Do you really own your land, or just the topsoil?

[Brian4Liberty]

It appears that there have been shenanigans in home and land sales. Sellers have secretly separated the top of the land from what is underneath. You may only own the topsoil. No wells for you.

Special Report: U.S. builders hoard mineral rights under new homes
...
But when the Davidsons paid $255,385 in 2011 for the house on Birdie Drive, they didn't know that they had, in essence, bought only from the ground up, and that their homebuilder, D.R. Horton, had kept everything underneath.

"Wait a second, wait a second," Robert Davidson said after a reporter told him that a search of county records showed that D.R. Horton still owned the oil, natural gas, water and other natural resources beneath his and his neighbors' homes. "Let me sit down a minute here. They have the mineral rights to the land I'm on?"
...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/09/us-usa-fracking-rights-specialreport-idUSBRE9980AZ20131009

 

[jllundqu]

That's uneducated home buyers for you. For one, no one ever owns land in this country. If you are forced to pay property taxes or face eviction for failure to pay, you don't own your land. Second: Don't buy track homes from mega builders in trendy neighborhoods of you don't want to run into this problem. Do you research, make sure all land and water rights are yours before you buy.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Made doubly sure I owned mineral and water rights to my land when I bought it.

'Course, none of us "own" anything, we're just serfs, renting it from government, through property taxes.

 

[angelatc]

it amazes how many folks do not read the documents they are signing, then cry foul later.

Our house in TX came without mineral rights, and i was fully aware of it because i read the freaking contracts. its not that hard.

 

[DamianTV]

All you own are belong to U.S.

 

[CPUd]

 

[heavenlyboy34]

All you own are belong to U.S.

We are the government, after all.

 

[69360]

I own water and mineral rights.

I'd rather be shot than live in a tract house.

 

[catfeathers]

Around here it's very common to not own your mineral rights. They were sold a long, long time ago in a lot of cases. The people who owned the land didn't think that there could be anything of value under it. There was, coal and natural gas.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

From the article:

In most states, sellers aren't legally required to disclose to home buyers whether they are severing the mineral rights to a property. Builders sometimes flag the move in sales contracts or deeds and other documents they are required to file with local authorities.

 

[Matt Collins]

two words: "allodial title"

Miachel Badnarik covers this in his Constitution Class video:

 

[Tod]

Not all states allow minerals to be severed from surface rights. Ohio is one that does, and with the shale boom it is getting harder to find property that still has its mineral rights.

 

[Schifference]

I think the only thing you would own are any contaminants found on the property.

 

[angelatc]

From the article:

Builders sometimes flag the move in sales contracts or deeds and other documents they are required to file with local authorities.

 

[donnay]

two words: "allodial title"

Miachel Badnarik covers this in his Constitution Class video:

Texas is the only state where you can have allodial title.


People need to check out Agenda 21.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Builders sometimes flag the move in sales contracts or deeds and other documents they are required to file with local authorities.

"Sometimes".

 

[Elias Graves]

Here in oil country, most land is separate from mineral rights. The few exceptions are those who have held the land since the land runs or lotteries.
My uncle still owns the mineral rights to his section. It's made him a pretty comfortable living leasing them to oil companies. My grand father got the property in 1893 and it went to my uncle after he passed. Uncle Frank has lived at the same address for 89 years.

 

[erowe1]

What does it mean to really own land?

I don't think land can be owned in the same sense that movable property can.

 

[Cabal]

What does it mean to really own land?

I don't think land can be owned in the same sense that movable property can.

I think when most people speak of owning land, they're referring to a specific geographical area within a set of coordinates/boundaries; I also suspect they generally presume that the physical earth and other natural components of this property is included in that sense of ownership.

 

[erowe1]

I think when most people speak of owning land, they're referring to a specific geographical area within a set of coordinates/boundaries; I also suspect they generally presume that the physical earth and other natural components of this property is included in that sense of ownership.

That tells me what land is, but not what owning it means.

How does one come to own these things?