The real estate litigation lawyers at Hawthorne & Hawthorne are accustomed to handling real estate lawsuits in the Mecklenburg County Courthouse (pictured) and throughout Southside Virginia. Let us help resolve your real estate issue.
Let the Real Estate Litigation Attorneys at Hawthorne & Hawthorne Protect Your Property Rights in Court
Although closing on a new house might be one of the happier moments in your life, unfortunately not all real estate matters end happily ever after. Our attorneys are experienced in handling many types of real estate litigation, including:
- Boundary-Line Disputes. Sometimes your neighbors disagree as to where their property ends and yours begins. Let us help you resolve this issue, either through negotiations or by filing a lawsuit to have a court declare where your boundary line is.
- Clearing Title to Family Property (Partition Suits). Property can be owned by several co-owners. This is most often true if you have inherited property, sometimes better known as “heir property” or “family property.” This type of arrangement can be confusing and frustrating, especially when it comes time to pay the property taxes or other major expenses. Fortunately, in Virginia, you are not required to co-own property with other people against your will. There is a specific type of lawsuit called a “partition suit” in which you can ask a court either to force the sale of the property or to force the division of the property into individual parcels. If you are having trouble with co-owning real estate, let us help you get out of a bad situation—which will only become worse as family members die off and split their shares up among their heirs, so contact us without delay.
- Easement Disputes. Not all real estate has public road frontage. For properties not fronting on a public road, having an easement over a neighbor’s property (in other words, permission to use a driveway and to install standard utilities) is critical. Sometimes the deeds granting these easements are poorly written. Sometimes these easements are misused. Sometimes easements were just never granted, resulting in a property being landlocked and without access to a public road. And sometimes neighbors simply rely on a handshake deal … which falls apart when someone new moves in. Whatever your easement issue, we can help you resolve it, either through negotiations or by filing a lawsuit to have a court rule as to the proper use of an existing easement or to establish a new easement (including lawsuits to establish prescriptive easements and easements by necessity).
- Enforcing Real Estate Contracts (Suits for Specific Performance). Someone who has signed a real estate contract is obligated to go through with the deal, even if they change their mind. (Note that sometimes real estate contracts do list conditions or contingencies that allow someone to get out of the deal.) If someone is trying to renege on a real estate contract, you have the right to insist on their sale or purchase of the property. The legal name for forcing someone to go through with the deal is “specific performance.” If you are having difficulty completing a real estate transaction for which there is a written real estate contract, contact us without delay to discuss your options.
- Evicting Delinquent Tenants (Unlawful Detainers). If you are a landlord, you already know that tenants don’t always pay their rent on time. Sometimes they even stop paying rent entirely or otherwise violate the terms of their lease. If you need to evict a tenant, there are technical legal requirements that you will need to follow to regain possession of the rental property. Let us help you with this process, including by sending the required notices to the tenant and by filing the lawsuit that is required to evict the delinquent tenant (which is called a “summons for unlawful detainer”).
- Foreclosures. If you help to finance the purchase of a property, and the purchaser stops making payments on the mortgage, your main remedy is to foreclose on the property. Our attorneys are experienced in navigating the complex technical requirements relating to foreclosures. (If you represent a bank, know that our attorneys are also experienced in representing local banks.) We are even able to take action in the courts to evict any holdovers after the foreclosure has taken place, if necessary.
Contact One of Our Experienced Real Estate Litigation Attorneys Today!
If your real estate issue is serious enough that you are considering a lawsuit—or if you have already been sued—you need competent legal representation to protect your interests. Our attorneys are experienced in handling real estate cases in local courts throughout Southside Virginia, including the courts in Amelia County, Appomattox County, Buckingham County, Brunswick County, Campbell County, Charlotte County, Cumberland County, Dinwiddie County, Halifax County, Lunenburg County, Mecklenburg County, Nottoway County, and Prince Edward County.
Most real estate matters involving litigation will take at least several months to resolve, so contact one of our real estate litigation lawyers to schedule your consultation without delay!
