We have a TOH mobile home in our park that was previously lived in by someone who was legally evicted 2 months ago. The eviction will successful and the monetary judgment against him was successful (other than actually collecting of course). He has still not moved or sold the trailer and I am trying to put a lien against it but for the life of me cannot locate a VIN number anywhere. I checked on the crossbar where the tongue attaches and was not successful. I don’t have access inside and highly doubt there is any information in there as it has been remodeled more than once. It has been in our Park for 15 or more years and well before we owned the park so I do not have any steps to trace ownership to. The guy we evicted could never produce a title. Any ideas on where to locate the VIN??
If you got a court ordered eviction, can’t you get the sheriff to get him out?
He doesn’t live in it anymore. He’s abandoned it and lives elsewhere even though he has continued paying the electric bill… Long story. Drug dealer. I’m trying to get an abandoned property title on it but can’t locate VIN
I have old manuf. homes that most don’t seem to have a VIN#. I am told a common place is on the master bedroom closet wall. (I did find a paper in that location on one house). And on the back of a kitchen cabinet door. But considering you cannot access inside the house that won’t help you even if it is there.
Does your county keep tax information online? At my county I can search the parcels or the manufactured homes by address or owner, etc. At least for mine they have the serial # (which would be the VIN#) listed in their online database. That may not help you ask for an actual lien since you don’t have a copy of the title you don’t know if the serial # they list in the county tax information is correct but it is a start.
In addition, if the county has that info online it should include the ownership trace. Perhaps contacting the previous owner (not the current one) you could find out if they had an old copy of the title if they are helpful and realize you just need it to do the paperwork of having it removed or sold.
I had an officer come out (twice) to do a “VIN verification” on a house and he had to complete a certain form for the county saying the VIN# could not be found. But we owned the home by bill of sale so could let him in. In your case you’d have to find out if there is some method that can allow him to go in an abandoned home? (and it would take to be classified as “abandoned” before he could go in?) Or maybe there would be some legal way that they could force the owner to open the house for them.
See if this house has a metal tag nailed to the walls somewhere on the outside with a “Label No.” If you find the tag, and you send a request to IBTS, Contractor to HUD with the label number. Submit Online Order - Label Verification and Performance Certificates (I think it costs $50). They will look in their database to see the VIN# that went with that label. Save their letter as proof of what that VIN# is. If that VIN# matches to what the county has in their database then it would seem you’d have confirmation of what the VIN# is. In my case the VIN# matched to what the county had and to an old copy of the title I had, so they seemed to have the correct info.
But after all that, you may want to double check with an attorney about whether you can put a lien on a manufactured home (if it’s not permanently affixed to the land to be considered as “real” property; if it’s just personal property there may be a different process). I had called an attorney to discuss the question of “if I sell one of these homes that can’t be replaced because of zoning, how will it work if the tenant decides not to pay (figuring what can I do to them because I won’t want to move the house out). Can I just put a lien on their house (to force the payment of what they owe) after they & their other goods are physically removed?” And he was saying it doesn’t really work like that for a manuf. home (since it wasn’t “real property”) and I didn’t delve into the process once I realized it would not work well for my situation to let the tenants buy the homes.
Does the previous tenant actually have the title in his name? Do you wish to buy the home? Would he let you inspect the home to determine the value? If all are yes, would he take a deal of “trade cash for title purchase”? Maybe that would be less headache and you could start getting it ready to rent or sell again. Hope you can figure out the info you need.
Contact the manufacturer and ask where the VIN is. Or if they have the VIN.
Why can’t you access the interior?
Because I do not own the home. It’s the old tenants home at this point.
If it’s 1976 or later the serial should be stamped on the foremost crossmember (steel frame) under the home. This is a HUD requirement.
You can also try an online search by your address but results can vary significantly…