Buying Land - Mineral Rights (real estate, lawyer, homes)

[HIGuy]

In the process of closing on a land purchase in Atascosa county. Seller is asking to retain 50% mineral rights. Is this the norm?

[kevcrawford]

That's not uncommon. Actually, sometimes the seller will keep them all.

[Eleanor Rigby]

If you're not being represented by a lawyer in this transaction, I'd STRONGLY recommend you get one. It's common for the seller to reserve mineral rights, but this means that the seller is also retaining some other rights that go along with the mineral reservation, and you really should be aware of what exactly he is retaining and you are giving up.

[wCat]

ditto to both posts. A real estate attorney might help if it's very complicated. 50% is not bad....100% is more common in certain areas.

[smitty12]

Originally Posted by HIGuy

In the process of closing on a land purchase in Atascosa county. Seller is asking to retain 50% mineral rights. Is this the norm?

I agree with the lawyer advice. This also should also factor into the price of the land. There is probably a typical value of non-producing mineral rights in that area.

There are many ways to structure such a thing. My dad has purchased land here and there over the last few years and usually insists on including a clause of mineral rights reversion if the current owner wants to keep mineral rights. Sometimes just a period of years, some times based on peoples lifetimes. (i.e. the mineral rights revert on the death of the current owner and all their children)

This stuff is all negotiable, you can not just use a standard form like you would use for a in town residential purchase. That's why you need a lawyer.

It's also possible that the current owner does not have all the mineral rights to sell you. This will be your situation if you purchase without 100% rights if and when you want to sell that land.

[doss1]

Yea, you don't want someone else's oil rig pumping in the middle of your property...

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by TexasNick

Yea, you don't want someone else's oil rig pumping in the middle of your property...

Good point, and one I was wondering about! Does the mineral rights include the ability to withdraw the minerals whenever and however they want? Not that I have to worry about it (unless someone discovers oil under my fraction-of-an-acre homestead), but I am curious as to if retaining the mineral rights means two weeks later then can start strip-mining your property without you ability to do anything about it!

Cheers! M2

[doss1]

As far as I know, if someone owns the mineral rights on your property, then they have a right to extract it. I know someone that has an oil rig on their property and they own the minerals...so they get a nice quarterly royalty from the petroleum company. While it can be problem for a new buyer, it rarely is...but it's gaining traction these days.

If you're a land owner these days you can really demand all kinds of things. For example, you can sell your land with the stipulation that you, the ex-owner, can still put a wind generator on it anytime. We're talking about one of those huge wind turbines you see being hauled across the highway recently. There's the added problem of DECREASING property values in the area of the wind turbines because no one wants to have a nice cup of joe on their back porch and stare right into a neighbor's wind generators off on the horizon. This problem is more common on ranches with hundreds and thousands of acres.

Fine line...everything is these days. You can't really own land anymore! Deed restrictions...easements...eminent domain...cell towers...arrgghhh.

[smitty12]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

Good point, and one I was wondering about! Does the mineral rights include the ability to withdraw the minerals whenever and however they want? Not that I have to worry about it (unless someone discovers oil under my fraction-of-an-acre homestead), but I am curious as to if retaining the mineral rights means two weeks later then can start strip-mining your property without you ability to do anything about it!

Cheers! M2

The surface owner does usually paid for surface damage in the event of exploration and production. If the deed was written to where the surface owner could stop exploration then it would make the mineral rights useless.

There may not be law covering this, but if I was insisting on keeping mineral ownership rights, I would be sure there was a clause in the deed giving me access those minerals. Now the purchaser would be well within their rights to negotiate some limit on that... I.e. no strip mining, but, oil drilling, or shaft mining would be ok with money for surface damage. All this would need to be negotiated at purchase time.

[jorgito]

Is there current drilling in the area? I know south Bexar county is active but no so sure about Atascosa. It is normal for someone to retain the minerals.