All Forum Posts by: Thomas Henry

Been doing some lurking myself, as they say that you have two ears and one mouth for a reason.  So many TOPA abusers out there, definitely has morphed well beyond the original intent, which was ostensibly to protect tenants from baleful developers and landlords.  Certainly there should be compensation if you are being uprooted against your will, but it has been cynically applied for quite some time now.

 Was selling a house last year, tenant had already vacated and was not seeking any sort of payout.  Super easy to deal with, other than getting a notary in Canada, which was surprisingly pricey.  Letter arrived from a local real estate brokerage, addressed to "occupant" and "helpfully" advising her of her rights and offering to assist in exercising her Council given rights!  Have heard of buyers hijacking a sale by purchasing TOPA rights, so maybe that was the gambit.  

Hi Lawrence,

Have used Spokeo.com in the past to sift out connections to relatives and other avenues to track down elusive persons in conjunction with whitepages.com .  Put your own name in and city to see if how accurate this amalgamation of public data can be! 

Hi Leonard,

You are absolutely correct that the process to acquire unclaimed properties in the District is complicated and time consuming.  The city has a  strong responsibility to seek out potential heirs.  Sold a piece of vacant land (house on it had been removed, with foundation still there) a couple of years ago that my client had bought at the annual tax sale.

That foreclosure process only opened a big can of worms. The previous owners, an LLC, had defaulted on their taxes, because the fraudster who sold it to them had forged a deed (property was long vacant, with incomplete tax records) and illegally conveyed the property to them. Fraudster ending up doing a couple of years of jail time.

Took the better part of 18 months by my client's attorney, to get the various notices placed and traces on possible heirs (of the defrauded, rightful owner) completed and signed off on by a judge to finalize the foreclosure. 

Once clear title was in hand, we sold the land and the buyer/developer began to build on the parcel. 

Longer time frame than expected, but everybody won on this one.  City got their tax money, my seller had a sizable profit, the buyer built a spec house (that went under contract in 7 days) and the neighborhood benefits by the subtraction of a dangerous vacant parcel and the addition of a brand new home!

Similarly, with DC Probate proceedings, the courts are in no hurry to shut out rightful heirs.

Thank you for the warm welcome gents!  Looking forward to contributing to the forums!

Excited to join the community and contribute!  Have sold many kinds of homes in the area (and some land here in DC) and look forward to the interaction with the smart folks here on BP!