A deed that Alna selectmen signed in 2001 has surfaced as an issue for the property’s current owner who wants to sell the lot. According to the woman’s lawyer, the town is still part-owner of the lot off Bog Road, due to one aspect of the deed.

The town got the lot for unpaid taxes, then turned it back over to the assessed owners, William Rines and Glenwood Rines, six years after Glenwood Rines’ death, according to a letter from attorney Nathaniel Hussey of the Damariscotta firm of Howard & Bowie. “Glenwood Rines had died in 1995, and so the conveyance to him was void as to his share of the property. This means that the Town of Alna currently holds Glenwood Rines’ share of the lot,” Hussey’s Nov. 7 letter to First Selectman David Abbott states.

The issue is one of a number that Nicole Moore faces in her attempt to sell the property, according to Hussey’s letter. The attorney is asking for a release deed that refers to the 2001 deed. In a telephone interview Monday, Hussey said he had never run into that same situation in other title matters. “But I don’t think that it’s unheard of,” he said.

Hussey said as far as he is aware, there is no mechanism by which the town or other parties would or should have been informed that the deed couldn’t be delivered to Glenwood Rines; delivery is needed to make a property conveyance valid, he said.

“That’s why we do title searches ... I’m not seeing any fault here,” he said.

None of the board’s current members were on the board when the 2001 deed was signed. Abbott said he and fellow selectmen discussed Hussey’s letter on Nov. 19 and were unsure if another deed was necessary. They decided to consult with a town attorney about Hussey’s request for the new deed, Abbott said.