Purchased 1/2 a Duplex and owner already converted duplex into Single Family in DFW

[Rav Ram]

Can anyone help with ideas on what to do with this scenario that is occurring in Tarrant County Texas. This is a friend of mine's property.

John purchases a priority that consists of half a duplex prior to a tax sale directly from a seller. Each half of the duplex is marked with a separate address and there are two sides. Unbeknownst to John, 5 years prior to his purchase, the other side of the duplex was purchased by Jose through owner finance and Jose converted the house to a single family home. The reason Jose converted the house was because an unscrupulous prior owner advised Jose that both sides of the duplex were his.

It's not Joses fault and jose is a good family man who is an illegal immigrant afraid of suing the seller. But now the buyer is stuck!!!

Any thoughts on what to do.

[Jon Holdman]

Is John or Jose your friend?  In either case, your friend needs to consult an attorney.  For that matter, both John and Jose are going to need to spend some time and money with an attorney.

Is the seller in John's purchase the same seller in Jose's purchase?  If so, was did that purchase involve any inspection or the property or a title company?  If not, was the seller aware that the property was actually being used by Jose?  Seems like this seller scammed John, and he should be the target of John's ire.

Jose was also scammed by his seller when he was told he actually owned the whole property, not just half.  Jose is about to spend some time in court regardless of how this plays out.  He's occupying and has made improvements to a property he doesn't own.  He's a squatter, even though he thinks he's the owner.  From what you've written, it seems like John has a solid case to get him evicted from this half of the duplex and may be able to win a monetary judgement for the "damages" Jose has done to his property.  Again, an attorney is going to be essential to sorting this out.

If the same seller sold to both John and Jose then I think they gang up on him and get him to sort it out.  Best way would be to unwind the deal with John and deed over the half of the duplex he told Jose was his.