When buying or selling real estate, it's a good idea to make sure the deed actually conveys what you intend to covey. However, if it doesn't, acting sooner rather than later to correct the deed is preferable to waiting 2 ½ years.

In the recent case of Brenda Benz-Elliott v. Barrett Enterprises, LP, et al., the Court discussed the nearly 7 year history of litigation between the buyer and seller which included at least 1 trip to the Tennessee Supreme Court. In essence, the litigation resulted from an omission in the real estate deed which failed to include the seller's reservation of a 60-foot strip of land providing her road access to her remaining 86 acres of land after agreeing to sell 5 acres to her neighbor, the noted firearms manufacturer. The sales contract specifically reserved the strip of land, but whoever drafted the deed of conveyance apparently failed to include the reservation and the property was conveyed without the reservation.

Once the seller realized the mistake – 2 ½ years after the property was sold – she requested a deed of correction, but was rebuffed, thus setting in motion nearly a decade of litigation. Eventually, the seller prevailed, received monetary compensation, and ended up with a road leading to her back acreage. In prevailing, she defeated several seemingly reasonable arguments that she waived her right to enforce the contract by waiting as long as she did to bring suit. Fortunately for her; however, the Court found her suit to be timely.

One can only wonder how much money and time could have been saved had the seller paid more attention to her deed before signing it or at least read it before 2 ½ years passed.

Brenda Benz-Elliott v. Barrett Enterprises, LP, et al., No. M2013-00270-COA-R3-CV, (Tenn. Ct. App. Aug. 14, 2015).