The Hidden Costs of Untitled Abandoned Mobile Homes in Your Community
Most community operators don’t plan to end up with an abandoned home. It happens a little at a time. A resident falls behind, then moves out, and the home stays put. Six months later it’s still there with no title, no owner who answers and a lot that earns nothing.
Our companion post, Abandoned Mobile Home Titles in Michigan: How the Process Changed, covers the law and its history. In short, Michigan titles mobile homes much like vehicles, and under MCL 125.2330 a mobile home can’t be sold or transferred except by transferring the certificate of title. The Department of State’s current guidance says that if the owner won’t or can’t sign the title over, a court order awarding ownership may be needed.
This post covers the practical side: what happens to a community while a home sits there without clear title. These are business considerations, not legal advice, and how much each one matters will depend on your community.
You Can’t Sell It, Rent It or Move Someone In
This one is the most obvious. If the community doesn’t hold title, it can’t pass title to a buyer. A buyer who pays for a home and walks away with no title can’t register it in their name or easily finance, insure or resell it.
Renting it out raises the same question: can you lease a home you don’t own? The Center for Civil Justice, a Michigan legal-aid organization, has publicly said that it doesn’t believe a park can sell or even lease an abandoned home without valid title. Whatever your view, that is the position you may face if a former owner or their family comes back.
Every month the home sits, that lot isn’t bringing in a paying resident.
Removal and Demolition Aren’t Simple Either
Sometimes the home is beyond saving and the right answer is to take it out. Even then, the title matters:
- Haulers, salvage buyers and disposal vendors may ask for proof that you have the right to the home.
- Some homes still have a lien recorded against them. Destroying or scrapping a home with an open lien could mean trouble with the lender.
- Local permitting or code requirements for removal or demolition vary by municipality, so check with yours.
A court order that names the community as owner and terminates prior liens (which the Department of State’s guidance says an order can do) gives you a clean record to work from, whether you plan to resell, renovate or remove the home.
Lot Rent and Other Charges Keep Adding Up
A home that nobody occupies still sits on a site that costs you money. Lot rent goes unpaid, and the unpaid balance against the former resident usually keeps growing with little realistic hope of collecting it. Depending on the community and the municipality, there may also be utility, tax or fee issues tied to the home or the site.
The longer a title problem goes unresolved, the larger that number gets.
Insurance and Liability
A vacant home is an attractive nuisance. It can draw trespassers, squatters, animals, vandalism and fire. If someone gets hurt in or around it, questions follow about who owned it and who was responsible for securing it.
It’s worth asking your insurance agent how your policy treats a home the community doesn’t own but has on its property, and whether a vacant, untitled home affects your coverage. Clearing up ownership makes that conversation simpler.
Lienholders Have Rights Too
Many older homes were financed, and some still show a secured party on the title record. A lender with a recorded lien has an interest in the home even if the borrower is long gone. The Department of State’s guidance says that anyone with an interest in the home should be named as a defendant in a title case, and that a court order can terminate a lien if it says so.
If you skip that step and deal with the home informally, you may still be dealing with that lender later.
Blight, Safety and the Rest of Your Community
One run-down, empty home affects the homes around it. It can hurt curb appeal for prospective residents, frustrate neighbors who keep up their own homes and draw attention from local code enforcement. Getting title is often the first step toward fixing the problem, whether that means renovating the home and putting it back into service or removing it and preparing the site for a new one.
The Biggest Risk: Treating Someone Else’s Property as Your Own
It can be tempting to decide a home is abandoned and simply sell it, rent it or haul it away. The cost of guessing wrong can be high.
Michigan courts have seen disputes where former residents said their homes were taken without proper process. In Yamaoka v Sun Communities, Inc (Mich Ct App, Dec. 28, 2021, unpublished), former residents brought conversion and unjust-enrichment claims after their homes were retitled and transferred. The communities in that case largely prevailed. Still, the court noted that whether a home was truly abandoned depended on each lease and each set of facts, and the case took years of litigation to resolve. (Opinion PDF)
A court-ordered title process exists so that the owner and lienholders get notice and a chance to respond before ownership changes. That protects the former owner, and it protects the community too.
A Few Practical Habits That Help
These aren’t legal requirements, just good housekeeping that makes any later title work go more smoothly:
- Write down the home’s details early: year, make, serial number/VIN, and photos.
- Keep the paper trail: the lease, notices, any eviction judgment, ledgers and any communication with the resident.
- Look for a title copy or lien information in your files.
- Document police or welfare-check reports if there were any.
- Don’t wait. The sooner a title problem is addressed, the less time rent, risk and wear have to build up.
Where Piper Legal Fits In
Piper Legal handles mobile home title actions for Michigan community owners and operators. We pursue circuit court title actions in counties across the state, aiming for clean, transferable titles. You complete an intake spreadsheet for each home (one sheet can hold several homes), we review it and send an invoice for your approval, and then your case is accepted. Our target is 3 to 6 months from acceptance to a court order, though court schedules and service on the parties can affect timing. To talk through your homes, use Schedule Time With Me on our website or call (810) 235-2558. You can also browse our services and FAQ.
Landlords Are People Too.®
Disclaimer: This post is general information for Michigan manufactured housing community owners and operators. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Insurance, tax, permitting and lien questions depend on your policies, your municipality and the specific home. Talk to the appropriate professional, and to a lawyer, about your situation before acting on a home you don’t hold title to.