Also included in your preliminary title reports are deed restrictions. These are any legally binding documents that became attached to your property at some point. Many are easements for utilities or roads. In Alaska, blanket easements for utilities are common.
An easement grants use of your land to another party for a specific purpose. For instance, utility easements allow utility companies to access your property to put up lines and bury cable. The property is still yours; you're just granting a long term right to use.
Blanket easements are typically vacated in favor of specified easements when property is subdivided. With specified easements, the area which can be accessed is limited to, say, a certain distance from the property line. Generally, permanent improvements should not be build on top of specific easements. An exception would be driveways, which logically will cross road easements to provide access. Permanent improvements don't usually include sheds or even decks.
If there's a need to remove an easement from your property, you can use a process called "vacation" of the easement. An attorney draws up a document to be signed by all those who benefit from the easement - for instance, all utility companies if it's a utility easement - saying they are vacating their interest in the easement. The document is then recorded, where it runs with the land, meaning it's attached for perpetuity.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
COVENANTS
One of the goodies in your title prelim - hopefully something that comes as no surprise - are any covenants attached to your property. Covenants are restrictions "agreed upon" by homeowners in a particular subdivision or association. Generally they are put in place by developers who want to maintain certain standards that will help maintain values within the subdivision.
Covenants in Alaska tend to be not as restrictive as in the Lower 48. Typical provisions include minimum lot size, structure size, setback requirements (how far structures must be from the property line), and number or type of animals on the property (to exclude dog teams or commercial livestock). You may find some quirks hidden within the covenants. In Fairbanks, the late Joe Vogler, the eccentric and sometimes crotchety head of the Alaska Independence Party, hated cottonwood trees. When he subdivided several parcels, he banished cottonwoods by means of the covenants. Easier said than done, as cottonwoods grow naturally and profusely in the Fairbanks hillside.
Independent guys like Joe shun government restrictions, but that's the thing about covenants - they're private restrictions, unenforceable except if the other covenant holders take civil action in a court of law. Similarly, the covenants may be amended by unanimous consent of the property owners, which is how a lot of old Joe's "no cottonwood" restrictions fell off the books.
Covenants in Alaska tend to be not as restrictive as in the Lower 48. Typical provisions include minimum lot size, structure size, setback requirements (how far structures must be from the property line), and number or type of animals on the property (to exclude dog teams or commercial livestock). You may find some quirks hidden within the covenants. In Fairbanks, the late Joe Vogler, the eccentric and sometimes crotchety head of the Alaska Independence Party, hated cottonwood trees. When he subdivided several parcels, he banished cottonwoods by means of the covenants. Easier said than done, as cottonwoods grow naturally and profusely in the Fairbanks hillside.
Independent guys like Joe shun government restrictions, but that's the thing about covenants - they're private restrictions, unenforceable except if the other covenant holders take civil action in a court of law. Similarly, the covenants may be amended by unanimous consent of the property owners, which is how a lot of old Joe's "no cottonwood" restrictions fell off the books.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
PRELIMINARY TITLE REPORTS
Prior to closing, both Realtors involved in a transaction receive preliminary title reports, also called "prelims." At closing, the buyers receive a copy as well. Within these reports are the relevant documents uncovered by the title company's search of the the recorded documents related to the property, including warranty deeds, deeds of trust and other liens, covenants, private agreements and easements that "run with the land." Any of these documents that "survive" the transaction (most everything besides the warranty deeds, liens, deeds of trust, and promissory notes that are transferred or paid off at closing) should have been provided to the buyers as a courtesy through the Realtors before the offer was made.
If you're purchasing without a Realtor, you might want to either try to search these documents yourself through the state recorder's office before making an offer, or include a clause in your offers requiring the seller to provide a preliminary title commitment within a few days of accepting the offer, with an escape clause if your review of the documents proves unsatisfactory. The title company will charge a fee, usually born by the seller, for preparing the preliminary title report.
Alaska, like many Western states, uses title insurance rather than a title search. But part of the insurance process involves a preliminary search to make sure the property is insurable. In older states, usually in the Midwest and the East, attorneys perform title searches. But there's no insurance to protect the seller or the buyer.
If you're purchasing without a Realtor, you might want to either try to search these documents yourself through the state recorder's office before making an offer, or include a clause in your offers requiring the seller to provide a preliminary title commitment within a few days of accepting the offer, with an escape clause if your review of the documents proves unsatisfactory. The title company will charge a fee, usually born by the seller, for preparing the preliminary title report.
Alaska, like many Western states, uses title insurance rather than a title search. But part of the insurance process involves a preliminary search to make sure the property is insurable. In older states, usually in the Midwest and the East, attorneys perform title searches. But there's no insurance to protect the seller or the buyer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
