Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Property owner stunned after $500,000 house built on wrong lot: ‘Are you kidding me?’

Tell me that doesn't sound like a bat crap crazy LIB!

I wonder if a title company is involved?

Yes, but also a layman's legal strategy. "Your Honor, the property was so unique as to be irreplaceable. You should award damages at 3X it's actual market value."

Clear title is the key!

Different states have different laws, but in Louisiana, you buy tax delinquent property at a Sheriff's sale, and you do not get a clear title. In fact the delinquent owners can buy the property back from you, but they have to pay a steep penalty. If they pay the penalty, you have to let them have it.

An Air Force female didn't like a builder building on his land that was behind her home. He paid for and built her a nice tall privacy fence to shut her up. That only lasted a couple of weeks- then she was back to complaining about noise, a piece of trash blew into her yards etc. etc. .
She then Sued him because the overhangs on the houses put them over the property line. Surveyors and others testified that measurements were based on walls. A Judge agreed with the woman and three houses had to be cobbled up looking because of her.
The builder tore the privacy fence down and the minute that legal construction could start- 7:30am he started making as much noise as possible. He didn't sell the house directly behind hers on purpose.
He had roll-off steel dumpsters dropped right on the property line and every morning at 7:30am he threw the same Pavers into the dumpster over & over. Cops called but nothing could be done- this went on for a long time.

https://www.kwtx.com/2024/03/27/pro...hIiTqsE1FdIGF49H0jykE78ufN7CXJqwHLdLVSY2

By Daryl Huff and Jordan Gartner
Published: Mar. 27, 2024 at 6:19 PM CDT

HONOLULU (KHNL/Gray News) - A construction company has reportedly built a half-million-dollar house on the wrong property.

Hawaii News Now reports that the lot owner doesn’t want the house and has endured problems like higher taxes and squatters.

Now, to add insult to injury, she’s being sued over someone else’s mistake.

The still vacant three-bedroom, two-bath house on a 1-acre lot in Puna’s Hawaiian Paradise Park is worth about $500,000. But it could cost a lot of people more than that as they head to court to sort it out.

It all started in 2018 when Annaleine “Anne” Reynolds thought she’d found the perfect, serene parcel in Paradise Park to host her meditative healing women’s retreats.

“There’s a sacredness to it and the one that I chose to buy had all the right qualities,” she said.

The price was also right — available in a county tax auction for about $22,500.

But while she waited in California through the pandemic for the right time to use it, the lot was bulldozed, and a house was built on the property.

She was unaware of the construction until she got a call last year from a real estate broker who had learned of the mistake.

“He told me, ‘I just sold the house, and it happens to be on your property. So, we need to resolve this,’” Reynolds said. “And I was like, what? Are you kidding me?”

PJ’s Construction was reportedly hired by developer Keaau Development Partnership to build about a dozen homes on properties that developers bought in the subdivision, where the lots are identified by telephone poles.

An attorney for PJ’s Construction said the developers didn’t want to hire surveyors.

Honolulu attorney James DiPasquale was hired by Reynolds when she was sued along with everyone associated with the property or construction.

“There’s a lot of fingers being pointed between the developer and the contractor and some subs,” DiPasquale said.

Because it can’t be sold, the house has become a nightmare for Reynolds. A neighbor told Hawaii News Now that squatters were immediately attracted to the brand-new vacant house.

“Before they put the fence on the property there were people coming, looking inside,” he said.

Reynolds said she discovered they’d done more than just look, as she found feces inside the house when checking the property.

“It was so disgusting,” she said.

Along with the cost of fencing, Reynolds said she’s paying property taxes that went from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.

The developers have tried to settle the issue.

Reynold’s attorney said they offered to swap her their lot right next door or sell her the house at a discount.

But she has refused both offers.

“It would set a dangerous precedent if you could go onto someone else’s land, build anything you want, and then sue that individual for the value of it,” DiPasquale said.

After trying to resolve the problem, Keaau Development Partnership sued PJ’s Construction, the architect, the prior property owner’s family, and the county, which approved the permits.

They also sued Reynolds.

“It’s awful. It’s awful,” she said.

A couple years ago the same thing happened to a lady. Someone built a house on her lot accidentally. When the house was finished, she tried to move into and said tough knuckles. The builder took her to court and the landowner lost. Seems she drove by her lot daily on her way to work and watched the house being built and said nothing and would even brag that she was getting a new house for free. IIRC the case was settled when the landowner paid actual construction costs of new home.