Video Summary

Can a person fight eminent domain? The answer to that question is absolutely yes they can. Florida has a very good statute as far as eminent domain’s concerned. What it provides for is that when there’s a taking by a governmental entity or someone authorized to go through eminent domain, they make an offer to you and if you say, “No, I don’t want to sell it for that.” Then you can fight the eminent domain, however, if you later settle, you don’t have to pay your attorney fees and the attorney is entitled to, I believe it’s 1/3 of the difference between whatever the initial offer was by the governmental agency taking your property, and how much you actually receive. You receive the net amount and the attorney fees are paid by the condemning authority.

Challenging the condemning authority is very difficult to accomplish, but yes, you can do that and you can have a trial as far as that’s concerned. Usually the governmental, the condemning authority, has what they call a quick take program and they go in there and try and take the property right away, but if you’re going to fight the eminent domain, you need to show that they don’t have to take your property and it’s not necessarily in the best interest and probably your attorney who, if you call me I will be glad to send you the right direction as far as the attorney to do that, to try and negotiate with the condemning authority as to whether or not their plans can be modified or why they need to take your property.

Of course, by the time they get around to … Hopefully they’re starting the process of trying to take your property before all the plans are put in place, because you can imagine what the engineering is for a major highway or whatever and then you want them to change the plans and not take your property. The answer to your question is yes, you can fight eminent domain. The good news is is the governmental agency pays your attorney fees if they are successful and so the attorney gets paid in addition to you getting paid if the governmental condemning authority is successful.

I’m not sure how they measure the attorney fees if you are successful in defeating the taking itself. If you have a question, or have an eminent domain situation, give me a call at 727-847-2288 and I’ll head you in the right direction. Thank you.

Video Summary

What are squatters rights? Well, squatters really do not have any rights whenever they simply move into the property and they don’t have any right to move into the property. It could even be considered a crime as far as breaking and entering as far as that’s concerned. We’ve seen a lot of this whenever folks find that houses are in foreclosure and have been abandoned. Sometimes they simply move in and sit there and they’re squatters and there’s no one that files a complaint about breaking and entering in order to have them removed.

If they’ve entered the property and no one really knows when they did it or why they’re there or who is there, well then that’s problematic and you then have to go through an action and it’s called an unlawful detainer action. You simply file an action saying that, “Look, I’m the owner or I’m the property manager or I’ve leased the property,” you have a right of possession and these folks have entered into possession.

You can have them removed the same way as if you have let someone such as a relative move into a house of theirs because they just needed to stay there for a few months until they got on their feet or their house was built or some other reason, and here it is a couple of years later and they’re still there and they don’t want to move and that the rent’s right and that you’re paying everything. You can then turn around and terminate that or give them notice and you can have them removed under the unlawful detainer statute.

You can’t do it under the eviction statute and the landlord-tenant statute because they’re not tenants and they’re not paying you any rent. As far as squatters are concerned, they’re usually complete strangers and they’re just opportunists who have moved in some abandoned property or what appears to be abandoned, and they really have no rights. However you as the owner of the property may be under the obligation to file an action, have them removed.

There was a scam going on out there where some folks had a service that they were trying to claim ownership of the property by posting something on the door and they would claim that they were claiming this by adverse possession and then they would turn around and rent the property to some unsuspecting person when it was simply being abandoned. I think those folks may have had some problems as far as fraud’s concerned. They certainly didn’t understand adverse possession and how that works.

If you’re a squatter, well good luck. You’re not long for staying there whenever the person who is entitled to possession finds out, they can file an unlawful detainer action. If you’ve got some squatters and you need to get rid of them, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What is Adverse Possession and How Does It Work? Well, whenever you ask a Board Certified Real Estate Lawyer about adverse possession, he puts it in the context of real estate. There is a Statute, which allows you if you have, you possess the property adversely. Meaning that you’re living there and you have what they call Open and Notorious Possession of the property. Means that you probably fenced it or it’s been enclosed by a fence, and you’re not there with permission of the owner of the property. That means that you’re possessing the property adversely.

