real-estate
Misrepresented Land Sale in Arkansas
<p>They realtor selling land in Arkansas listed a 10 acre tract for sale with pictures of the property, and specific information, such as &quot;at the corner of county road &quot;blank&quot; and highway &quot;blank&quot; with county and state road access&quot;, and &quot;mature pine plantation ready for immediate income opportunities&quot;, as the pines were at maturity. We went under contract for the land. It was a cash transaction. The survey took 2 months to complete, as the seller couldn't find anyone to survey the property. Our realtor found a surveyor, although the seller (a timber company) paid for it. We have spent months improving the land with fencing, brush hogging, adding a culvert, etc. The property was flagged, but we thought we received a terrible survey crew. It turned out those flags were the starting points to survey our &quot;actual&quot; land. 6 months post sale, a timber company contacts us, and notifies us that we have a gate on their land.</p>
<p>Facts:</p>
<ol>
<li>County Assessor had the parcels flipped on their mapping of the 10 acre property we thought we bought and the 10 acre property North of us (that legally we actually bought)
1.a. The same timber company that notified us that we were on their land were trying to sell
our actually owned land for 3 months, as the parcels were flipped.</li>
<li>We purchased based on all of the incorrect pictures the realtor posted and the precise comments of &quot;mature pine ready for immediate income&quot;, &quot;county and state road access&quot;, and multiple home sites to build on&quot;. The actual land has almost no pine trees, is not ready for immediate income, and the terrain in so awful that there are no places to legitimately build a home on or even get to it.</li>
</ol>
<p>Do we have any recourse? If so, would it be against the timber company seller or the timber seller's agent? It's our first land purchase. We know better for next time. For the record, the survey ended up being done on the &quot;correct&quot; property, although the property we thought we purchased mimics the 10 acre square layout of the property we found out we actually purchased.</p>

<p>Puffery in real estate advertising will not create a legal remedy for you, such as recission of the sale. In the US, the buyer is expected to diligently evaluate the property and decide whether it meets their requirements or not. However, posting pictures of the wrong lot could be actionable negligence, so if you can establish that the selling agent negligently (or even willfully) misrepresented the property, he could he held liable (which is why they have “errors and omissions” insurance). It also sounds like the selling agent was <em>not</em> negligent, he was relying on bad information from the county, but it is still possible that he wasn’t paying enough attention to what the seller said when they listed the lot.</p>
<p>It is virtually certain that you cannot sue the county for mixing up parcels. Assessor websites standardly disclaim liability for map errors and they warn you not to rely on those easily-accessible maps for anything that matters. Because of sovereign immunity, you cannot hold the government responsible for such mistakes. It also sounds like the surveyors did the survey based on the actual legal description, but you did not realize that what they surveyed was not what you thought you were buying. The survey is the “you should have realized” information that will probably protect others from liability to you.</p>
<p>Clearly, this is a case where you should lawyer up.</p>

<p>Normally, defects in property determinable by physical inspection (e.g. a lack of pine trees) are not actionable. You are supposed to do due diligence and object to the condition and get out of the contract if due diligence doesn't pan out.</p>
<p>Title companies and surveyors are supposed to flag boundary and title issues and make sure you are buying the lot that you think you are. If that doesn't come out clean you shouldn't close the deal. If the title insurance company is wrong, usually title insurance will provide a remedy.</p>
