: clearly, it’s worth much more to the home"owner" than to anyone else. I don’t know who would legally own the house; I’d have to ask a lawyer. My assumption is, it’s their house on my lot, but I could insist that they move it. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/47 "2014-10-24T18:35:57Z")
I’d rather have cash than the property anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/48 "2014-10-24T18:51:01Z")
I agree that it’s the builder, not the homeowner or landowner who is screwed. The builder still owes its customer a $650k house on the correct lot as contracted. Now the builder also has left an unwanted (or at least un-asked for) house on someone else’s property. They’re gonna need their insurance, because I think they’re going to have to build another house (assuming the first can’t be moved) and then either pay to have the first one demolished or try to sell it to the landowner for whatever he is willing to pay for a house he didn’t ask for. So – not a free house exactly (the builder would probably rather recover as much material as possible and demolish the rest) but probably a house way, way under market value. But at a cost to the builder, not to the people who wanted the house. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/49 "2014-10-24T18:58:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > If someone built on it then I’d ask to see the other lots they owned in the subdivision. Pick my favorite and swap. There’s a good chance they had a better lot anyway. The best lots in a subdivision sell first. Then the left overs sell. My lot was one of the less desirable leftovers. > > No lawyers. No litigation. Just two reasonable people making a fair agreement. Meet at the Title Company and sign over the deeds to the land. And pay capital gains, etc. Unfortunately (at least in MI) you can’t swap land without tax consequences. You can’t even shift borders: My parents have land that surrounds someone else’s on two sides. Both parties would like to shift the borders one way in an even swap, but to do so they’d have to pay capital gains, with cost basis from 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/50 "2014-10-24T19:40:31Z")
Determine whose fault it is. If it’s my fault, keep my head down and my mouth shut. If it’s someone else’s, sue them to within an inch of their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/51 "2014-10-24T21:32:34Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Who are you selling the lot to? The homebuilder or the homebuyer? If you’re talking about the homebuyer, why should he have to purchase another lot? He paid to have a house built on his lot. It is up to the builder to fulfill their contract. That poor guy shouldn’t have to buy another lot because the builder fucked up. Several people have mentioned the builder but I don’t see as he’s liable. He was contracted to build a house on a specified location and he did so. I don’t see how it’s his fault that he was given the wrong location. Any liability would seem to be on the house owner or the surveyor. As for selling the property, I’m selling it to the person who owns the house. They’re the one who has a strong interest in buying the property. If I sell to anyone else, it’s not going to solve the problem other than ending my involvement. I can see where the house owner will be upset for having to buy my lot when he thought he already owned it. But them’s the breaks. If it was his fault he should be happy I’m willing to sell him the lot at a reasonable price and not hold him over the barrel. If it wasn’t his fault, he can seek reimbursement via a lawsuit against the surveyor or whoever was at fault. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/52 "2014-10-24T21:55:19Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Idiots. Everyone knows you can’t put a house on the space until you own all three properties. > > Seriously… given the chain of events that leads up to a fully constructed house, the number of people who ucked fup on a professional level is far too high. This. I am finding it utterly mystifying as to how this could happen. We’re putting an addition onto a house - a house my fiancee already owns - and the hoops that had to be jumped through were immense, and her identity is a factor in EVERY element of the transaction. Everything is checked and checked and checked some more. ---
**Author:** ![stw004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@stw004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stw004)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/53 "2014-10-24T22:33:56Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’m curious to know why you believe that. In my experience, 10x the market price of the property is not all that uncommon for a blown title case. Especially one where the property was damaged. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/54 "2014-10-24T22:46:34Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The problem with that is, if you push too hard, they’re going to call their insurance company and you’re going to get Fair Market Value, period. The lawyers are going to say that it was an honest mistake, maybe they’ll give you a few extra bucks for your trouble. If you wanted to play hardball, I think your best bet would be to find a friend in the industry (builder, architect etc) and have some backdated plans drawn up so it looks like you were getting ready to do something with the site and, oh geez, now you have to start all over, and you’re going to need to get reimbursed for all these (backdated) bills too. > > But to tell a judge that you have a $20,000 property and you want $60k for it because someone built on it (and you didn’t even know it was happening so it wasn’t harming you), you’ll have to making a mighty strong case for that. My idea for just asking for a few thousand more than FMV is that they’ll hopefully just hand it over without bringing in lawyers or the insurance company. Call it a fantasy, then; this is a “what if” situation, and the question is what would I want, not what would the law allow. Anyway, **Bear Nenno** makes it all clear to me and I would just sit back and wait for the builder to return my lot to its prior condition or to pay me as much as I can get for it. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/55 "2014-10-25T02:25:18Z")
Put up a sign stating “Any houses left on lot overnight will be towed away at owner’s expense”. ---
