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They either need a lawyer, or a wizard
Jan. 2nd, 2024 09:11 amThis morning I saw a discussion on Reddit about a family in Philadelphia that refuses to sell an abandoned house despite many clear and obvious incentives to do so. This is a case study of an ongoing problem with local laws, but personally I suspect there's an ancient evil sealed in the basement.
Here's the Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/philadelphia/comments/18s5sez/why_a_fishtown_nonprofit_is_trying_to_seize_a/
The newspaper article under discussion is behind a paywall, but I think the conversation is much more interesting than the article itself, especially in the light it sheds on how complicated "resisting gentrification" can be on a case-by-case basis. The problem in this case is a tangled title that makes legal ownership of the house in question difficult to establish.
Titles in Philadelphia often become "tangled" when home ownership passes between friends or family members with no legal transfer, which can be complicated and expensive. Since many houses in the city are occupied by people on low or fixed incomes, the lawyer fees + title transfer fees + accompanying taxes + insurance requirements often make a formal transfer unrealistic. Unfortunately, a tangled title makes it impossible to sell a house or get a loan for renovation.
Still. That shitty abandoned house is worth a ton of money. Why wouldn't the family accept the NPO's help to sell it, unless there were something sinister barely held in check by the spells woven into its architecture?
Here's the Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/philadelphia/comments/18s5sez/why_a_fishtown_nonprofit_is_trying_to_seize_a/
The newspaper article under discussion is behind a paywall, but I think the conversation is much more interesting than the article itself, especially in the light it sheds on how complicated "resisting gentrification" can be on a case-by-case basis. The problem in this case is a tangled title that makes legal ownership of the house in question difficult to establish.
Titles in Philadelphia often become "tangled" when home ownership passes between friends or family members with no legal transfer, which can be complicated and expensive. Since many houses in the city are occupied by people on low or fixed incomes, the lawyer fees + title transfer fees + accompanying taxes + insurance requirements often make a formal transfer unrealistic. Unfortunately, a tangled title makes it impossible to sell a house or get a loan for renovation.
Still. That shitty abandoned house is worth a ton of money. Why wouldn't the family accept the NPO's help to sell it, unless there were something sinister barely held in check by the spells woven into its architecture?
