Lakewood Addition Community Association

Gas Lease Meeting Blog (Updated 11/27/2007)

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11/27/2007 - I spoke to an experienced Oil and Gas attorney last evening and I believe it's prudent for all neighbors to know several pieces of information to assure they know if the company they signed a lease with initially has properly completed the terms promised with regard to the bonus payment.  Know the following:

1. The date you signed the lease and whether it was notarized.

2. The date you believe the company you signed with received your lease.  If you mailed it, you can assume three business days for the company to have received it in the mail.

3. Whether the company filed your lease or a memo about your lease on county records and when they filed it.  You can determine this at www.tarrantcounty.com by clicking the dropdown center menu, selecting Real Property Records, then after the next screen appears, click on OPR (Office of Public Records) and a search criteria screen will come up.  Enter the name of the company you signed with in the Grantee line and in the date range, enter the dates from the day you signed to the present date.  Your name may not appear in the Grantor line, but may still be there as many companies file leases and lease memos in bulk so look documents identified for Lakewood Addn in Arl and click open the document to view the image then scroll through the image page by page.  If you see your signtature, write down the information you need and then return to the results screen and write down the date which it was filed and any information there to identify the filing and help locate it more easily later.

4. If the payment document you signed calls for a certain number of calendar or business days, count those using an acutal calendar to be certain and note the date of the day after the promised number of days has passed.

If you did not receive payment by this date then the agreement you had with the company may be extinguished and they may have to send you a new lease. 

If you receive payment after this date, you may have a choice to make.  If you negotiate the payment with your bank then you may have completed the agreement with the company.  If you do not negotiate the payment with your bank then you may be able to consider the lease extinguished.

If you consider your lease extinguished, you may communicate this formally to the company using a means of delivery which assures you will know the company received it such as overnight delivery requiring signature, certified mail with a return receipt card or even registered mail.

While you can write the communication, it's always a good idea to employ a qualified attorney to assure the language of your letter is sufficient.  You may include language which requests a Release document be filed on the county to assure your title has been cleared.  Once you are sure you have clear title to your minerals again, you then can confidently sign with another company.

It must be said and understood that the author of this blog is not an attorney and the blog does not constitute legal advice and any land owner should always act as they believe is appropriate in their own interest.  This blog is to assist neighbors in understanding possibilities and improve communications on all subjects.

11/26/2007 - I sent a voice mail this morning to let you know I'm still working on the meeting.  I also have had a few neighbors contact me to let me know they sent a letter of default (their words) to the company which they believe didn't fulfill the terms of their payment document.  They also mentioned that they sent it by certified mail with a return receipt attached to prove it was received.

I also wanted to repeat that at anytime each homeowner should do what they believe best protects their interests, whatever it might be.  Feel free to call me at 817-313-0480 with any questions.  

Pantego Lions Club mostly booked this week 

11/25/2007 I spoke to Cal Kost, contact for the Pantego Lion's Club and he said the club is being used by Carrizo most nights next week for Pantego residents to sign leases.  We could have a short simple meeting of our own at this location for convenience, so I'll ask Carrizo about that. 

The bottom line is each homeowner must make their own decision regarding their mineral rights and should assure that with any lease they sign, the lessee (Paloma, Carrizo, Cheah, etc.) has fulfilled all up front terms with regard to bonus payment to make the lease valid..  If as lessor, you have reason to believe they haven't there are some avenues of recourse, but competent legal counsel is always a good idea. 

I've heard some who believed their terms were not fulfilled have already sent certified letters of default.  I do not know the outcomes of this procedure for those who mentioned to me they had.  I do know if an event of default were proved valid, from a public record standpoint if you have signed a mineral rights lease, it has likely been filed on county record and public record would need to reflect a release or some other document which would extinguish the lease depending on the circumstances. 

I'll let you know more as I learn about meeting options.  Always know this is your decision (leasing your mineral rights, determining if a company has defaulted on terms, etc.)to make at any time and with the nature of this matter independent legal counsel would be of benefit.