How do you proceed if mom and pop don’t have titles on mobile homes in their property but rent it out to tenants and collecting rents?
Do you have to remove all tenants after closing or you can acquire abandoned title while collecting rents?
Your question is a legal one that an attorney would be best suited to answer.
The following isn’t legal advice, but if I believed the mom and pop owner had a legitimate claim to ownership even without formal title, in many circumstances I would feel comfortable continuing to run things as is after closing while applying for abandoned title.
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Generally questions like this are state-law dependent, but I would also feel comfortable continuing the status quo (assuming there’s no reason to suspect anyone else owns the homes) until it could be sorted out. But you should know exactly how to sort it out and hopefully get the process started prior to closing if you can.
In Michigan, for example (correct me if I’m wrong anyone) I believe you just have to attest “under penalty of perjury” by (1) signing a form that says, “I claim I’m the owner and I don’t know anyone else that has a better claim” and (2) submitting a 5-year (I think) bond for the “stated” value of the home. E.g, if the home is worth $5k the bond might cost $600 or something. If someone comes out of the woodwork claiming you screwed them, the bond is supposed to cover that.
But that’s only after you’ve checked the identifying markings on the actual homes and looked up in the appropriate state registry whether the “true owner” is on file and who they are, where they are, etc.
For example, even though Mom and Pop don’t have titles, someone does – maybe.
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Thank you for all the input