Mobile homes and property titles: What you need to know to ensure your mobile home is properly insured and recorded in your name.
Q: In September 2017, you wrote an article about how “title insurers don’t deal with mobile-home issues” in our local Ohio paper. This is exactly our situation.
We have contacted the motor vehicle department of our state, but since the title wasn’t put into our name, or transferred to real estate, they said to contact the Auditor or Treasurer office. When we did this before we were told to submit invoices, etc., for the work we had done to the property since we purchased it. We did this – twice, but the judge still denied title to us.
A realtor advertised our mobile-home on 4 acres several years ago. That’s when we then found out that the title wasn’t transferred to real estate or even put in our name and we only got the 4 acres, but no home! The home was a repossession from a bank out west and I have not been able to locate the prior owner. Since the title is not in our name, a judge won’t issue us the title, and the motor vehicle department tells us they can’t do anything for us.
What other recourse do we have? Now we have stopped paying for the insurance on it as we wouldn’t benefit if anything happened.
Mobile Homes and Property Titles: What You Need to Know
A: Sorry to say, but your situation is not unique. Frequently, people that purchase mobile homes that are located on a parcel of land believe that the deed for the property will include title to the mobile home.
But, that’s not the case. Even in a typical home sale, a home seller will give the buyer two documents when it comes to closing. The seller will give the buyer a deed and a bill of sale.
The deed will transfer title to the real property (the land, home and other attached fixtures) to the buyer and the bill of sale will transfer title to the buyer the appliances and other personal property that come along with the house. If you received a bill of sale at your closing and the document stated that you were getting title to the mobile home, you might be able to use that to evidence the transfer of title in the mobile home to you.
Otherwise, title (or ownership) of the home remains in the seller. Think of it this way: if you purchased the home and the seller left a car in the garage, you’d have to have title to the car to prove it was yours. If you didn’t have it, then the car would belong to whoever had the title.
The department in your state that registers mobile homes (which may be the department of motor vehicles) still has the home registered to the seller. You have to figure out a way to have it changed into your name.
How to Get Mobile Home Registered in Your Name
Do you have your purchase contract? If so, does the purchase contract indicate that the seller was obligated to transfer title to the mobile home to you? Frequently buyers use a standard form real estate purchase contract to buy a home, even when that home is a mobile home. You need some specific language in the contract that obligates the seller to convey title to the land to you and to convey title in the home to you as well.
Did you use a title or escrow company to close on the property? They might have a record of the document (or if you bought title insurance, might cover you for an eventual loss). Dig out your closing documents to see if you have anything that shows that the mobile home was part of the sale.
Once you find that documentation, you can see if anything you have helps show that you are the legal owner of the mobile home but for the certificate of title. If nothing else works, you might have to find the seller and have the seller give you a bill of sale and sign whatever document your state requires to transfer the title of the mobile home into your name.
Good luck.
More on Property Titles and Land Purchases
How to Replace a Missing Property Title
Will Adding Child to Title Increase Property Taxes?
Home Titles and Property Taxes: What You Need to Know
Can I Qualify for a Mortgage if My Name is on Another Property’s Title?
Refinancing With Lien on Property: Title Insurance Issues
I Received a Property Tax Bill After Selling the House, Now What?
my boyfriebd znd his 6 syblings got propertys left them we always obes been havibg pay taxes in bith lands they all own how we colkect there share since seen think they dint lise ownership if they dibt pay any taxes on the. land. ever i. nedd help im stuck paying it cause dont wabt lise it my bilks. get behind. niw. im doing. withiut things. we need cant affird get paying properyty taxes fir. all us
Just put a lien on the mobile home since it’s been stored on your property. Storage fees add up quickly and if anyone wants to claim it they must first pay you for storing it. If no one comes to pay you n claim it then it becomes yours by way of the lien.
Why people get so technical n still not give you the answer is beyond me.
You bought the land, on your land sits a mobile home. No one can expect you to let it sit on your land for free. So you store it waiting for someone to come and get it. Now your tired of waiting so you slap a lien on it for all the days you have stored it. I’m sure that total will come two more than that trailer is worth so nobody will come and claim it. After 30 days it becomes yours by way of lien.
Thanks for your comment.
Ilyce
Joe, thank you SO much for being so articulate with your answer. People who have never had to deal with this issue are left clueless. And your answer has helped a LOT of ppl. YOU deserve a big pat on the back. Kudos to you, sir!
