Property Rights in The House of Sand and Fog

[John Dibble]

Wierd situation. Would probably require some mediation between the two people, as both have reasonable claims to ownership after I thought about it for a minute.

So, I can think of two fair solutions:

Person A is offered $90,000 by the county, double the previous worth of the house, for the inconvenience and wrong done to him as compensation for the mix up. If he accepts this offer, Person B maintains ownership of the house and receives no compensation otherwise as he has not been inconvenienced.

Should the offer of $90,000 not be accepted and Person A desires the return of his house badly enough, Person B will be given the full $174,000 for the house by the county. Both parties get an extra ~$5k for their incovenience. However, a safegaurd should be put on so that Person A doesn't take this route just to sell the house for more money - if Person A wants the house back, he must agree that he will not sell it for at least 2 years time unless he's willing to pay half the house's new value, or $87,000, to Person B if he sells it before that time(this is to show he really does just want his house and not to take advantage of the work done).

I think either deal above is fair.