Real Estate Lawyers

After the sale, did you continue living there and paying the lease amount? It's difficult to expand on my answer without reading the agreement (it cannot be oral). Assuming the agreement is what you say, you might consider recording a Lis Pendens on the property. That will get everyone's attention, I can assure you. Probably also consider a quiet title action. None of that advice is necessarily relevant; it depends on what the agreement says.

If you wish to adda. name to the title, you would have to execute a quitclaim deed from the current title holder (presumably you) to the new title holders (you and whoever you are adding). Tat would then be filed in the office where land titles are filed in your county, usually the County Recorder's office.

Notwithstanding any statory formalities required for purposes of recording in the public records, in theory, any writing in which an owner intends to transfer propery that is adquatedly described and delivered to the transferee may function as a deed. However, in practice, you will find there are generally three broad categories of deeds mostly used to convey property in Georgia, depending on certain warranties, or the lack thereof, contained therein. These categorizes include warranty deeds, limited warranty deeds, and quitclaim deeds. In a warranty or general warranty deed, the grantor generally warrants title, and promises to defend the grantee against third party title claims that either arose, or which are based on events occuring at anytime during the grantor's ownership of property OR the ownership of any of the grantor's predecessors in title. In a limited warranty deed, a grantor generally only warrants and promises to defend the grantee against title claims which arose, or which are based on events occuring during the grantor's ownership. A quitclaim deed generally contains no warranties. Therefore, the grantee or transferee of a quitclaim deed has little to no recourse against the grantor if there is an issue with the title to the property based on the deed alone. Generally, in circumstances where there is a transfer of family property, between family members, in which no money is being exchanged, a quitclaim deed is fine. However, there may be certain tax consequences if the family member were to later resale the property. He/she may want to consult a tax professional prior to do so.

Your options should be set forth in your purchase and sale agreement. Most agreements provide for amendment and/or cancellation if issues are discovered and not corrected during the due diligence period or short period of time thereafter PROVIDED the seller has been placed on notice in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Regardless whether the sales agreement is amended, verifying and ensuring that the legal descriptions in the final closing documents contain a references to the survey should suffice.

A joint owner of real estate can generally encumber the property, such as by mortgaging their interest, without permission of the other joint owner. If your brother falls behind on payments, the lender could foreclose on his interest in the property. They could then probably force a sale of the property in an action for partition. To prevent this, one option would be to pay off or assume the loan and buy out your brother's interest in the real estate. Since he is behind on his loan, you could probably drive a pretty hard bargain. If you do nothing, the lender could eventually take your brother's interest in the property and force a sale.