- Quiet Title Actions – We represent national title insurers as well as individuals, seeking to cure title defects ranging from misidentified title plans, deed description errors, conveyancing errors, and missing elements in the chain of title. A recent action in Rhode Island Superior Court involved a plot plan that misidentified one property for another, a prior quiet title action that misidentified the property in another error, and our successful effort to expedite a hearing during the pandemic to vacate a judgment and finally, properly, quiet title to the property.
- Encroachments and Adverse Possession – Adverse possession claims arise more often than a Massachusetts homeowner might think. As the primary asset for many households, problems come up when Massachusetts boundary lines and plot plans stretch back sometimes hundreds of years. A recent dispute between two neighbors illustrates a common source of these boundary disputes: new fencing one neighbor seeks to install. Upon a survey to appropriately place the new fencing, it was discovered the boundary line between the two properties was not where either neighbor thought. Claims of adverse possession ensued, with the matter likely requiring adjudication to resolve the issue.
- Preliminary Relief – We regularly protect residential property purchasers’ interests by seeking preliminary relief through notice of lis pendens, a judicial mechanism halting the sale of real property until a dispute is resolved. In a recent matter our client, the purchaser of a multifamily dwelling, learned of multiple hidden defects prior to closing. The seller sought to sell to the next buyer despite language in the purchase and sale agreement allowing for a revision of the purchase price. Our efforts in Massachusetts Land Court successfully prevented the seller from moving on to next purchaser, prompting re-negotiations regarding price in light of defects. A sale quickly resolved.
- Zoning Appeals – We appear regularly before zoning boards, and a recent example is seeking relief from a Metrowest the zoning board of appeals to help a client obtain a special permit in light of a newly discovered title defect.
- We recently successfully negotiated a claim of legal malpractice for buyer’s counsel’s failure to monitor dates of purchase and sale agreement.
