So whats with the house?

As you may know, our house sale did not complete. I will not be including any descriptive detail here but simply the gist.

Many years ago we purchased a home in 'hell'. At the time the sellers were attempting to use an old Survey which did not include the buildout into the water. Obviously, we refused it and insisted that a new Survey be done which must show that the buildout was within the boundaries of the property. This was a condition of the purchase because the water access was why we were purchasing in the first place. It was done by ABC Surveyors and showed the buildout as part of the property. We purchased the property via ABC Lawyers who represented both buyer/seller and mortgaged with ABC Bank.

Several years later we paid out the mortgage with ABC Bank and tore that old house down, rebuilding it with a bigger/better home. Before the property was built and finished, we went to ABC Bank for a Line of Credit which we would secure with cash - they declined, for no apparent reason. We then turned to DEF Bank and asked them to look at it and see if they could figure out why ABC would refuse such a deal - they could not explain. Our credit was impeccable and the Line would be secured 100% with cash.

Once the house was completed, we decided to simply get our mortgage with DEF Bank. They insisted upon a Real Property Report as the existing Survey was now 5 years old and there was a new house upon it. Reasonable. So DEF Bank (not us) asked ABC Surveyors to complete the Real Property Report. With the home and buildout being within the boundary and all being well, DEF bank provided us with a mortgage and all was cleared by ABC Lawyers. About a year after that, we got a 2nd mortgage, this was done through DEF Lawyers and all went ahead without a hitch.

Now that we have a sale of the property, the buyers again requested a new Survey. Reasonable. They asked ABC Surveyors to complete this. They did so a few days prior to closing. Suddenly, ABC Surveyors have discovered that the buildout is not within the Title/Deed boundary.

Unfortunate for them, ABC Surveyors have evidently forgotten that they did the original survey showing the boundary in the water which is what convinced us to purchase said property in the first place, Oops. Or, that after the new build they provided the bank with a Real Property Report which showed everything within the confines of our boundary. Also, both Law firms involved in this current sale have been previously involved in deals which should have caught this problem. The original mortgage, the new mortgage and the 2nd mortgage. This is why we have these professionals after all, and why they charge such exorbitant fees.

Brad contacted ABC Surveyors to advise them that they have an itsy bitsy problem and the man then called Brad back. During this conversation, Brad was quoting the purpose of a 'Surveyor' from the Surveyor Association's website to this man who advised Brad that that was 'a bit of an exaggeration'. It was evident during the call that the man had absolutely no idea that he was the original surveyor at the time of purchase.

I tell you.... you can not make this shite up.

Fortunately, DEF bank has Title insurance on our property. So there is that - the bank is protected. However, WE do not have Title insurance apparently. This disaster could ruin our impeccable credit rating... through no fault of ours. We can sue, of course and likely will. But that takes a long time and meanwhile we will be forced to suffer the consequences.

We immediately contacted the bank when we learned of all of this and are still awaiting a return call.

Obviously, we are trying to figure out what to do now. I am unable to find anything online. There is plenty where someone built after the fact and had trouble but I cannot find anything whereby the Surveyor report caused them to purchase a property which did not have clear title and/or lawyers who didn't catch it.