**Author:** ![stw004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@stw004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stw004)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/56 "2014-10-25T02:36:37Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The problem with that is, if you push too hard, they’re going to call their insurance company and you’re going to get Fair Market Value, period. The lawyers are going to say that it was an honest mistake, maybe they’ll give you a few extra bucks for your trouble. If you wanted to play hardball, I think your best bet would be to find a friend in the industry (builder, architect etc) and have some backdated plans drawn up so it looks like you were getting ready to do something with the site and, oh geez, now you have to start all over, and you’re going to need to get reimbursed for all these (backdated) bills too. > > But to tell a judge that you have a $20,000 property and you want $60k for it because someone built on it (and you didn’t even know it was happening so it wasn’t harming you), you’ll have to making a mighty strong case for that. My idea for just asking for a few thousand more than FMV is that they’ll hopefully just hand it over without bringing in lawyers or the insurance company. But they have no means to cure title on the property short of a condemnation proceeding. They can’t even rent the home without trespassing. Regardless if you knew about it, you were harmed when they damaged your property. They could tear down house, but the numbers don’t make sense. Suppose you own a $100k lot and someone just built a $600k house on it. First they’ve got to demolish and haul away the above surface structure, they’ll probably want to do it in a manner to preserve as much of the materials as possible this is slow with meticulous labor, say that part cost $250k. Next comes the foundation assuming they didn’t build their McMansion on blocks. That means there’s at least 10’ of steel reinforced concrete in the ground, good luck getting a permit to blast it out in a residential subdivision with gas and water pipes, say the foundation costs another $350k. Then don’t forget, this is in Florida, which means there’s probably bell holes another 20’ deep underneath the foundation, deeper excavating, by this time the high coastal water table is starting to seep into the giant hole you’ve dug and you’ve got pumps running 24/7 to keep the water out. You can’t just dump that water anywhere, (legally) it’s brackish and contaminated from the demolition site. Nope, it’s got to be disposed of properly. Say all this cost another $350k. Finally, it’s time to bring in fill dirt and restore the original grade and drainage, $150k. Tack on an extra $100k for engineering consulting and permitting, and it’s cost a total of $1.1mm to remediate the site. OR The property owner walks in and says instead of all that why don’t you just buy my $100k lot for $750k? Which deal do you take? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/57 "2014-10-25T05:50:43Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Seriously… given the chain of events that leads up to a fully constructed house, the number of people who ucked fup on a professional level is far too high. The really strange thing is that if I’m understanding the reports, the house was there for six months before anyone realized the mistake. It was another surveyor, doing a separate survey for a completely different sale, who discovered the house was on the wrong lot. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/58 "2014-10-25T14:48:43Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Damn it, I can’t remember important things, but I remember an episode of the Dennis the Menace TV show (probably 50 f’ing years ago) wherein Dennis rotated a street sign, and contractors dug a pool in the wrong backyard. I believe Dave Barry called your problem about remembering things that aren’t important “brain sludge.” ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/59 "2014-10-25T15:28:56Z")
What would happen if the lot owner was an eccentric old coot who absolutely refused to sell? Would they try to pull some adverse possessiony thing on him? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/60 "2014-10-25T21:33:03Z")
> [@stw004](#): > > But they have no means to cure title on the property short of a condemnation proceeding. They can’t even rent the home without trespassing. > > Regardless if you knew about it, you were harmed when they damaged your property. > > They could tear down house, but the numbers don’t make sense. Suppose you own a $100k lot and someone just built a $600k house on it. > > First they’ve got to demolish and haul away the above surface structure, they’ll probably want to do it in a manner to preserve as much of the materials as possible this is slow with meticulous labor, say that part cost $250k. Next comes the foundation assuming they didn’t build their McMansion on blocks. That means there’s at least 10’ of steel reinforced concrete in the ground, good luck getting a permit to blast it out in a residential subdivision with gas and water pipes, say the foundation costs another $350k. > > Then don’t forget, this is in Florida, which means there’s probably bell holes another 20’ deep underneath the foundation, deeper excavating, by this time the high coastal water table is starting to seep into the giant hole you’ve dug and you’ve got pumps running 24/7 to keep the water out. You can’t just dump that water anywhere, (legally) it’s brackish and contaminated from the demolition site. Nope, it’s got to be disposed of properly. Say all this cost another $350k. > > Finally, it’s time to bring in fill dirt and restore the original grade and drainage, $150k. > > Tack on an extra $100k for engineering consulting and permitting, and it’s cost a total of $1.1mm to remediate the site. > > OR > > The property owner walks in and says instead of all that why don’t you just buy my $100k lot for $750k? > > Which deal do you take? Hang on a sec. Did you just estimate that it would cost $600k to tear down a house and remove a foundation? Let me guess, you aren’t in the building business. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265.md?page=4)