I own an now long since abandoned house in NJ. There was no mortgage but the taxes and W/S bills now far exceed any possible value of the property. The town used to clean up the property and then put a lien on the property for the costs. This proving generally ineffective to their purposes - they have adopted an alternative tactic now. Now they do nothing but demand that the owner clean up the house, repaint it, and etc. And then if the owner doesn't do it they issue a 'ticket' - which results in a summons to appear in municipal court, where the judge then revokes the owners driver's license. My question is: can I form a land trust or other entity, sell the subject property to the created entity, and then just let them chase that phantom? Who, after all; even if they do ever catch them, will not be at all inconvenienced by having it's driving privileges revoked in the state of new jersey. Or can you all think of any alternative resolution to this issue? stephen -------------

Do you, perhaps, mean Quit Claim Deed (which releases any interest you may or may not own but does not affirmatively assure that you own any interest)? You might consider checking these things out before posting. Just a friendly thought.

Drag a homeless guy down to the title company with you and sell it to him for $1 and give him the $100. I doubt they will pay to extradite a homeless guy for lawn charges.

I have a squatter in south jersey that I would love to trick into taking this off of your hands...

@Stephen S. I'd have to agree with Jay Hinrichs on this when he suggest you donate it to Habitat for Humanity. Either that or just sell it. Afterall, you don't really want it, its abandoned and you're an absentee owner. What's the point of doing the trust deed if you don't want anything to do with the house and its not even bringing in any monies? Help revitalize the community, give someone in dire need a place to stay via the HH. Kudos, Mary

This all started (I thought ended ) because a tenant complained to the board of health (I think they were the first ones involved) that their refrigerator did not work. That was about July 1. I was in Mexico at the time and was not alerted to fact that I was then given 24 hours to resolve the problem. When I 'failed to comply' the tenant was then moved to a fairly nice hotel. When I got back from Mexico a few weeks later I saw a letter stating the above. I drove out to the property and found that a back neighbor's massive tree had fallen across the back alley and taken down the arial line from the telephone pole to my house. The city had come and removed the section of the tree trunk (about 3' in diameter) which had blocked the back alley - but had left all the rest. The neighbors refused to answer the door and only spoke Spanish through it. When I responded in Spanish - they went silent. I called the electric company who said: We'll send an inspector out to assess the required repairs. Two days later: Replace the pecker-head and the anchor for it and for the arial feed. OK - I did that - put the overhead line back up and turn on the power. You should have called - it has to be inspected. Why can't the install crew check it? Nope; has to be an inspector - two days. Result: Oh; the pecker-head is fine but the service cable has to be replaced. Why? It's too old - you have to replace it. OK; I did that. Please come out to inspect and put the power back on. Nothing happened so I called: We can't turn the power on - the meter socket has to be replaced. Why? The inspector's report doesn't say why - it just does. So I got out and replace the meter socket and the service cable to the main breaker in the panel. OK; it's all done - everything is new from the main breaker out to the new pecker-head - now please turn the power on. Result: Inspection report now says that the main panel is too old, isn't up to code, and has to be replaced. 1. How would the inspector know that without having any access to the house to see the breaker panel? 2. The breaker panel, all the breakers, and all the wiring in the house were replaced two years ago - what makes it due for replacement now? 3. I think I need to call the PUC and ask for your department to be investigated. Some various mumbo-jumbo talking to different people at the electric company goes on and I finally get a very nice guy who says: We can't turn the power on - but we can't tell you why. What? Why not? You will have to ask your tenant - we can't discuss it with you. (so, dumb as I am - a light finally goes on in my head) Are you telling me that the power wasn't on Because The Bill Isn't Paid??? I can't discuss that with you. OK; I know you are just doing your job. But how about this? I will start saying words and you just say "stop" when you think it is the right time? He laughs and I begin: "July, June, May, April" Stop! So the power has been shut off for non-payment for Four Months before the tree even fell!!!!! He laughs and says: I can't discuss that with you sir - you'll have to ask your tenant. Meanwhile I have gotten a bill from some agency for (I really forget the exact amount now) for about $2000. It's the cost of my tenant's "housing" in the hotel that I am apparently providing. I called the agency and asked about the bill. You failed to provide adequate housing conditions sir - and then failed to respond to our demands for repairs - so we had no choice but to remove the tenant and minor children to appropriate housing. What was inadequate about the housing I provided? There was no working refrigerator in the home - that is a violation. 1. It's an electric refrigerator. 2. It requires electricity to operate 3. The tenant is responsible for providing electricity - not me. Sir; a tree fell and damaged the electric wires coming to the house - you refused to repair them! When did that happen? Your tenant filed the complaint on July 1. Did she mention to you that her electricity had been turned off for non-payment since April? What? I checked with the electric company - there has been no power to the house since April. So when the tree fell the refrigerator had already been off for four months. What about the tree damage? I was in Mexico when it happened. As soon as I became aware of it I immediately replaced it with all with new equipment and wiring. The electric company won't turn the power on because the tenant hasn't paid the bill. It has nothing to do with me. Well; your tenant has been living in a hotel - you are legally required to pay the bill. Why is that? HUD normally pays for all her housing - send the bill to HUD. What? She is on Section Eight!!!!! Yes she is. She never told us that! Maybe you need to talk to her. But HUD pays for her housing - not me. So send the hotel bill to them. Within 12 hours she was living at the property again. She then made arrangements with the local church - explaining that I would pay any amount that the church's electric bill increased - if she could run an extension cord from the church to her house. The pastor knows me as I used to rebuild and donate window box A/C units to the church. They gave them out to elderly people in the neighborhood who would otherwise not have A/C. I also helped the church raise money and did some repairs for them. So the pastor agreed to the extension cord idea. A month or so later a HUD worker calls me and complains about something. I disagree and say I'll meet her at the property to see it in person. One of her several complaints is roaches. I have a copy of the lease - which clearly states that by signing it the tenant agrees that they have inspected the property and that there are no bugs or other vermin present. Therefore if any later appear it shall be the obligation of the tenant to correct their damage to the property by exterminating them. The HUD worker, a short, fat, belligerent, chicken-necking, black woman says, in her militant tone, that she doesn't Care what the lease says. The tenant shouldn't be responsible for roaches. "They just happen!" and later: "Landlords always blame the tenants for everything!" Roaches doesn't just happen - they never happen at my house. Are you suggesting that I Brought roaches here to annoy my tenant? A lease is a contract. She shouldn't have signed a contract agreeing that she was to be responsible. She did though - which makes me not responsible and I'm not paying to get rid of them. This HUD woman is the type who will not let you speak: cutting you off and screeching in some virtually unintelligible dialect before you can get a complete sentence out. BTW: This is all taking place at the front curb and her performance may have been substantially for the neighbor audience. At some point she steps in, pokes me in the chest and starts says: You Will Do . . . I stepped back and said: Poke me again and you'll need some new teeth. Are you threatening Me???? Not at all - but if you attack me again like that I will massively defend myself - you decide. So she then starts in screeching and demanding and making the poking motions - but not touching me again. All about how I only own houses so I can abuse poor defenseless poor people and steal money from the government programs and on and on and on. Finally I put on my Very Large Voice and say: Shut up! I am not her father (pointing to the tenant) and I'm not your servant. I don't give a damn if you have a job or if she sleeps in the gutter. I'm done with you, I'm done with HUD, I'm done with this city, and I'm done with this house. I will never set foot on this property or have anything to do with it ever again. Then I got in my truck and never went back for probably five or more years. I don't know what happened to the tenant. And I would never have gone back except that the city gets the state to revoke my drivers license for failing to maintain the house to their standards.