This can happen, particularly if you believe you own the property, and you might have a Deed to it, and so you’re living there, and yet there’s other people who are claiming ownership. Under that scenario, you can then file what they call a Suit to Quiet Title to eliminate the interest of any other parties, because you have what they call Color of Title. Meaning you have a Deed to the property and that you are there, and you have open and notorious possession. Meaning that you’re living there and it’s not like it’s you’re living in another State, but you’re possessing it.

Then, in addition to that, you need to be paying the taxes on the property, and after seven years of paying the taxes, as well as having some sort of Deed to the property, you can then file a Suit to Quiet Title, based upon Adverse Possession. Now, there’s a problem, however, whenever someone moves into the property, and they don’t have the Deed to the property. They can possess the property adversely. Meaning if someone is out of State, or someone’s died, and no one objects, basically a squatter that moves in and takes over the property.

Well, they’re possessing the property adversely. However, that does not mean that they will eventually have a right to claim ownership of the property, just because they have possessed the property adversely or they’re living there, and they can be subject to a cause of action, which would depossess them of the property, and it’s not a defense to say, “Oh, I’ve been living here for seven years, and oh, I’ve been paying the taxes.” Well, that doesn’t work. However, if they live there and there’s a particular form with the Property Appraiser’s Office that you can complete that says that you wish to return the property for taxes. It’s a particular form that you complete and say, “Send me the tax bill. The purpose of this is that I’m going to pay the taxes for seven years, and after seven years, and I’ve occupied the property, well, then I’m in a position to file a suit to Quiet Title.” That’s another way to obtain title by adversely possession of the property.

Some folks are concerned about when their neighbor’s fence is over their property line by a foot, or a few feet, or whatever. They’re concerned about their neighbor trying to claim their property, they’re losing ownership. That doesn’t happen, because they don’t have title, and furthermore, you could consider consent, so that’s the other thing. Is if you let your relative, or anybody else, your friend, or whatever, live on the property and they pay the taxes, or whatever.

They’re living there with your consent, and so they cannot later claim some kind of ownership, because they are not claiming it adversely. Whenever your neighbor’s fence is on your property, probably the worst thing that you could do was to say, “Move your fence,” and then not do anything about it, because then it would show that they’re adversely possessing a part of it. If you just leave it there, well, they can’t say that they were possessing your property adversely, just because you being a good neighbor, and let them maintain their fence.

If you have any questions about adverse possession and trying to build title, you can give me a call at 727-847-2288. Let me remind you, if you’re viewing this out of State, that I’m a Board Certified Real Estate Attorney in the State of Florida. I can’t give you any advice as far as any other State is involved, and so what I say on this video is, “Florida Specific.” My phone number again is 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

When Would I Need A Quitclaim Deed? Well, first let’s talk about, “What is a quitclaim deed?” A quitclaim deed says that, “I convey to you whatever interest I may have in the property that I am conveying to you.” It’s not saying that you have any ownership interest whatsoever. Most of the time, quitclaim deeds are the primary purpose whenever lawyers use them, is usually in conjunction with clearing the title to real estate. You simply say, “Well, look. I’m not warranting,” meaning that I’m not asserting that I have ownership, like what you do under a Warranty Deed. You’re simply saying, “Look. Here it is. Whatever problems there are with the title to the property, you’ve got them. Whether there’s liens against it, whatever the situation is, here’s a quitclaim deed. I’m simply transferring the property.”

I find that I field calls all the time, or people suggest to me the solution to their real estate title problems is getting a quitclaim deed, and I suggest to these folks that talk to me about their solution, as far as using a quitclaim deed, is the operative word is a Deed or a Conveyance, so you need to look at the particular circumstance as to what kind of deed do you want to use and the intended purpose. That many people throw that term around, “Well, I’ll just use a quitclaim deed,” and thinking that that is a cure-all to any particular problems. It’s unfortunate that sometimes when people just use a quitclaim deed, not thinking that that could cause them problems down the line. Well, it can, and also the conveyance must comply with the requirements of the Florida Law, and need to show the meritable status, and exactly what they are transferring. A quitclaim deed is simply a deed that does not have any warranties and says that, “Look. Whatever interest I have in property, I am transferring to you.”

