My wife bought a home about a year ago. The sellers as a requirement ask that we accept to an easement with adjacent property that was also on sale pending. They presented us with a plot map and after reviewing the map we agreed. As part of the sale they also ask that we use an specific escrow company.
A few months in we talk to our new neighbors about fencing the property and encroachment easement. They showed us the same plot map we got form the sellers and that is on escrow record. However they spotted a discrepancy in the description of the easement. In the description they would get a few more feet in their favor. They also stated that the sellers had promised them more then the plot map showed.
Since then we filled a claim with escrow company (they represent but us and the neighbors) . At first they sided with them because the "engineer" that did the plot map and legal description said he turn in the wrong paper work to escrow. They showed us a plot map that had a bigger encroachment easement (in favor of other party) and it did not even match the legal description on record.
Currently escrow keeps telling us that they are not even sure if this is covered in our policy.
My questions are is escrow liable for not checking this before selling us the property. They represented both our neighbors and us during the transaction. We feel since we closed escrow first and that the encroachment easement presented to us by the sellers is the same one on record that should be the "correct one".
Any advice would be much appreciated
You are a bit mixed up as to some legal terms. First of all, an easement is different than an encroachment. An easement is a legal right to access or do something on the land of another that would otherwise be a trespass. An encroachment is a trespass. An easement cannot be an encroachment because it presumes a legal right just by its very definition.
Escrow companies do not represent people or resolve boundary disputes. You are confusing escrow with title insurance. Sometimes the same company will perform both these functions during a purchase and sale, but all an escrow is is a third party that holds funds and documents in trust until both parties to the escrow have fully performed under the escrow instructions. Easements and easement problems are an issue of title insurance, not escrows, unless granting the easement was a condition of escrow.
I'd have to review the relevant paperwork and the property to tell you who was responsible for what
You are a bit mixed up as to some legal terms. First of all, an easement is different than an encroachment. An easement is a legal right to access or do something on the land of another that would otherwise be a trespass. An encroachment is a trespass. An easement cannot be an encroachment because it presumes a legal right just by its very definition.
Escrow companies do not represent people or resolve boundary disputes. You are confusing escrow with title insurance. Sometimes the same company will perform both these functions during a purchase and sale, but all an escrow is is a third party that holds funds and documents in trust until both parties to the escrow have fully performed under the escrow instructions. Easements and easement problems are an issue of title insurance, not escrows, unless granting the easement was a condition of escrow.
I'd have to review the relevant paperwork and the property to tell you who was responsible for what
You are a bit mixed up as to some legal terms. First of all, an easement is different than an encroachment. An easement is a legal right to access or do something on the land of another that would otherwise be a trespass. An encroachment is a trespass. An easement cannot be an encroachment because it presumes a legal right just by its very definition.
Escrow companies do not represent people or resolve boundary disputes. You are confusing escrow with title insurance. Sometimes the same company will perform both these functions during a purchase and sale, but all an escrow is is a third party that holds funds and documents in trust until both parties to the escrow have fully performed under the escrow instructions. Easements and easement problems are an issue of title insurance, not escrows, unless granting the easement was a condition of escrow.
I'd have to review the relevant paperwork and the property to tell you who was responsible for what
