Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
land lein
Hi - this is to Bryan to tell you a bit more, and thank you. My ex-bro( Scott) is losing his house in Amherst, the land is in Hanover. He is about to get foreclosed on his home in Amherst. At that time he asked if I wanted to still buy all or part of the farmland (my family used to own) so I sent him 1000 to come up to date on the farmland in Hanover, and agreed to buy half of the 6 acres( total owed on the land is 30,000) so we would split the land in half and each owe 15,000 - though currently everything is in his name and we were going to split the monthly note. That is my question, how do I get my name on the title? And will that protect our joint owned land if the bank forecloses on his other home in Amherst. The farmland has a small cottage on it. Also should we refinance in my name, I have much better credit, but credit is difficult to get now so...? Thanks
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: land lein
Amherst and Hanover sound like Massachusetts or New Hampshire, not California. Are you sure California law applies to this situation? My previous answer was based upon California law... that of other states may be different, and I would not be qualified to give you an answer.
If these places are in California, I'd say that you cannot buy three of the six acres, and he cannot sell it to you, because it is a subdivision for which approval is required under the provisions of the Subdivision Map Act.
That would require consistency with the minimum parcel size requirements of local zoning, as well as approval of the lender, which it might give, but that would require re-doing the deed of trust to show the two separate new parcels.
Instead, it might be easier to buy a half interest in the entire six acres. There would then be but a single six-acre parcel, as now, but it would be co-owned by the two of you as tenants in common. Another possibility is to lend him the money and secure the loan with a deed of trust, rather than becoming a co-owner, which can lead to complications later on.
The key thing here is to understand the difference between being half owner of six acres, and sole owner of three acres. Each takes different wording on the deed; the latter requires approval; and the former creates a relationship that could present problems later on if you disagree about what to do with the co-owned parcel.
My advice is to retain a lawyer in the state where the property is.
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