Originally posted by @Matt Devincenzo:
Originally posted by @Steve White:
Hi I did some research along with reading a Ownership and encumbrance report and found no mention of a existing easement on the lot I purchased at the tax deed county auction.
Ive been told the easement is recorded in the official record books and have a book and page to research.
The problem I have is there is no mention of it in the property legal description or any past deeds. Right now I can't think of a place to have looked to find this easement other then reading every official record since the county started recording.
Is it not standard practice to include mention in the legal description? The title report has no mention and I would think this might be a big encomberance.
This doesn't really surprise me. First the O&E will likely not show easements. It is more for liens, judgements and actual titled owners. The actual title report will likely show the actual easements, or mention them as being "non-plottable" which can often be the case with some easements like an electric company that has poles running across the property where the description is "3' on either side of the pole".
If it still doesn't show up on title, that is not unheard of either. I work in Civil Engineering and we fairly frequently identify easements or other items that either aren't shown or have been incorrectly shown. It's a fairly simple fix as we notify the title company and give them the correct document to reference and they update the report.
This may be CA specific...in preparing maps and improvement plans for subdivision or construction we research existing improvement plans. Sometimes the easement or right of way dedication was done on the plan instead of a separate map. These tend to be missed more often by title so until we find it they haven't listed it. In preparing the new maps we add them to the drawing referencing the original plan and then "our" map is what has identified the actual location.
Thank you Matt it might be that easements can be ignored by the County Clerks I don't know.
Some easements could make the property about worthless for certain uses, this one would be annoyance to a buyer, certainly making it harder to sell.
Its a water well owned by a company in the area that supply's water to some of the neighbors. It is center front of the lot which is 120 foot wide and they have a 20 x 30 foot print.
I'm not wishing them to go away but I would think they should pay taxes on that lot since they earn income from it. Also my existing water well may have gone dry because of this commercial well some 50 foot away. The neighbor told me when he moved in he had to have his well drilled deeper. I have not been offered water either.
When I think of it Easements can be the biggest rip off of property owners. Its one thing for a owner to allow some one to use his/her land but to grant that into perpetuity seems to me as against the laws of nature. Whats worse is not being able to find it.
Think of the benefit to the person/corporation granted easement rights, they get something for ever and pay no tax's on it
If the easement is big enough like under high power lines the owner pays property tax for something they can't enjoy, eventually they let it go for tax's and the County winds up with land they get no tax benefit from.
Sorry for the rant on easements.
Thanks to all