I would encourage you if you’re dealing, or looking to buy some property, and the person says, “Oh, we’ll take care of this. We’ll just use, I’ll give you a quitclaim deed to the property, and you give me X number of dollars, or whatever.” Be very cautious on that. You need, particularly, if it’s, usually it’s a substantial investment if it’s a house or property, and you may wind up with nothing. That’s the reason why we have title insurance, and for a few hundred dollars or hundreds of dollars, you can verify that you’re actually getting marketable title to the property, or at least know what the liens are against the property. Don’t take someone’s word for it and simply have them execute a deed, a quitclaim deed, whenever you’re paying them good money for the property. Quitclaim deeds are usually used to clear up people’s interest in property, where you’re not purchasing it from them, and it certainly isn’t a cure-all. If you have any questions about quitclaim deeds, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Am I allowed to trim my neighbor’s tree that hangs over the property line? The answer to the question is yes, you own from your property line to the center of the earth to the heavens, and so if your neighbor’s limbs or tree hangs over your property line, well, yes you can. Now the only caveat to that is that you can’t go over on his property to do the trimming, because that would be trespassing, but as long as you can trim it in your side of the fence, or your side of the property line, well, that works just fine. The question I get most of the time, however, is not that whether or not you can trim the tree, is whether or not you can make your neighbor trim his tree that’s hanging over your property line and dropping leaves or pine needles, or debris on your pool enclosure, or on your lot, or gets overgrown, and is sort of impairing your use of your property?

I have a standard response to either of these questions, which sometimes begs the question is, is I suggest you maybe talk to your neighbor about it, and ask him if he wouldn’t mind trimming the tree, or taking care of this, because of your problem. Well, usually when I give that sage advice is, “I’ve been there and done that. Unfortunately the neighbor is not very receptive,” and I clean that up substantially, as far as that suggestion is concerned, and has pretty well told me to take a long walk off a short pier, and so we don’t, we’re not making much progress. I tell them, “Well, you’re not in a position to do much other than take care of the problem yourself.” If they had bushes or whatever, you might let them know that whenever you do the trimming, it isn’t pretty, so that they just need to be aware.

If they want to take care of it, fine, but if you have to do it at your expense, well, it’s going to be fairly efficient as far as that concern. They say, “Well, can I sue him or whatever?” The answer to that is is, “Well, yes, but that’s not a very practical remedy, and that landscape guys are a lot cheaper than lawyers, so you could possibly sue your neighbor for nuisance if this continues to drop debris on your side of the property, but by the time you got done doing that with the lawyer, well, you could have probably had a lifetime of maintenance as far as cleaning the property up, and taking care of a matter yourself.”

One other thing as far as trees are concerned is what happens if your neighbor has a tree on his property, storm comes along, blows the tree over onto your property, or it blows it over on your house, or damages your property? Is the neighbor liable? The answer is no, he isn’t liable because it’s an act of God, and so you have to rely upon your own insurance, and oh, by the way, the insurance company isn’t going to pay to have a two year old oak tree hauled out of your back yard, so it’s always good to have good relationship with your neighbor, if that’s at all possible. Now there is an exception to the tree blowing over, is if the tree is diseased or it’s rotted or decayed, you need to put your neighbor on notice if he’s not taking care of matters.

Let him know that he’s being negligent and not maintaining the tree, and if it does blow over on your property, that he will be responsible for your damages, so you would have a cause of action against him for your expenses, which would probably in small claims, up to $5,000, but you should send him a little letter or a notice that’s saying, “Look, you need to take care of that tree. It’s dead. We have a bad windstorm, I’m concerned it’ll blow over on my property, and damage my house, or cause me to have to clean up, and so we’ll look to you to take care of the matter.” Hopefully, you don’t have any problems with your neighbor. Probably you don’t have a good legal solution, but if you do have some questions about real property, give me a call at 727-847-2288.