Existing Mineral Lease from prior owner auto-renewed

[Braden Hobbs]

Looking for some general advice (non-legal) about the situation we've found ourselves in. 

We bought a property at the end of last year and noticed on the title commitment it had an existing lease on the mineral rights which were set to expire at the end of the year. We asked the seller who said she didn't even know about it, so we moved on thinking no biggie, and it may still be no biggie but I'm curious.

Well fast-forward and we got notice the company has extended the lease for 5 years for $100 a year per acre. No notice, no confirmation from us, they said the original lease allowed for this extension and they did it.

My question is, do I even worry about this? If so, do I call a lawyer, a local representative, the tooth fairy?

Thanks all!