The Caffey Group, L.L.C.

Review: Prior to the sale of my home I contacted Caffey Group, [redacted] responded in writing stating "As long as the documents are signed before closing, that's what matters. The 45-60 days would not factor into the deal. That's just the time we need to get the Title done. As long as the date on the Lease is before the date on the deed, you are free to sign. Please let me know if you would like to move forward?

Nothing to worry. Our agreement will have been made before they took possession of the property, meaning they have no rights to the Signing Bonus." I signed a gas lease, there was nothing in the lease stating that I had to list the gas lease on my closing documents. I followed through on my part of the deal to sign my gas lease prior to the sale of the property and informed them specifically in writing that I was not retaining the minerals and I was assured by [redacted] that everything was good with the lease I signed. Now I am being told that I will not receive the signing bonus because it was not listed in my sales contract. [redacted] emailed me and told me it was completely on him, his mistake, and he is sorry for the wasted time. But this is more than wasted time to me, this was something I was depending on, something I was promised in a contract in writing.Desired Settlement: I want them to honor their word in their email correspondence and contract and pay my signing bonus as promised.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted] Below is our response the Complaint ID #[redacted] The subject lease is located in the Kest project area. The lease is dated 9/5/2014 and the total bonus payment was $1,147.50. The property was sold on 9/18/2014. When the property was sold, the Lease was not recorded. I notified [redacted] when I discovered the property had been sold prior to the Lease being recorded. I asked him to contact the Lessor, [redacted], to find out if the new owner was given notice that the seller had signed an Oil and Gas Lease and if so, how were they notified. If the buyer was given notice, then I requested that the buyer execute an Affidavit stating they were given notice. From what I understand, the buyer was not given notice. A guy representing [redacted], [redacted], called our office and talked to [redacted]. I believe he was very rude to [redacted]. I understand he called a second time and [redacted] transferred him to [redacted]. He was very rude to [redacted] also. I instructed [redacted] that if he calls again to transfer him to me. He called the third time and I talked to him. I tried to explain to him that there is a title failure on this Lease. Because the Lease was not recorded before the property was sold and the buyer was not given notice of the Lease, we could not pay [redacted] for the Lease because the Lease is not valid. He believes we intentionally did not record the Lease so we wouldn’t have to make the bonus payment. I told him we want the Lease and would have paid the bonus if it weren’t for the title issue. I followed up with [redacted] to find out what he told the Lessor. As stated in the complaint, [redacted] did tell [redacted] that if she signed the Lease before selling the property it would be valid which is true if the lease was recorded as record prior to date of close, problem is that the lease was signed but couldn’t be recorded prior to date property was sold. Ms. [redacted] should have provided the title company handling her sell of the property the information regarding the leasing of the minerals, it is common for homeowners to provide such information to potential buyers in this process, in fact usually there is a discloser statement that must be completed and signed at the onset of a transaction involving the selling of property, if Ms. [redacted] had noted the leasing of the minerals on her disclosure statement then we could have paid her the lease bonus amount. As noted in the complaint, [redacted] apologized for his error but there is also a burden placed upon the landowner to properly notify the buyer of this outstanding transaction. Bottom line is we cannot legal acquire the oil and gas lease from Ms. [redacted] because she no longer owns the minerals since the property was sold. The Caffey Group [redacted]