Costly Blunder: Homebuyer Gets 86 Extra Properties Due To 'Copy-Paste' Mistake

As the chief deputy assessor for Washoe County in the US state of Nevada reportedly explained, such situations occur “fairly often”, and the only reason the present case has grabbed the headlines is because of the unprecedented number of properties involved.

American developer Toll Brothers recently ended up selling several dozens of house lots in Nevada for a price of one because of an apparent mistake during the transaction, Reno Gazette Journal reports.

According to the media outlet, the buyer was purchasing a single family home in Sparks valued at $594,481, but gained some “84 extra house lots in Toll Brothers’ Stonebrook development in Spanish Springs” in Washoe County.

“It appears Westminster Title out of Las Vegas may have copied and pasted a legal description from another Toll Brothers transfer when preparing [the homebuyer’s] deed for recordation,” said Cori Burke, chief deputy assessor for Washoe County. “Because it was pretty clear a mistake was made, our assessment services division reached out to Westminster Title right away so they could begin working on correcting the chain of title for the 86 properties transferred in error.”

The 86 properties in question reportedly include the “84 lots and two common spaces that were erroneously transferred in addition to the homebuyer’s own lot”, Reno Gazette Journal explains.

Burke also remarked that such incidents occur “fairly often”, usually because of copy-and-paste mistakes.

“This particular case is just a little more interesting because of the number of lots involved," the chief deputy assessor added.