I have a title to a mobile home that was given to me, do I need anything else to prove I own the home if I wanted to get a loan?
I have a good one for you to read. I bought from Clayton Mobile Home. Put it on my land that was deeded to me. 12 years later while doing some land deeds from my parents to my brother amd myself, the mobile home doesnt even sit on the correct piece of land. Its off by 3 acres and my brother owns the piece of land it is sitting on. Parcel A, is where the mobile home sits on, Parcel B is empty and so is parcel C. It is mortgaged to sit on parcel C and not Parcel A. What would you do? Ive contacted Clayton 3 times since January and have heard nothing from them. This has to be corrected because my brother is wanting to build a home on his land where the mobile home sits.
Who owns the home the owner or the person that has there name on the title
I own property that has a mobile home on it but the mobile home is no good.so is the property still worth something
I found a mobile home with land on piers in PA. The seller tells me she doesnt have title and bought the house woth just the deed. She has a lawyer searching for a year now for the title. The home is located in an HOA community. The real estate agent says they sell homes all the time without title. Im leary because I wouldnt buy a car without title, how would I get insurance paid without title in case of damage? How do I prove ownership or can I retire the title? Thanks
My sellers have a single wide that is not permanently attached & has been sitting on a lot they own for close to 30 years. The land has been purchased, and we have the deed. The title has been lost, and the DMV has no record of the serial/VIN #. My sellers have paid taxes on both the land and the single wide for a number of years now. We’re going to need it (I assume?) to complete the sale. The DMV has instructed them to go to the tax office, mentioning it might be considered a ”dwelling.” (????) What is the best way to get this situation handled & is there anything that I, as their Realtor can do?
Chelsea,
You should have your sellers talk to a real estate attorney. It’s possible that the single-wide wasn’t considered to be real property and could be simply listed in the offer to purchase as going with the property. It’s also possible that the owner’s title policy could somehow include the single-wide.
Good luck,
Ilyce
Hi I was wondering if you had any luck with this I’m having the same problem I’m working with a lawyer but it’s taking a long while so I was just wondering any advice
I own a mobile. It has three owners on it. I am trying to remove one person on it. How do I go about this.
I live in Putnam County Florida and was trying to sell my homes. I approached a neighbor and he was interested. He asked that I go to a local notary which I assumed would be so he could do a title search on the homes before purchasing. We had an agreed upon price. After I visited Notary and signed a one page document again which I thought he needed to a title search I learned that this man had the Notary present me with one page of a two page document that was a warranty deed. I only saw the signature page. There are two mobile homes on this propety of mine which is one parcel. He doesn’t have a bill of sale obviously and does not have the mobile home titles. I have file to quiet title and a lawsuit also that I have pending, however he has had me trespassed out of one of my homes by the Sheriffs Department. This would be my rental and most of my income that I have not been able to access for over a year now. I never moved out of home he filed an Unlawful Detainer which has yet to be heard. I cannot fix issues with my home that I believe he’s doing but cannot prove it. What is the best way to end this, it has been a year.and I haven’t been to court yet. It has actually become scary as he is someone that refuses to lose and he will do anything to see that I lose. Already paid several people to claim they saw me commit a crime and has had they break into my home as well. Sheriffs Department believes him because deed is in his name, by way of fraud is not something they are listening to. Please help
I purchased a mobile home about a year ago during this pendemic and been living in it since I bought it and I pay rent every month because its located on a mobile park . I have the title and a reciept for the mobile home what do I do now to put it in my name thank you.
I did the same thing almost I had been doing g a bond for title and the land it sitting on well I wanted to pay if off earlier so I did after we got a lawyer a s they drawn the papers up saying that I had paid off.remind you we got a lawyer but it took the man serval mouths due to the pandemic but finally I got the paper saying I paid the lawyer was going to change everything since we paid him to do so but a couple of months later I received the trailer title and we are still in th pandemic what should I do I got all the papers and I pay taxes and ins in my name what can I do to get everything taken care of like the trailer in my nane
We have a mobile home thT was giving to us without any paperwork we been living in it for about 5yrs now and its been destroyed by. Tornado in order to get help we need to provide some kind of onwership papers..is there a . Document that can be drawn up so that the original owners can sign saying they gave it to us..its so old they no longer can find the papers ion the trailer