Fraudulent Land Purchase - Landfill Not Disclosed
I recently discovered that the land (in Texas) I purchased is a decommissioned landfill. In my purchase contract the seller (County subsidiary) did not disclose. In fact, in the contract they actually signed that they did not "know it was a landfill". I can prove they knew at time of sale because they performed an Environmental Site Assessment on the land that I have a copy of that tells them such. I also have minutes from their meetings prior to the month of my sale that acknowledge receipt of that report. There were five of us who bought this land, the first four to purchase were all not notified, the 5th was (we found that out later). Which, further proves they knew and didn't tell us.
What I want to know is, this seems pretty cut and dried case of fraud.
What am I missing that could cause issues in a fraud lawsuit?
What kind of compensation should I expect?
We turned down several other options at the time, and given what has occurred to the real estate market since I purchased this (in 2020), everything is significantly more expensive than it was and we've been priced out of several areas that we could have been in
Also, I am getting consultations set up with lawyers, what should I bring to those consultations and what sort of questions should I be asking to find the best one to take on?
Due to the financial burden this is placing on me, my least bad option for housing is building a small steel building on the property. But, that seems like it would hurt any sort of lawsuit. Any thoughts there?
Posted Jul 30, 2023, 1:27 PM UTC
What are your losses?
Loss in the value of the property is the most direct tangible loss. Effectively, in my head, we'd have to get the property value re-estimated, and go after that. However, when I was talking to the county appraiser, he wasn't sure how to value the property because he didn't have any equivalent comps to look at.
Other losses that I am not sure would apply:
I'm not sure if anything else would apply
Why are you not able to build?
Loss of property value is your best angle here. You should get it re-appraised immediately.
I will go do that.
Not able to build because my concern is that the land is worthless and investing any money at all into it would be terrible idea.