# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Phu\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Phu\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phu_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/81 "2014-10-26T18:47:03Z")
Wait! Hold on! The very first thing you do, if you haven’t already is hire the best real estate attorney in town if the other guy hasn’t beat you to him. Why the best? You saw it happen with O.J. Simpson. Doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong. He who has the best attorney wins. Period. Phu Cat ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/82 "2014-10-27T00:17:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > IANAL but I guess that lot owner could force the house owner to remove the house. The house, while located on somebody else’s property, is still the property of the guy who paid for its construction. You don’t surrender ownership of your property just because it’s on somebody else’s land. Say, for example, you had a balloon and you were flying it one day and it landed in the middle of somebody’s cornfield. The cornfield owner can’t claim ownership of your balloon just because it’s in his field. There is a big difference, a hot air balloon, like the baseball in post #22 is temporarily resting on someone else’s property & can easily be removed, typically w/o causing any damage, whereas a structure is permanently attached to the property & there would, most likely, be more damage to the property to pick it up & move it as that requires heavy equipment. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/83 "2014-10-27T01:35:39Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > 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! They own 19 very costly lots in this place alone. The lots alone are worth several millions. For all we know they might own dozens of other lots/houses. They’re investors. They aren’t homeowners who follow closely the building of their dream house in which they have invested every dollar they own. They probably just signed a contract to have the house build, provided the plans and only showed up again when the house was finished for the delivery. Given they own a lot of lots, they might not even at this point have realized that it hadn’t been build on the right lot but on the one immediately besides. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/84 "2014-10-27T01:40:05Z")
> [@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? What are my choices? 750k or what? Doesn’t matter, I understand what you’re saying, however, I don’t think it’s going to happen that way. I think when you walk up and say ‘ha ha, gimme 7.5 times market value of the property’ they’re going to get lawyers involved and settle with you for a little over FMV. And hope that they aren’t good buddies with people over at city hall (who they probably deal with on a regular basis). The city can force you to sell to them via eminent domain and then resell the land to the developer. I think, IRL, if this happened, if you got a call from a devoloper and they said 'hey, um, we just realized we built this on your land, we checked the records, you paid $75k ten years ago, FMV 100K today, we’ll give you $150k for the land to make it right" you should take it and run. Holding out for 750K just seems silly. As Jim Cramer would say (as it applies to the stock market) Bulls make money, bears make money, **pigs get slaughtered**. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/85 "2014-10-27T01:43:41Z")
The value of the lot is based on location. If the ownership is the original developer then the price of the lot is known and it’s a simple task of paying the bill. if someone was smart enough to pick out a choice location then the value of it to the owner is higher than the value is to a landlord. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/86 "2014-10-27T03:15:44Z")
If I recall Business Law 101: You cannot unjustly benefit from the honest mistake of another. The lot in question was NOT worth $355K in current prices, if the intended (next door) lot sold for $160K (remember the big crash in 2008?). You can’t just thank them for the house. In fact, if you were aware of the construction while it was occurring and said nothing, you are screwed more than they. You are entitled to the CURRENT fair market value of the lot minus house (as it was before the mistake). You don’t get the 2003 price, you don’t get the house (unless you want to pay for it). If this was a sacred Tribal place, you could possibly get an order to have the land restored (all real estate is unique, and is one of the few objects subject to specific performance, but that probably will not come into play in a shiny new subdivision where a lot is a lot). Time to forget all those dreams of soaking the rich folks who hired the wrong surveyor - you don’t get rich overnight. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/87 "2014-10-27T04:05:51Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > If I recall Business Law 101: > > You cannot unjustly benefit from the honest mistake of another. Is that business law or business ethics? People benefit from other people’s mistakes all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/88 "2014-10-27T04:29:45Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Is that business law or business ethics? People benefit from other people’s mistakes all the time. That’s partially true. If a package arrives at your house because of an address error it’s not your property. But if someone builds a house on your property you’re still entitled to the property. They can’t force a sale of the property or the purchase of the house. So the result is that they either move the house, tear it down, or come to an agreed sale price. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/89 "2014-10-27T05:03:39Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > That’s partially true. If a package arrives at your house because of an address error it’s not your property. But if someone builds a house on your property you’re still entitled to the property. They can’t force a sale of the property or the purchase of the house. So the result is that they either move the house, tear it down, or come to an agreed sale price. Or sue your ass off and let the Judge/Jury decide what’s equitable. And any jury that says “It’s your house now” is going to find their verdict set aside. Of course, you could quickly re-insure the property to protect the new value while you bargain in good faith - it’s not your fault that some punks trash the place and end up burning it down - while it’s in your name… ---
