Man’s refusal to get woman’s signature can put title in question
Q: I’m buying a rental house as an investment. A couple owns the house, but it is in his name only. He absolutely refuses to get his wife’s signature on anything: the contract, deed, or any other closing documents. Am I running a big risk by buying this?
A: Well, if his wife doesn’t know he’s selling it and he keeps the money, the wife may challenge your title. It may be their homestead and you must have the wife’s signature for a conveyance of the homestead, even if it is separate property. Have you checked the wife’s ID? This woman may not be his wife. Do you know if they are married? This smells too fishy to pursue as far as we’re concerned.
Q: I offered to sublease a property from a company, but have discovered that it doesn’t own
the property. It occupies it because they have a license from the county that can be terminated by either party with 30 days’ notice. Can the company lease it to me?
A: The county has all kinds of peculiar rules on how it can buy, sell, and/or rent real estate, as do other governmental entities. I’d talk to the county about use, term and history of the existing occupancy. You need to read the underlying occupancy agreement to satisfy yourself that the county will let you operate there and the existing occupant is not violating it’s “license” by subleasing to you.
Q: I moved into a new house and discovered that my neighbor is mean, threatening and a little scary. He comes over and knocks on the door to complain about our dog, noise and everything
else under the sun. Shouldn’t the seller have warned me about this guy? Isn’t this fraud by omission? I never would have bought this house if I had known about him.
A: Believe it or not, there have a been a few cases like this that have held the seller responsible for failing to disclose a bad neighbor. These cases were California cases. Is he this way with all the other neighbors? To the best of our knowledge, Texas has had no reported cases about failing to disclose horrible neighbors.
To send a question visit www.AskGeorge.net and select the “Ask A Question” button. Answers to questions do not contain legal advice. If you wish to obtain legal advice, you should consult your own attorney. George Stephens is the broker of Stephens Properties. Charles J. Jacobus, J.D. is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Residential and Commercial Real Estate Law.