Mineral Rights excluded from purchase.

[Ramsey Blankenship]

Hello BP,

I am preparing to sign a contract for an off market, 6 unit apartment building in Louisiana. The commercial contract is 3 pages, super simple, and we are trying to make this sale as simple as possible. After reviewing the contract, I noticed that the seller checked a box that says mineral rights are excluded from the purchase. The land is in Louisiana however, its less than a 1/4 acre, and is in the city. I have never dealt with this before but it seems as if the mineral rights should be ours if we purchase the property so I am wondering if this is something worth bringing up. 

We have negotiated the price down and have gone back and forth a bit. The sellers aren't extremely motivated however we are getting the property for a great price. I don't think the mineral rights would break the deal for us, as we are buying the property for the income from the building, however I have heard of people buying paid from oil companies for drilling beneath their land. 

Any help?

[Arthur Cook]

While Andrew Johnson's point is valid when dealing with larger tracts, here we are dealing with a 1/4 acre with an apartment building on it.  There are likely more structures close by. A 1/4 acre would not be enough for a drill site location so in those instances when drilling takes place it would be a directional drill well offsite of any populated area. A "unit" for a normal oil well is 40 acres in size and a gas unit is 160 acres. Lots of room to move around and impact structures.