Seller signed title but buyer completed info

Question

I traded my truck for work to be completed on my house , I signed the title but did not put buyers name or any other info , he filled it in and got it in his name and has not completed the work on my house is legal in Florida for buyer to fill in sellers info and put incorrect sales price

Answer 1

When you sell a vehicle, you are required to submit a notice of sale, where you provide various bits of information, and you swear under penalty of perjury that the information that you provided is true. Note at the bottom of the form that it states that ownership does not change until purchaser is issued a certificate of title. The owner also fills in the Transfer of Title by Seller section on the title. Also you must remove the license plates.

There seem to be two separate issues here. First, you are legally exposed on the vehicle sale for having falsely sworn to untrue information (you are supposed to fill in the seller sections completely, and read what it says where you signed about swearing to tell the truth). I assume the buyer put down a (substantially) lower sale price, to avoid paying taxes. The buyer would definitely be in hot water over such deliberate tax fraud. You could still be civilly liable for acts involving your truck, until the notice of sale is files.

Second, I suppose you want the truck back since the work wasn't done, but since you didn't go through the formalities of filing proper paperwork so that the title reflects a lien equal to the amount that you are effectively "loaning" the buyer (to be repaid in labor), you can't repossess the vehicle. That doesn't mean that you can't sue the guy for breach of contract, you just have to go through a different legal process. If he did work on the house and the bargain was "do this in exchange for my truck", the court won't order him to return the truck, though it might do that if you pay him money for the work he did. He could be ordered to pay you the amount necessary for you to hire someone else to finish the job – or he could just finish the job (probably cheaper for him).