Our View is Being Replaced with Houses

[ArizonaRalphie]

In 2003 we signed a deal for a new house, in a new community in Arizona. Our home (along with 24 others) is on a rim with our back facing open spaces. 500 feet behind us is another rim upon which we were told it was not economically feasible to build. Other neighbors were told it was BLM land, which it is NOT. We paid an $18,000 premium for this lot which is no larger than others in the neighborhood, so assumed the premium was for the view.

The CC&R's also indicate that our home is in a special "view corridor" which required us to install open iron fencing at our real property line and 20 feet back on each side, which would seem to re-inforce the "view lot" idea.

There has been recent surveying activity on this ridge and, when I contacted the developer, I was told that 40 or 50 "upscale" homes are going to be built which, of course, will ruin our view.

Do I/We have any recourse? I'd at least hope to recoup our $18,000 lot premium.

ArizonaRalphie

 

[NYClex]

That depends on teh question if there was any misrepresentation underlying the contract. If the seller knew for example that this would be the happening, there might have been a fraudulent misrepresentation and that could lead to damages. If the seller stated that this was BLM land and it never was, and that was a fact that induced buyer to buy the lot, this also might be such a misrepresentation. If on the other hand the seller was as unaware as everyone else that there would be later development, it will be much harder to make him liable for this. If the seller only said "it is not economically feasible to build there, first of all this was only his opinion, and second, this does not mean that someone won't build there, so that very probably is not a misrepresentation. It also depends on the contract, as you already noticed it is not clear what the "premium" was for. And so on. These factors must be determined before one can say if this is actionable or not, so you should consult an attorney about this who will read the contract, the CC&Rs and everything else to evaluate if you have a case or not.