Hello everyone! I bought my house in North Fort Worth in August 2008, and have never been able to get a clear answer of whether or not I own the mineral rights. I’ve been through all the closing documentation, line by line, and it does not specify anything about owing surface only or all property rights. Well, tonight I received a letter from a firm representing a company that is leasing rights in my area, offering me a lease. I’m not sure whether or not to accept, or whether or not I CAN even accept. Should there be something specifically stating what rights I own in my home purchase documents? If it’s not explicitly stated, does that mean I own all the rights? Also, what would be considered fair for mineral rights lease? I own 0.336 acre in the Lake Worth area of North Texas.
Thanks!
Dear Mr. Kisha,
When you purchase a home, the Title companies never check the mineral history of that parcel of land. Most conveyances of residential property has a subject to that looks generally like this, “this conveyance is subject to all reservations, exceptions and easements of record.”
In a conveyance like that described above, if there are any minerals left to be conveyed, then you would receive them in the transfer.
If the landman sent a offer letter, respond that you would like to see a runsheet on the mineral title and do not warant title in the lease.
Mr. Cotten,
Thank you for your response. I just got through sending an email to the firm making the offer, stating that I’d like proof that they’ve investigated my property for rights before even considering any offers. I hate to assume, especially on legal matters, but I would imagine that they wouldn’t even have offered if they didn’t know I was the owner…right? Therefore, they would have had to do at least some minimal investigation on my property, otherwise they’d be trying to buy something I don’t have… Well, I’ll keep you posted, and thanks for your help!
Matthew Kisha
NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Mr. Kisha,
There is nowhere you can go to know in an instant whether or not you own any mineral rights on your property. The listing for my property said that I would not own the mineral rights when in fact I DO own them, so you can’t go by what the real-estate listing says. And if your home-purchase documents are silent on the matter, that does NOT mean that you will own the mineral rights to your property. The only way to know for sure is to pay a professional to research the mineral title or do it yourself.
Realtors and title companies despise the concept of mineral rights because it’s complicated and puts more work between them and getting paid.
To answer your questions, yes, you can sign the lease whether you own the mineral rights or not. HOWEVER, depending upon how it’s worded, you might or might not be responsible for returning your bonus money and for helping the company defend themselves in a lawsuit. So, even if you think you own the mineral rights, even if the landman tells you that you own them, insist on a “No Warranty of Title” clause. Then, if it turns out that you do not own the mineral rights, you suffer no consequences. And yes, any reputable company will have researched your property before approaching you to sign a lease.
Sincerely,
Philip Wynne
PLEASE FOLKS!! I understand the excitement of your possible windfall of "found money" and I realize all the freedoms and possibilities that may be provided to you by these, but before you make YOUR decision please watch the documentary "Gas Land"..…
Thank You
Steve,
Quit drinking the kool-aid and stop trying to sell it here. Gasland is a load of BS and if you believe that crap you might as well assume Oliver Stone is a historian and not a film maker. The facts in Gasland have been completely refuted by several government organizations. See here for the response from the COGCC:
http://cogcc.state.co.us/library/GASLAND%20DOC.pdf
If you want to sell that hippie propaganda, I suggest you grab your banjo and hop in a VW bus en route to San Fran. The people here are hard working Americans that want to see their energy produced, purchased and used from and in the USA. Isn't that better than giving it to the America hating countries to the east?
If anyone is concerned about their water, add a water well testing provision to your lease. If you don't trust the operator, call the COGCC. They will test it for you for free. Yes...free!
In closing, I would like to say God bless the USA which is the ONLY country in the world that minerals can be owned by private everyday Joes like you and me. That's a fact.
Steve said:
PLEASE FOLKS!! I understand the excitement of your possible windfall of "found money" and I realize all the freedoms and possibilities that may be provided to you by these, but before you make YOUR decision please watch the documentary "Gas Land"..…
Thank You
sure, add the water testing and if you find out that your,, and possibly your neighbors water has been ruined, well, then it's to late..... I personally thought Gas Land was a very well done documentary, and I am sure that those cases of peoples lives being ruined either from sickness, water issues, air quality are few and far between, but IMO,, one case is too many, so I say get rid of the Halliburton loop hole, expose to everyone the exact content in that fracking juice, regulate the process and protect the people, wildlife and land around these wells. I respect your land owners rights and we need alternative sources of energy and our tremendous wealth of natural gas is great, but let's do this right, profits are great but not at the expense of people, wildlife and the environment......... so while I am on my way to San Francisco in my VW micro bus, picking my banjo, sipping on my kool-aid and selling my hippie propaganda BS I hope that I can stop by the road in your beautiful state and take a deep breath of clean air and have a cool drink of clean water....
Thanks again
Phase Dos said:
Steve,
Quit drinking the kool-aid and stop trying to sell it here. Gasland is a load of BS and if you believe that crap you might as well assume Oliver Stone is a historian and not a film maker. The facts in Gasland have been completely refuted by several government organizations. See here for the response from the COGCC:
http://cogcc.state.co.us/library/GASLAND%20DOC.pdf
If you want to sell that hippie propaganda, I suggest you grab your banjo and hop in a VW bus en route to San Fran. The people here are hard working Americans that want to see their energy produced, purchased and used from and in the USA. Isn't that better than giving it to the America hating countries to the east?
