How Do I Rescind a Property Sale if I Waived the Survey?

Full question:

I recently brought what I thought was 2.75 acres on the top of a hill. During the closing I signed a waiver of survey form with the title company. I later found out that .75 acres of the land I purchase had been dug out from the side of the hill by the adjacent property owner leaving me on 2 acres of buildable land. What can I legally do to be compensated?

• Category: Contracts
• Subcategory: Recission
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Tennessee

Answer:

A motion may be made to have the court rescind the agreement. Courts have held that a party may rescind a contract for fraud, incapacity, duress, undue influence, material breach in performance of a promise, or mistake, among other grounds. An agreement made under duress may be set aside if the duress took the free will away of the person seeking to avoid the contract. In a duress situation, a party enters a contract to avoid a threatened danger. This threat may be a threat of physical harm to person or to the property of someone (physical duress) or it may be a threat of financial loss (economic duress).

It is possible to rescind a contract based on mistake. Mistake covers a broad set of situations, and courts often distinguish between unilateral mistake and mutual mistake. A unilateral mistake is an incorrect belief of one party that is not shared by the other party. A mutual mistake is an incorrect belief shared by both parties. Courts have traditionally held that mutual mistakes are more likely than unilateral mistakes to make a contract voidable.

Where only one of the parties is mistaken about facts relating to the contract, the mistake will not prevent formation of a contract unless the nonmistaken party is or should have been aware of the mistake made by the other party.

A person makes a contract under duress when there is violence or the threat of violence to the extent that the person is deprived of his free will and makes the contract to avoid harm. The threatened harm may be directed at a relative of the contracting party as well as against the contracting party. If a contract is made under duress, the agreement may be rescinded or declared null and void.

Fraud involves a knowingly made misrespresentation that is intended to cause another to rely and act on it to their harm. Courts have held that a party may rescind a contract for fraud, incapacity, duress, undue influence, material breach in performance of a promise, or mistake, among other grounds. In order to prove a fraud claim, it must be shown that the defendant had an intent to deceive. If deception was used to induce another to rely on a promise and such reliance caused harm, it is possible to recover damages. Fraud may be made by an omission or purposeful failure to state material facts, which nondisclosure makes other statements misleading.