Posted by MattZ on March 22, 2006 at 17:20:52:
Thanks Karl,
I tracked down the Title holder. Turns out the evicted tenant did not have title to the mobile. I am working with the title holder and it looks like we are going to work something out.
I may have dodged a bullet on this one, but I am sure this will come up again sometime. I would appreciate any other ideas.
Matt
Eviction in Park - Posted by MattZ
Posted by MattZ on March 20, 2006 at 19:22:38:
Hello,
We performed an eviction in our park and got a judgement against the tenant. I don’t want to spend the money to move the home off our lot, and I dont want to leave it there not earning lot rent. The tenant just left.
My question is: How do I go about getting title to the home using the judgement? Can I get a lien through MVD?
I have not found anything in the archives that really addreses this. Anyone with experience on this I would appreciate you input. This park is in Arizona
Thanks
Re: Eviction in Park - Posted by Daphne Lowe
Posted by Daphne Lowe on March 21, 2006 at 16:34:00:
This varies a lot by state (and maybe even by county). In anticipation of having to do this, I?ve had a couple of lawyers explore the issue for me, and they?ve come up with two different approaches, based on whether the MH is treated as personal property or as a vehicle. One is through Fi fa, the other by declaring it abandoned. Both processes are specific to state laws, so going into further detail probably wouldn?t be helpful to you, but if you have a particular question, feel free to shoot me an email.
Daphne
Re: Eviction in Park - Posted by Tony Colella
Posted by Tony Colella on March 20, 2006 at 19:43:50:
This is a real concern for us park owners. Each state and even county seems to have a different procedure. I have run into the same scenario where we can get judgement easy enough but to serve the writ of possession and evict, the Sheriff wants the home towed to a bondable storage lot. This can cost the park owner several thousand dollars more.
No easy answer yet but it makes me wonder about all of those larger parks that people swear never to allow park owned homes. I prefer park owned homes even more in this light.
Tony
Re: Eviction in Park - Posted by Keith (OH)
Posted by Keith (OH) on March 23, 2006 at 19:14:05:
Tony,
Has anyone ever challenged the Sheriff on this ? Not that you want to get on his bad side, but I am curious as to whether this is his/her preference or if there is a stated law that he is enforcing.
What is being accomplished in the sheriff’s eyes by towing the home to a storage lot ? Is this about giving the eveicted tenant more time to redeem their property ?
It seems to me your MHP lot could be considered a “storage lot” for the sake of argument.
I don’t like this “law” at all, But I am very interested to know the basis.
Keith
Re: Eviction in Park - Posted by MattZ
Posted by MattZ on March 21, 2006 at 11:36:38:
Thanks for your reply Tony,
Right now I am trying to just buy the home from the tenant. This seems like the quickest route if I can get the right price.
If that doesn’t work. I guess I will have to go through the sheriff.
Re: Eviction in Park - Posted by Tony Colella
Posted by Tony Colella on March 23, 2006 at 19:34:30:
From my reading of some of the magistrate writings is that the wording is “may” tow and not “must.”
According to the deputy Scott spoke with (who does most of these evictions) they require a “bondable lot” which is essntially a tow lot or retail lot. The magistrate writings admitted they don’t really know where the home should be towed, if it is towed. Sort of a grey area.
Sheriff depts. probably faced civil suit threats in the past and decided this was the way to handle it. The reason stated by the deputy was the prevention of false claims of stolen property.
Most of my reading simply required a change of locks until the tenant arrives to move the home but again, much of this seems undefined.
We live in an extremely liberal area. One in which they don’t want mobile home parks going up but they really, really like to publicize the closing of parks so that retail stores etc. can be put up.
In fact today they had just such a case on the front page of the paper. They are proponing requiring the owner or new buyer to pay 2 years of lot rent to each tenant or in the case of wal-mart, requiring wal-mart to build affordable housing of equal number of units. (Did I mention how liberal this area is).
Re: Eviction in Park - Posted by Karl (TN)
Posted by Karl (TN) on March 22, 2006 at 01:53:17:
Matt, I am going through the same thing. A writ but sheriff wants mobile moved. Tenant is out but personal possesions remain in unit. Tenant is looking to move mobile but the reality is that a decent park wants references from me and the unit is an 85 model Fleetwood 2/2. Still has some life but she ain’t a spring chicken either.
My attorney has advised against trying to purchase, unless he pursues me to buy and only in writing. Otherwise “legal aid” has made park owners look guilty of coercian in the courts eyes.
My stance is that I want the unit moved by him out of my park, period. In the meantime the attorney advises to get an attachment for a lein on Mobile for lot rent, late charges and expenses.
Tony is right about this making park owned homes look more attractive.
Please keep me posted. Maybe we can learn from each other even though this situation is State and County specific. Sounds similar enough, though. Good Luck, Karl