Real estate disputes can cost you quite a bit of money—regardless if you’re a person buying a home or a corporation leasing commercial real estate. A carefully crafted contract can avoid a lot of the pitfalls.

Types of Real Estate Disputes include:

Breach of Contract: A breach of contract is a legal civil matter in which one or more parties fail to meet the responsibilities of a binding agreement or by intervening—keeping the other party from fulfilling their obligations. Neglecting to perform any of the terms of a contract without a valid legal reason will end in a breach of contract. The types of contracts include written contracts and verbal contracts. Written contracts easily present proof for breach of contract in court, and help ensure that both parties uphold the terms of an agreement. Conversely, presenting proof of a breach of contract for a verbal agreement is much more difficult and entails supporting paperwork such as e-mails, quotes, invoices, and notes.

Specific Performance: This is where forcing the party at fault to pay monetary damages isn’t enough—requiring particular action or a cease thereof on their part.

Boundary disputes or border disputes are the reason for many neighbor disputes. Surprisingly, not a lot of people know where the exact line of their property is or what the precise edges of their boundaries are. The boundary dispute can also be due to both neighbors possessing deeds that claim bits of the same land.

Co-owner disputes may arise when one owner refuses to pay rent or compensate the other owner, or pay their share of property expenses. Co-owners also disagree on management issues and can’t come to a compromise on how to handle and use the property. Unless declared in an agreement, co-owners have equal rights to the property—and responsibilities. A co-owner dispute may also take place when one party decides to end the co-ownership.

Title disputes may come up when the owners don’t agree over who owns a specific part of the land or property. The deeds created in recent times outline property boundaries a lot better than they used to. These types of disputes aren’t common and usually arise when one neighbor decides to build a new construct like a fence or a shed.

Knowing your title, deed and property records in every aspect and installing a contract that covers all your bases is the best way to make sure that property disputes don’t happen, get easily resolved in your favor if they do, and prevent you from any losses. The Winchester real estate lawyer at Spiegel & Utrera—with 175 years of experience, can help you establish an iron-clad agreement without breaking the bank! Give us a call at (800) 603-3900.

DON’T SIGN THAT LEASE—let our Winchester real estate lawyer review your lease first. With over 175 years of experience and 265,000 clients, we can make sure you’re aware of all the legal implications in what you’re signing. Avoid future headaches from property disputes, breaches of contract, fees, damages, and legal action.

CREATE A LEASE AGREEMENT—don’t settle for a free template! Formulate a lease agreement with knowledge of the legal implications of your property and business in mind. We compose business and property specific terms that avoid pitfalls and cover all your bases with both a short-term and long-term application.

In most cases, awarding monetary compensation to the non-liable or non-breaching party for losses would remedy the real estate dispute. Other remedies for real estate disputes include:

• Injunctions to discontinue or prevent an action from the liable or breaching party.
• Fines or penalties, to the breaching party as punishment and to discourage others from similar action.
• Specific performance that requires one party to perform towards completing their contractual obligations.
• A Judicial Lien on the property until all debts and compensatory action is fulfilled.