**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 27, 2014, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/90 "2014-10-27T06:00:18Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Or sue your ass off and let the Judge/Jury decide what’s equitable. Who’s suing who in your scenario? Do you think the lot owner can be forced to sell? ---
**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 27, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/91 "2014-10-27T06:09:16Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > The lot in question was NOT worth $355K in current prices, if the intended (next door) lot sold for $160K (remember the big crash in 2008?). > > You are entitled to the CURRENT fair market value of the lot minus house (as it was before the mistake). > > You don’t get the 2003 price, you don’t get the house (unless you want to pay for it). I think you could probably make an argument that the $355,000 you paid for the lost is a reasonable price under the circumstances even if an identical lot would actually now sell for $160,000. You could point out that you weren’t planning on selling the lot for a loss when the market’s collapsed and you were going to hold on to it until prices went back up. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/92 "2014-10-27T07:55:50Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Why does everyone seem to think this is a problem for the homeowner and lot owner to work out? What am I missing? The homebuilder has two problems to solve. Neither the homebuyer or lot owner have any problems to fix. I agree… the surveyor / contractor owe the homeowners a house. And would owe me a demolition and clean-up to return my lot to the way they found it. If I happened to like the house they built on my lot, I might be nice enough to spare them the cost and trouble of the demo and clean-up. But presumably I had a purpose in buying the lot, so I wouldn’t just swap it or sell it. Heck… if this materially impacted or delayed my plans for the lot, I’d expect some sort of restitution. (I’d take a Queen Anne style mansion… 😃 ) ---
**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 27, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/93 "2014-10-27T14:52:31Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > They own 19 very costly lots in this place alone. The lots alone are worth several millions. For all we know they might own dozens of other lots/houses. They’re investors. They aren’t homeowners who follow closely the building of their dream house in which they have invested every dollar they own. They probably just signed a contract to have the house build, provided the plans and only showed up again when the house was finished for the delivery. Given they own a lot of lots, they might not even at this point have realized that it hadn’t been build on the right lot but on the one immediately besides. I have worked for such an investor. If you don’t go personally to look at the progress and completed construction, you hire someone you trust to do it for you. No smart investor spends money, especially $680,000, on a sight unseen project. There are way too many things that can go wrong to use that approach. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/94 "2014-10-27T19:57:13Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Why a Duck? You try to cross over there a chicken, and you’ll find out why a duck. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/95 "2014-10-27T20:06:49Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > I agree… the surveyor / contractor owe the homeowners a house. And would owe me a demolition and clean-up to return my lot to the way they found it. If I happened to like the house they built on my lot, I might be nice enough to spare them the cost and trouble of the demo and clean-up. But presumably I had a purpose in buying the lot, so I wouldn’t just swap it or sell it. Given that this lot was one of a string of virtually identical empty lots, any purpose the owner had for this lot is presumably easily transferable to one of its neighbors. So there’s no reason not to get every penny you can out of the fact that someone’s built a sinfully ugly but valuable house on your lot, and use some of that money to buy another lot down the street. Demolishing the house would be like taking a pile of a few thousand $100 bills that magically landed on your front lawn, and setting it on fire. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/96 "2014-10-27T20:44:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think you could probably make an argument that the $355,000 you paid for the lost is a reasonable price under the circumstances even if an identical lot would actually now sell for $160,000. You could point out that you weren’t planning on selling the lot for a loss when the market’s collapsed and you were going to hold on to it until prices went back up. Especially if you are upside-down on it and have been making payments. Forcing you to sell would effectively be forcing you into bankruptcy. There’s nothing fair about that, whatever the current market value. Swapping lots will create the same problem: if they are upside-down on THIS lot, I don’t think a bank would be likely to work with them to somehow make them upside down on another lot. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/97 "2014-10-27T22:36:38Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Given that this lot was one of a string of virtually identical empty lots, any purpose the owner had for this lot is presumably easily transferable to one of its neighbors. So there’s no reason not to get every penny you can out of the fact that someone’s built a sinfully ugly but valuable house on your lot, and use some of that money to buy another lot down the street. > > Demolishing the house would be like taking a pile of a few thousand $100 bills that magically landed on your front lawn, and setting it on fire. Why would anyone tear it down? It’s a house, it can be moved to another lot. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/98 "2014-10-29T10:23:39Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > If I recall Business Law 101: > > You cannot unjustly benefit from the honest mistake of another. > > The lot in question was NOT worth $355K in current prices, if the intended (next door) lot sold for $160K (remember the big crash in 2008?). You can’t just thank them for the house. > In fact, if you were aware of the construction while it was occurring and said nothing, you are screwed more than they. > You are entitled to the CURRENT fair market value of the lot minus house (as it was before the mistake). > You don’t get the 2003 price, you don’t get the house (unless you want to pay for it). > > If this was a sacred Tribal place, you could possibly get an order to have the land restored (all real estate is unique, and is one of the few objects subject to specific performance, but that probably will not come into play in a shiny new subdivision where a lot is a lot). > > Time to forget all those dreams of soaking the rich folks who hired the wrong surveyor - you don’t get rich overnight. So you can’t profit from someone else’s honest mistake, but you can be forced to make a loss? I don’t think that’s quite right. That would mean the house owner gets a lot at current market value even if the lot owner had planned to wait until the market improved before they sold. The house owner would therefore have every incentive to make this mistake again. Anyway… I’d be reasonable and take whatever steps are needed to ensure I don’t make a loss and have some compensation for my inconvenience while not attempting to screw the house owners over. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/99 "2014-10-29T11:24:15Z")
Call a lawyer. I have no sympathy for this kind of mistake. These people own a ton of property and are building this house to get richer, not to live in it. And it’s butt-ugly. See just how much I can get from them, then take it. No question. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-own-an-empty-lot-and-discover-a-home-was-built-by-mistake-what-do-you-do/702265/100 "2014-10-29T12:20:47Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Why would anyone tear it down? It’s a house, it can be moved to another lot. Moving a foundation or a basement is not that easily done. I’d assume this isn’t a trailer home. [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=4) [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=6)