Real Estate Law

Real Estate Litigation Attorney in Pittsburgh, PA

Real estate litigation covers disputes involving title defects boundary conflicts ownership claims and contract breaches related to property. These cases often require court intervention because the property itself cannot be divided or replaced with a monetary award.

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Partition Actions

When co-owners cannot agree on whether to sell, retain, or divide real property, Pennsylvania law allows any owner to compel a resolution through a partition action. The Court of Common Pleas can order sale of the property and distribute proceeds after appropriate accounting for contributions, expenses, liens, and occupancy. We represent both parties seeking sale and those defending against it. For the full procedural framework, see our Partition Actions page.

Quiet Title Actions

A quiet title action is the correct remedy when ownership of real property is disputed, a lien of record clouds title, or the deed history contains a gap that prevents a sale or refinance from closing. The action asks the Court of Common Pleas to enter a decree establishing clear title in the plaintiff and extinguishing competing claims. Title insurance can then be issued on the strength of the court’s order.

Common scenarios include outdated liens from prior owners, adverse possession claims, deed conflicts arising from informal transfers, and ownership gaps created when property passed through estates that were never administered. Each requires a title examination before filing so that all parties with a potential interest are identified and named in the complaint.

Quiet Title After a Tax Sale or Sheriff Sale. Purchasing property at an Allegheny County tax sale or sheriff sale does not automatically produce insurable title. Liens that survived the sale — including federal tax liens — remain of record and must be addressed before a title company will issue a policy. This is one of the most common title problems facing tax sale buyers, and it is one that a quiet title action is specifically designed to resolve.

Federal tax liens require particular attention. Under 28 U.S.C. § 2410, the United States may be named as a defendant in a state court quiet title action, which is the proper vehicle for extinguishing a recorded IRS lien after the government’s statutory redemption period has expired. The IRS has 120 days from the date of the sheriff’s sale to redeem the property. Once that period passes without redemption, the lien is extinguishable through court action. The United States must be served on the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Attorney General, and federal defendants have 60 days to respond.

If you purchased at a tax or sheriff sale and your title company has identified a surviving lien, the path forward is a quiet title complaint filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. A current title search should be obtained before filing to confirm the full scope of what needs to be cleared.

Easement Disputes

Easement disputes arise when the rights of access, use, or maintenance across another’s property are contested, ignored, or simply never defined. They occur in residential and commercial settings alike, and the absence of a written maintenance agreement is one of the most common sources of conflict between neighboring property owners.

Private access easements — particularly those serving multiple properties from common original ownership — frequently generate maintenance and cost-sharing disputes when there is no recorded agreement governing who is responsible for upkeep, drainage, snow removal, or structural repair. The available remedies include declaratory judgment establishing each party’s obligations, contribution claims for documented expenditures, and injunctive relief where access is being blocked or the easement area is being allowed to deteriorate.

Whether the dispute involves a residential shared driveway, a commercial access road, or a recorded utility easement with ambiguous scope, the starting point is the plan of lots or recorded instrument creating the easement and a review of the deed history for both parcels.

Additional Real Estate Litigation Matters

We handle the full range of real property disputes that come before the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. Adverse possession claims require establishing open, notorious, continuous, and hostile possession for the statutory period. Ejectment and possession actions are the correct vehicle when a party in possession has no lawful right to remain — including situations that arise after foreclosure or sheriff sale. Life estate disputes require both real estate and estate planning analysis to address effectively. Boundary disputes and encroachment claims often require survey evidence and may proceed by quiet title, trespass, or ejectment depending on the nature of the intrusion.

Title and Ownership Conflicts

Most real estate litigation begins with a title problem — an incomplete transfer, a probate gap, an outdated deed, or an informal arrangement between family members that was never reduced to a proper instrument. Resolving these matters requires coordinated analysis of deed history, lien priority, estate records, and inheritance transfers. Where the dispute intersects with estate administration or business succession, we address those dimensions together rather than treating them as separate matters. See our Inherited Property and Civil Litigation pages for related matters.

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