Let me expand - I will happily give this house to anyone. In fact; I'll pay anyone $100. to take it. How about you? Be a quick $100. for you, eh? I have already quit claimed it to people. But no one has ever taken it. No one wants it. Tax liens and water/sewer liens are probably double the ARV and running at 18%. This city is the barely walking dead. It really has no reason to exist. It has tens of thousands of houses in the same and worse situations. The city itself refused to take this house back. And told me point blank: Why would we want it? We're not letting you off the hook - then who would pay us? They tried passing a law which made the owners of the houses personally liable for all liens. That was later struck down by a higher court - so they countered with "enforcement of untidy lawn ordinance" punishable by whatever the judge decrees. Which can include jail time, garnishee of wages, or . . . revocation of the owner's driver's license. That has already happened to me. All notices went to the property. The tickets went to the property. The summons to go to court was served at the property. All obviously went unanswered and I was eventually convicted in absentia. One day I was stopped for driving on the revoked list - there was a warrant out for my arrest. Crime? An untidy lawn. Fines: $5500. plus court costs. stephen -------------

Yes, you can! When municipalities use tactics to extract money from you that you have abandoned any hope of receiving corresponding benefits, you need to change your own tactics to protect your own interests. After all, city and all government is supposed to work and represent you. Yes, I've found it necessary to employ and implement the very strategy you mention. The only difference is that I found a relative of my former borrower (I regrettably foreclosed on a TD note and got an alligator property) to happily act as trustee. Perhaps you could name the city or agency as trustee (!) and maintain some level of control of designation of trustee as bene of your irrevocable trust : )

How can I un-own a property ?

Jean BolgerPro Member

Aurora, CO · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes

12y

@Jassem A. , the working class area that I currently live in was actually referred to as a "war zone" by a local investor on BP -- which was patently ridiculous, but you can see how the term is misused (or at least is very broad in its meaning).

To assume that every blighted area will eventually be cleaned up is, in my opinion, naive. And to assume that if you take the boards off of one of the houses on an abandoned street and arrange for running water (thereby making it the nicest house on the block) then someone will want to pay rent to occupy it... well, I doubt it.

I really hope that Camden will come around. It would take massive, massive investment, both private and state -- and the state has pretty much wiped their hands of it at this point. I really hope Detroit will come around as well. If I were a betting woman and had to pick one of these cities, my money would be strongly on Detroit, no question.

I think this thread can serve as a great reminder to folks about how cities and neighborhoods can change, not always for the better. It sounds like this area was a good area for investment back when Stephen bought the place, after all.

How can I un-own a property ?

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