If anyone is concerned about their water, add a water well testing provision to your lease. If you don't trust the operator, call the COGCC. They will test it for you for free. Yes...free!
In closing, I would like to say God bless the USA which is the ONLY country in the world that minerals can be owned by private everyday Joes like you and me. That's a fact.
Steve said:
PLEASE FOLKS!! I understand the excitement of your possible windfall of "found money" and I realize all the freedoms and possibilities that may be provided to you by these, but before you make YOUR decision please watch the documentary "Gas Land"..…
Thank You
Keri, it sounds like you have watched it and formed your opinion, I don’t agree that the man who made the film was a “punk kid with nothing better to do” I absolutely agree that we should educate ourselves and learn the TRUTH on fracking and drilling… thanks
Keri Morales said:
All I can say about GasLand Documentary is punk kid with nothing better to do... Absolute joke. People sure enjoy driving their cars, heating homes with gas, cooking, omg I could go on.... Lets get educated on the truth of drilling!
Steve said:
PLEASE FOLKS!! I understand the excitement of your possible windfall of "found money" and I realize all the freedoms and possibilities that may be provided to you by these, but before you make YOUR decision please watch the documentary "Gas Land"..…
Thank You
I wonder what the benefit or motive would be for the young man to destroy your lively hood,, maybe to sell his low budget home movie, not sure, but I think it would be easier for him to have sat on his laurels at home and collect the lease and royalties on his own property and yes maybe he could have rode a bike and slept outside but not sure it would have been practical.. Keri you have made your opinion and have the right to do so, but givin the history of the extracting of our natural resources I will be skeptical and cautious for now..
be well
Keri Morales said:
Steve~ Yes, I have seen it and formed an opinion. However, when GasLand was being filmed I happen to be working Weld Co., Colorado and came across the young man making the documentary. He needed to do more homework before atttempting to destroy lively hood of us and others. Funny thing is he sure enjoyed slandering the industry while driving cross country in his CAR. Wonder how much thought he gave to how his car was fueled, his hotels rooms were heated & cooled.... Need I say more?
Steve said:
Keri, it sounds like you have watched it and formed your opinion, I don't agree that the man who made the film was a "punk kid with nothing better to do" I absolutely agree that we should educate ourselves and learn the TRUTH on fracking and drilling... thanks
Keri Morales said:
All I can say about GasLand Documentary is punk kid with nothing better to do... Absolute joke. People sure enjoy driving their cars, heating homes with gas, cooking, omg I could go on.... Lets get educated on the truth of drilling!
Steve said:
PLEASE FOLKS!! I understand the excitement of your possible windfall of "found money" and I realize all the freedoms and possibilities that may be provided to you by these, but before you make YOUR decision please watch the documentary "Gas Land"..…
Thank You
Steve,
If you do believe we should educate ourselves then start at home and you will find that Gasland is total propaganda, biased beyond belief against the industry and initiated and distributed by the most liberal of the liberal oil haters. You can find anyone to argue any side of almost any argument, but if this was ever debated on an even playing field most if not all of their claims would be proven to be baseless. The industry is guilty of too many cases of negligence, true. However, claims that the industry is knowingly and recklessly destroying the environment are a stretch of the truth if not outright lies.
well it sure is interesting that this little homemade film can stir up such a huge defensive response from the oil and gas industry, it reminds me of the tv ads that played after the gulf oil disaster (that we are still living with) promoting the loveliness and kindness of BP and how they will take care of this because they really do care,hahaha, along with adds from others in the oil, coal, pharmaceuticals, health care, banking, chemical, plastics and so on simply promoting a beautiful image and not really a product always leave me skeptical, So I say who really has the most to gain from the “propaganda” , “the most liberal of liberal oil company hater guy” ( you use the word “liberal” like it’s profanity, you might want to explore it’s true meaning),or the oil and gas industry? , look I have no problem with you selling your oil or what ever, thats fine, but there are others who share this planet, and if what you sign onto now, destroys the water supply of someone 50 miles away from you, 50 years from now, then thats when I have a problem and you or the gas company cannot guarantee that that won’t happen, 80 percent of the secret fracking fluid stays in the ground, the rest is blowback and that is suppose to be handled like it is dangerous for the environment, so the 80 percent left under or near the ground water is not cause for concern? Like you said “the industry is guilty of too many cases of negligence” I think many of those could have been avoided with proper preventive procedures, but those sometimes cut into the profits, and thats when you get resistance on regulation, so I say drill all you want, drill baby drill and so on, but do it right and not in my yard, thanks
john howard said:
Steve,
If you do believe we should educate ourselves then start at home and you will find that Gasland is total propaganda, biased beyond belief against the industry and initiated and distributed by the most liberal of the liberal oil haters. You can find anyone to argue any side of almost any argument, but if this was ever debated on an even playing field most if not all of their claims would be proven to be baseless. The industry is guilty of too many cases of negligence, true. However, claims that the industry is knowingly and recklessly destroying the environment are a stretch of the truth if not outright lies.