Getting Reimbursed for HOA-Approved Repairs

Oftentimes, members of a homeowners association that own real property in a planned unit development are faced with a situation where they need to make repairs to a home or condominium. A member’s home may have recorded covenants, conditions & restrictions on it and the areas in need of repair may be defined as’common areas’ under recorded documents or HOA vote.

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Adverse Possession: Obtaining Property Ownership Through Squatter’s Rights

Adverse possession or squatter’s rights allows title to real property to be acquired without compensation, by holding the property in a manner that conflicts with the true owner’s rights for a specified time. Adverse possession exists to cure potential or actual defects in real estate titles by putting a statute of limitations on possible litigation over such titles.

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Legality of a Unrecorded Notarized Quitclaim Deed

A quitclaim deed, which is a legal document used when one person wishes to surrender interest in shared property, should be filed with the local recorder’s office. However, even if it is not recorded at the time of signing, or not filed at all, the quitclaim deed is still legal. Recording a deed and filing the document is highly recommended and provides certain protections for the buyer, but it isn’t required to make the quitclaim legal.

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Differences Between a Residential and Commercial Lease

Although state laws vary with respect to commercial and residential leases, each state consistently makes a distinction between the two which has a big impact for both the landlord and the tenant. Every state has laws protecting the rights of tenants in residential leases stemming from the landlord’s failure to provide required safe and habitable housing to the landlord’s failure to timely return a former tenant’s security deposit. In a commercial lease between a commercial tenant and commercial landlord, the thinking in most states is pretty much the same: commercial tenants are presumed to have the training, experience, knowledge and sophistication to enter into a written commercial lease and have access to skilled third party professionals to assist them in deciding whether to enter into a commercial lease or not.

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Refusing to Close Real Estate Deal

When you enter into a purchase and sale agreement in a real estate transaction, that agreement is a binding contract. If one of the parties to a purchase and sale agreement or other agreement to buy/sell real estate refuses to close on the transaction according to the terms in the contract, the other party may seek damages for breach.

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A Life Estate in Real Property

A life estate is an ownership interest in land that allows the holder of the life estate interest possession of the property until the death of the measuring person’s life.

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Partition of Jointly Owned Property

Where joint owners cannot agree on the whether or not to sell a jointly owned piece of real estate, the party or parties seeking the sale can go to court and file an action for “partition”. A partition action involves the division of property such as a home, farm, or undeveloped land (in some cases it can also apply to certain personal property as well).

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