In others it is costing more than the value of the homes to remove them, as when three appraisals may be required before removal, plus filing and other legal fees, adding up to $1,000 or more for a home that is to be destroyed. “HB 273 will recognize that affidavits are a legitimate method of valuing abandoned homes along with the county auditor’s review of these affidavit values,” said Williams.
He said if a deceased resident leaves behind a home valued at $3,000 or less, current law gives two choices to community operators: open a creditor’s probate estate–$2,500 plus six months wait; or, evict the deceased, wait one year and the house is yours. Most abandoned homes are never probated because of the low value of the home—beneficiaries just walk away, said Williams.
The measure would also prevent the removal of an MH from a community to a storage facility before titled ownership can be resolved, thus averting the potential cost of spending more to move the house than it is worth.
Additionally, current law requires two statutory notices sent to the lienholder that permit intervention in the abandoned home removal process. If the home has little or no value, there is often no response from the lienholder, says Williams, but some courts have interpreted the current law requiring lienholder consent to transfer the home to the community operator. In limited cases, the lienholder never responds. HB 273 would remove this barrier preventing the operator from obtaining possession of an abandoned home.
The Ohio Manufactured Homes Commission’s (OMHC) Executive Director Janet Williams, who is in charge of regulating and licensing MH communities in the state, also testified in favor of HB 273.
Additional hearings will be set for the coming months. ##
(Photo credit: Ohio Manufactured Homes Association–Tim Williams, exec. dir.)
