The Ins and Outs of Rhode Island Real Estate

When a person procures the deed to a piece of property, there are all kinds of ideas they likely have in mind for the use of that piece of real estate. Unfortunately, there are many rules that dictate what you can and cannot build or renovate upon your land. Not paying attention to the rules has resulted in dire situations for developers in the past.

For instance, take a look at this article published by The Los Angeles Times that describes legal issues one developer ran into after constructing a $1.8-million home on the wrong location. In 2009, Four Twenty Corp. built a three-story house on the waterfront in Narragansett, only to find out the land they built upon was actually owned by the local non-profit Rose Nulman Park Foundation.

According to lawyers for Four Twenty, the issue didn’t arise until 2011, when the developer attempted to sell the property. A prospective buyer ordered a land survey from a new company other than the one who completed the survey prior to construction. The resulting survey found that the house was actually situated upon land owned by the foundation.

The developer maintains that he was innocent and had no intention of building upon land intended to be reserved as parkland. The solution will not be as simple as buying the land away from the Rose Nulman Park Foundation. According to the above story, the park foundation is under contractual rules that would force them to pay $1.5 million to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital if the land is used for anything other than parkland.

The developer is now seeking to move the home in its entirety back to the proper neighboring lot. This takes a lot of work and should cost the developer about $300,000, but it’s a much more cost-effective option than having to face stiff fines and penalties.



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