On Thursday, September 26, 2013 7:56:06 PM UTC-4, Alex Gunderson wrote:
I realize this is a legal question but has anyone here had this happen.

Any advice?



1. Bought a house, as is, in 2010, which came with a 1,000 gallon propane tank attached.

2. Entered into agreement with fuel company "1" for fuel in 2010.

3. No tank rental is paid to fuel company 1 because it's not their tank

4. Recently a workman (inspecting the tank because of a new BBQ) mentioned that company 2 owns the tank

How could he know for sure, unless he works for company #2?
It's possible company #2's name is on it, but maybe the
previous owner bought and paid for it. Did the sales contract
say anything, one way or the other? If I was selling a house
with a propane tank, I'd be sure to spell out if it's included
or not, and if not, who actually owns it.





5. Company 2 was recently bought by company 1.



Nothing more has happened, but, who owns that tank?



I feel "I" own it by virtue of multiple circumstances (but I'm not a lawyer!):

a. I bought the house and everything attached to it

I'm not a lawyer either, but I'm pretty sure you can't
sell what you don't own. Meaning if the tank was in fact
the property of a company and the previous owner did not
own it, then by selling the house they can't transfer ownership
to you just because they sold the house.



b. I never signed an agreement with company 2

But the previous owner probably did, if it in fact
really is their tank. So far, all you have is a workman
saying it belonged to company #2. Isn't there any
identification on it? When you chose company #1 to be
your gas provider, I would think they would ask if you
have a tank, need a tank, etc. And if you have a tank,
I would think they would come out and inspect it before
delivering gas to make sure it's safe. You would think
during that process the issue of it being company #2's
tank would have come up, but I guess not.





c. Company 2 abandoned that tank long ago (IMHO)


If it really is their tank, I doubt that is going to work.
Not if they have a signed contract with the previous owner
that lays out the terms of the lease and protects the
company's rights like they normally would.




I suspect, if company 1 wants to assert ownership of that tank, they could say:

A. Company 2 originally owned the tank

B. Company 2 still owns that tank

C. Therefore, company 1 (who owns company 2) owns that tank.


That sounds perfectly reasonable and right to me.





Have you ever been in this situation?

What advice do you have for me?



TIA

Why are you even worried about it? Unless someone is
now demanding you pay for the tank, what's the problem?

Another possible angle, if you can still contact the seller,
ask them who's tank it is. They may have bought it, or had it
on lease, then bought it, etc. And again, anything in the
contract about the tank? If it says the tank is included and
someone shows up saying it's their tank and can prove it, then
you'd have a claim against the seller. But if the contract is
silent on the issue, I doubt you have a case.