The driveway belongs to the neighbor, and Chinese people suffer big losses when buying a house

The driveway belongs to the neighbor, and Chinese people suffer big losses when buying a house. A Chinese couple recently bought a two-family house in Brooklyn, but they only learned after the transfer that it leads to the parking space behind the house...

The driveway belongs to the neighbor, and Chinese people suffer big losses when buying a house. A Chinese couple recently purchased a two-family detached house in Brooklyn. However, they learned after the transfer that the property rights to the driveway leading to the parking space behind the house belonged to their neighbor, and that the parking space was built illegally. They then realized that they had been deceived by the real estate agent, the original owner, and the lawyer. The couple, who was refused permission to drive in and out of their driveway by their neighbors, went to the American Fujian Association for help on the 8th. The couple surnamed Pan said that after being introduced by a real estate agent recommended by a fellow villager, they took a fancy to a two-family house on Bay 25th Street in Brooklyn. The cement floor in the backyard was introduced by the landlord and agent as a parking space, which can be used after moving in. The house was sold for 735,000 yuan on June 16, and the entire purchase and sale process was monitored by a lawyer. After moving into their new home, the couple surnamed Pan were told by their Chinese neighbor on the driveway that the property rights of the driveway belonged to the neighbor. The Pan family could only use the driveway under special circumstances such as transporting materials for house decoration. They were not allowed to use the driveway to park in the backyard. The neighbor also refused to remove the fence surrounding the Pan family’s parking space, emphasizing that the ownership of the driveway belonged to the family. The couple surnamed Pan hired a lawyer to check the COO of the house, and found that the parking space in the backyard was originally a swimming pool, but was later converted into a cement floor by the original owner and illegally used as a parking space. The 8-foot-wide passage (Easement) between the two houses where the driveway is located belongs to the neighbor and is used for lighting, ventilation, and access during decoration. After spending a lot of money to buy a house, the driveway was refused to be used, leaving the parking space in the backyard useless. The couple surnamed Pan were very helpless and annoyed. They blamed the real estate agent and the original owner for concealing the truth, and they were also dissatisfied with the lawyer for not fulfilling their responsibilities. They heard that the neighbor refused to allow the Pan family to use the driveway as a driveway because, according to New York City law, after the neighbor has used the driveway for more than ten years, it is considered the owner's approval of the driveway's use and is no longer a restricted access road. Dai Yu, legal counsel of the Fujian Association, said that the housing market has been sluggish in recent years, and it cannot be ruled out that some real estate agents deliberately conceal defects in the houses from buyers in order to close the house sale as soon as possible. He suggested that the couple surnamed Pan negotiate and ask their neighbors for permission to share the driveway; or they could try to obtain the consent of their neighbors and obtain the right to use the driveway through leasing.