Acres wrong in gas lease

This may ultimately be a question for an attorney to resolve but I will toss it out there and see if anyone else has had this happen. I signed my gas lease in 2011 with Chesapeake. The deed said 87 acres, the court house had it listed as 76 acres but I had heard from my late father that the 76 acre figure was wrong and it was closer to 85. So I just reviewed some new maps produced by the county and sure enough the acreage is off by about 6 acres...that is I was shorted payment for 6 acres and then of course any royalties would be shorted in the future. 

My position is that the gas company received 6 acres for free and are not entitled to this for free ( especially since it is one tract of land and they can't pick and choose which 6 acres they would like to not pay me for now ). 

 

I do not see anything in my lease that addresses an error in leasing acreage anywhere.  So I am assuming they will make it right to avoid problems with the entire lease.  6 acres isn't huge but neither should I let just slip away.  I may have to have the courthouse fix the error and I may owe a small amount of back taxes also as I calculated on 6 acres but it the county agrees they erred I would think the gas company would have to remedy the issue.

 

Has anyone had a discrepancy with what the deed says and the county records?   Any success fixing this without a ton of hassles?

 

Thanks for any input.

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Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on October 5, 2013 at 9:19am

Have the property surveyed, correct the deed if necessary, file the new deed, correct the info at the county, and then notify the o&g company.

A title attorney would be helpful.

Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on October 5, 2013 at 2:43pm

US,

Actually not as much money invested verses the lost royalties.

I would also wager that the company knows of the discrepancy and would reconcile quickly.

I find it unusual that the due diligence did not show the discrepancy.

I have actually seen where the due diligence by a company found that the lease did not reflect the true acreage and the company notified the land owner and paid them accordingly.

I am not completely familiar with this situation and can't comment definitively. But a new survey is a good start. It not only helps to resolve this situation but prevents others in the future.

It's my opinion that once there is a definitive survey the company will work with the land owner.

Permalink Reply by william george allison on October 7, 2013 at 12:40pm

i have a little differant problem.i had my land serveyed when i bought it the serveyer screwed the map up he sent me a new map it wasnt totaly correct either .i figured what the heck i know where all the pins are at .now the oil and gas company must have used this map to form a unit they got my land running away from the well instead of towards the well and the plat map shows only a small part of my land in the unit what do i do    

Permalink Reply by Hal Whitlatch on October 5, 2013 at 1:54pm

This happened to me our deed was off by 12 acres said 199 when we had it surveyed it turned out to be 211. Have it surveyed! 

Permalink Reply by mlb on October 5, 2013 at 4:34pm

Thanks for all your post.  I did put in a call to a surveyor I use for his opinion on the county survey and in case I need to use him.  I will 1st attempt to get the county to fix the error based on their own data thus saving the need for an independent survey.  If not then I will get one, cost will be a few thousand approx.

 

I tend to agree the gas company will want to fix the issue given that my lease has a Pugh clause and the 6 acres might be a deciding factor if we had to renew later on.  Plus, half the acres are in a unit and they have approached me about a well pad in the past but nothing in past 1.5 yrs. 

So the smart thing as everyone seemed to agree is to have the deed reflect the proper acreage and then there should be little problem with this or any other issues.

 

Thanks again.  ( I will post how easily or difficult the process is/gas companies response. )

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Tim Tarr on October 6, 2013 at 5:43am

First I'll say not sure about your County/State.

I know Assessor maps (property lines) way-off in my County. I was told that is not unusual for about anywhere.

Your Lease probably states "XX.XX acres more or less" or has some other language so Signing Bonus probably will not be adjusted.

Now for the future royalties, it would behoove you to use some of that Bonus money to pay for a survey. Contact a good local Lawyer to recommend a surveyor (Civil Engineer). Lawyer would know best one (most trusted by court) to use in your County.Than have lawyer file a corrective deed and update assessors "property card".

or you could wait for Division Orders and "Trust" O&G company work.

Permalink Reply by Gringo on October 6, 2013 at 12:38pm
I have dealt with this a couple of times. After purchasing land already leased I had surveyed and gained acreage. Have your property surveyed and new survey map filed in courthouse then send a letter to gas company with recorded instrument number and perdnint info as to details of acreage change and surveyors info. Send your letter registered. I am a little confused as to what acreage you leased? Deeded acreage trumps tax parcel acreage. Tax parcel acreage is commonly wrong. CHK should have went by deeded amount. Tim is right about the +\- , this should have been dealt with at time of lease signing.
Permalink Reply by mlb on October 6, 2013 at 1:57pm

Thanks,

Yes, they went by tax parcel acreage not the deed.  The deed actually says 87 acres.  I think the more or less clause would probably have some teeth if we were not talking about 7% to 10% of the entire tract of land.  If we were disputing say half an acre or less I can see it, otherwise what if you were off by 10 acres, 20 acres?  50 acres?  At what point does it become a ridiculous statement for the gas company to cling to?  I'm not sure but will find out.  Much in law is deals with the concept of intent. The intent of "more or less" was to prevent haggling over tiny fractions of land not acres of land is what I would argue.

Additionally, I have older leases ( expired ) which Chesapeake bought from another O and G company and on these it was agreed that 87 acres and it is on the old leases (made by my late father ).  So more data to show Chesapeake had at one time done there due diligence but did not in the new lease.

I will have the county on the horn tomorrow, find out who surveys etc, correct the deed and then request to be paid for the additional acres...

Will post results...good or bad. ( although it may take some time. )

Thanks again.

 

Permalink Reply by melissa humphrey on October 7, 2013 at 7:43pm

we hve reseaechd many times. legally you will get no more bonus. you need to get the maps registered now and then notify CHK and

be sure to get that 6's roto be sure to get your full royalty.

Permalink Reply by mlb on October 8, 2013 at 1:49am

Are you saying you have had this situation happen many times?  As a landowner or atty or?

I had one atty I know tell me the meaning of more or less would not involve 6 acres but a trivial amount.  He said that 6 acres goes beyond the intent of the language given the parcel size.

 

Thanks.

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