You need to be sure of several things when buying a house. For example, you need to know you can get the funding and the house is structurally sound. Another is that the title is clean.
Occasionally someone offers a property for sale, knowing it is not theirs to sell. Yet, more often, people fail to realize there are more minor issues with their titles. Before you agree to buy, you should always get these sorted. A quiet title action can help you do that.
Here are some title issues you may need to clarify:
Boundaries
Fencelines can be a particular problem. People sometimes move new fences slightly to one side to avoid having to take out the old posts. If someone replaces a wall with a thicker one, it can also intrude across boundary lines. Older properties might also have the issue that the boundaries were never drawn or recorded with sufficient accuracy.
Access rights of others
Buying a piece of real estate does not necessarily guarantee that no one else can walk across your land. An easement may give certain people the right to continue doing so. For example, a power company may retain access to reach its transformers for maintenance work.
Some easements pass with the property. Others die when the property changes hands or when a certain time expires. They are not necessarily a problem as long as you know about them beforehand.
Consider legal help when you are ready to close on a property. There’s a lot you might not know, and mistakes can be costly.