Submerged Land Lease

[Eric Boggs]

Hello everyone,

I am doing a residential appraisal on a house in a development that has a lease from the state of Florida (term is 5 years) for 24 boat slips. The subject is located on a dry lot 1 block from the Indian River (St. Lucie County, FL). The owner has access to one boat slip. He told me it was deeded, but I couldn't find any record of ownership in the public records, where I normally find deeded docks. I scoured the Clerk of the Court records and found the lease, from the State to the Property Owner's Association. Question: Is the boat slip real estate? The lease specifically states that the lessee is "prohibited from making any claim, including any advertisement, that said land, or use thereof, may be purchased, sold, or resold."
Thanks for your input. E

 

[AnonApprsr]

Read the deed and then tell us whether it's deeded or not. That's where an appraiser, or anyone finds out if something (beach access, boat slips, restriction on homes on the next parcel being of more than one story) or anything is truly deeded.

 

[Eric Boggs]

Hi Anon,

The deed to the house mentions nothing about a boat slip.

 

[Mr Rex]

You may need to read the Covenants

 

[Eric Boggs]

There is deeded riparian rights to the property owner's association for access to the leased land. I guess that is what the H/O was talking about. Still though, is the boat slip real estate?

 

[Sid Holderly]

Some lake front developments/associations in this area own the waterfront and the homeowner has access to a boat slip as long as they bay the association dues.

Some of the off arrangements are only found in the original plat papers or the parent description before the lots are sold off. Most are not mentioned in the actual deed. The original lot description in the plat will say something like lots 7 through 21 have access to the water through common lot 43 or like lot 8 has access to the water through lot 8A and 8a may have its own deed or be part of common land owned by the association or lot 8 may own 1/14 interest in boat lots 8A through 21A.

 

[Eric Boggs]

Hi Sid,

What you describe is similar to this situation. The POA has deeded rights to a pathway to the water line, and the lease from the State is for the actual pier/boat slip. There is an HOA fee to maintain the lease and the pier/dock.

 

[mark hurlock]

Hello everyone,

I am doing a residential appraisal on a house in a development that has a lease from the state of Florida (term is 5 years) for 24 boat slips. The subject is located on a dry lot 1 block from the Indian River (St. Lucie County, FL). The owner has access to one boat slip. He told me it was deeded, but I couldn't find any record of ownership in the public records, where I normally find deeded docks. I scoured the Clerk of the Court records and found the lease, from the State to the Property Owner's Association. Question: Is the boat slip real estate? The lease specifically states that the lessee is "prohibited from making any claim, including any advertisement, that said land, or use thereof, may be purchased, sold, or resold."
Thanks for your input. E

Based on your comments, I would ask the owner to provide this deed that he is referring to.

He may have some common ownership in the waterfront with no right to place a dock in the water.

By definition, a leasehold estate is generally not considered real estate. It is simply the right to use for a specified time and generally considered personal property.

 

[Eric Boggs]

I found the deed giving access to the river to the property owner's association. That is worth money in the market as it turns out.

 

[Mr Rex]

We have 2 lakes locally with differing dock situations. On one, the homeowners can apply for a permit to build a permanent dock/boathouse on the water. VEPCO owns the lake from the waterline out, so the homeowner is actually building an improvement on land they don't own. These range up to $100k and are treated as part of the Real Estate. The other lake is controlled by the Corps of Engineers as a flood control reservoir, with Corps controlling everything below the high water line, which is roughly 15-20 feet above normal pool. Only floating docks are allowed with Corp permits, and although some of the nicer dock exceed $50k, they are treated as personal property, however the permit that allows a dock adds substantially to the value of the site versus a similar site with no permit. It is typical that these floating docks transfer with the property and alot of appraisers include them in the RE, contrary to Fannie SE-2010-09. FWIW, I own property on the lake with the floating docks, and have 2 slips in a community dock that is owned by the HOA, 1 for each lot. The slip number is recorded on the deed(s).