Man deals with property line issues after sale

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - Richard McLaughlin purchased a business along Sheridan road in 2003, but when he sold it a few months ago, the process wasn’t over.

McLaughlin was still billed for the property tax which raised some questions.

He was told the legal description is incorrect and needed to be corrected before switching over the property to its new owner.

“He’s got the property, he has a bill of sale for the property but according to the county, that property is actually in the apartment complex behind me,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin was told Sheridan road has gone through some changes in the past and it appears the area was never surveyed to update county records.

He was told he had to pay to have the property surveyed to make the change through the county.

But he understands the error occurred a long time ago, and blames no one.

“They didn’t do anything wrong, no one did anything wrong as far as what were intentions, the wrongness came back in 1973,” said McLaughlin.

He said he understands people make mistakes but what’s important is that the problem is fixed.

“There’s going to be people that come around that don’t have the money, that’s their first place,” he said.

7News reached out to Comanche County for an explanation of this incident and they would not go on camera for an interview.

Shortly after, McLaughlin received a phone call from the county where they agreed to switch over the name without the survey they had previously requested.

McLaughlin said this doesn’t fix anything and wants things done correctly.

“If they just change the name it doesn’t change anything, it’s still wrong and then the person I sold it to, I’m just as wrong as anybody else to say well it’s not my problem now it’s yours, I wasn’t raised like that,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin worries this is an issue that could impact other business owners in the area.

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