We are purchasing surface land and home,(mineral rights are not included). The owner of property has signed a lease giving Chesapeake the mineral rights. during a title search it was discovered that the owner did not have the mineral rights to do this. The mineral rights where leased out in 1950, buy I assume the original property owner, who then sold the land to the person we are purchasing from now. My question is can Chesapeake hold us liable for the miss handling of the mineral rights? or is the person we are purchasing the land and home from legally responsible for this as well as Chesapeake for not properly doing their homework? The property is located in Friendsville, Pennsylvania, Susquehanna county. My husband an do not want the minerals rights, just want to move in and get on with our lives.
If your deed is for the surface and structure only; I can’t see any way you could be held liable for minerals you never owned, Ms. Marlowe. I think in this instance plain language in the deed should be enough, but if it made you feel better a lawyer probably wouldn’t charge much to provide the statement that no minerals are purchased, in legalese.
we are in the process of purchasing the said property. our lawyer who is handling the transaction between the seller and us is dragging his feet and states that mineral rights our new to them(?).
I thank you for your helpful response.
Ms. Marlowe, it was my pleasure. I remember after closing on my house I wanted to collapse. I felt like I had been herding cats for a month.
If you were going through a title company to do this sale, all these issues would be cleared up before the Title Policy would be issued. If I were you, I would insist on going through a title company, they insure that the title to the property you purchase is clear of any defects.
In Texas, the Buyer usually asks the Seller to pay for a title policy for the Buyer's benefit in the sales contract. Like Laura said, all issues have to be cleared up before the title company will issue the policy. The title policy is your protection when buying property.
I sold some land which I had leased for oil and gas. Since I knew at the time of the signing of the lease that I was going to sell the surface and a potential Buyer would not want surface operations on the property, I excluded any surface operations from my oil and gas lease. Whenever the sales contract for the property was executed, I reserved all of the minerals under the tract being sold and provided a surface waiver to the Buyers. They were assured that no surface operations would be conducted by the oil and gas company as a result of my owning and leasing the minerals.
The minerals were reserved by me in the Warranty Deed that I executed to the Buyers. The oil company can pool my reserved minerals into an oil and gas unit they have drilled on neighbors' properties. I get the benefit of my minerals without disturbing the owners of the surface.
If Chesapeake leased the minerals from someone other than the rightful owner, the problem is theirs and not yours. They will have to deal with the person they paid the bonus money to, as well as the rightful owner.
Laura Reagan said:
If you were going through a title company to do this sale, all these issues would be cleared up before the Title Policy would be issued. If I were you, I would insist on going through a title company, they insure that the title to the property you purchase is clear of any defects.
Thank you all for your valuable information. I received a call from the lawyer’s office yesterday and we are finishing the paper work on Thursday and handing then a cashier’s check for the property. (it was a private sale). Everyone have a great day.