L&B REAL ESTATE v. Housing Authority

L&B Real Estate appeals from the judgment entered in actions that voided L&B’s tax deed to a low-income housing project and quieted title in the true owner, the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles. Because that tax deed was void, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In 1985, the E.A. Reeves Partnership (Reeves) owned lot 14 and portions of lots 15 and 16 of the Springdale Tract along Willowbrook Avenue in South Central Los Angeles. At that time, Reeves contracted with the State of California to build a low-income housing townhouse project on those parcels and convey the completed project to the state. Even though the written agreements between Reeves and the state made clear that parcels 14, 15, and 16 were being conveyed, a scrivener’s error omitted any reference to parcels 15 and 16 from the 1989 grant deed to the state. In June 1990, the state sold the townhouse project to the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles (Authority). Even though all the written agreements between the parties showed their intent to convey all three parcels, the scrivener’s error from the 1989 grant deed was carried over and the 1990 deed by the state to the Authority…