A Nevada homebuyer received more than 80 lots of land for the price of one, thanks to a clerical error by the title company.
The homebuyer purchased a single-family home right outside of Reno for roughly $595,000, but Washoe County records showed that the buyer also acquired 84 house lots — and two separate parcels — in a different development nearby, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. Many of those house lots had already been built on and sold.
The county assessor’s office was able to find out who was responsible fairly quickly.
“It appears Westminster Title out of Las Vegas may have copied and pasted a legal description from [the developer’s] transfer when preparing [the homebuyer’s] deed for recordation,” Cori Burke, chief deputy assessor for Washoe County, told the newspaper.
Ms. Burke said that the legal description in this case was recorded as “lots 1 through 85…and Common Areas A and B.” She added that it’s not uncommon for mix-ups like these to happen, they just typically are on a much smaller scale.
Fixing the error will require the homebuyer to transfer the title back to the developers, who can then give out the titles to individual homeowners in their development.
“I think someone could try to make things difficult,” Ms. Burke told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “However, the title company also has the offer and acceptance for the purchase on file so intent is pretty clear. I would think it would be a loser in court and doubt it happens often, if at all.”
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