When buying land in Central Florida, many people assume they are purchasing the entire property and everything on it. They also assume they can do whatever they’d like with the land. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
When it comes to purchasing surface rights, you do have full ownership of the land, trees, plants, and buildings (everything on the surface); however, you may not own anything below or above the surface. In Florida, ownership of oil, mineral, and even the airspace can be sanctioned off from the property and sold separately. Florida courts have even found that those who have mineral rights and right of entry have superior rights over landowners with surface rights. In other words, things can get complicated fairly quickly.
When buying land in Central Florida, you need to make sure you know exactly what you’re purchasing. This is where an experienced land broker like Palmetto Realty can help.
What Are Mineral Rights?
Mineral rights are property ownership rights that permit the owner to access minerals located underneath the property. The minerals included in the mineral rights are usually gas, oil, precious metals, coal, and rare earth elements. Limestone, sand, gravel, and subsurface water are usually not included. However, these details can vary by property. It’s important to understand the concept of mineral rights because they can be sold separately from surface rights, which can have a major impact on the value of your land.
How Do I Know If I Own The Mineral Rights Under My Land?
The best way to determine who owns the mineral rights on a piece of land is to visit the courthouse and find the legal record of your property or your deed. You can also consult your local tax office, or depending on your community, you may be able to search for your title online. If you own both the minerals and surface rights, then your deed will say you own the property in “fee simple”, which is an English term that means “full, permanent, and absolute tenure of the land with the freedom to dispose of it at will.”
If the rights have been separated, then this should be noted on the deed. However, deeds aren’t always up to date. To be one hundred percent sure, you may need to hire a title research company to conduct a title search. A title company will be able to determine if rights were separated at any point in the past. This process can be fairly quick and requires minimal effort on your end. If the title company can’t make a determination, then you may need to hire a real estate attorney.
If you’re purchasing land with residential property, Florida law now requires sellers to disclose all subsurface rights to potential buyers, which makes things easier.
What Could Happen If I Don’t Own The Mineral Rights?
If you don’t own the mineral rights on a property zoned for mining and the current owner also has the right to enter, then they have the right to mine for valuable assets under your property. This can drastically impact your property value, and could even result in damage to the surface property. Of course, you would likely be entitled to some compensation if this were to occur. Even if the property isn’t zoned for mining, a future change to the code could impact your land.
If a piece of land is zoned for mining in an energy-rich area like Central Florida, mineral rights can have a tremendous amount of value. If you own the mineral rights, you also have the option to sever them yourself and sell them to a third party. As a result, it’s critical to know whether or not they’re included when assessing the value of a property.
How A Land Broker Can Help
Land transactions are very complicated and knowing whether or not mineral rights are combined with surface rights isn’t always straightforward. Given the significant potential value mineral rights have in certain areas of Central Florida, finding out what is included in the deal is very important.
An experienced land broker like Palmetto Realty can help determine what rights are included in property listing and connect you with the right legal and title resources to do any independent research prior to making the purchase. Through our hands on approach and old-school work ethic, we can help make your land investment a success.