Can a nonprofit take over an abandoned house in Kansas?
Yes, through the district court. A Kansas housing nonprofit can ask the court for temporary possession of an abandoned house that it intends to rehabilitate and use as housing.
For this law, a house counts as abandoned when its taxes have been delinquent for the past two years and nobody legally entitled to be there has lived in it for the past 90 days. The groups that can use it are Kansas nonprofit corporations with improving housing among their purposes.
Before filing, the nonprofit has to mail notice to the city's enforcing officer and to everyone with an interest in the property, and post it on the property, 20 to 60 days ahead. At the hearing, the nonprofit has to give the court its own repair plan and show it has the resources to fix the house and then manage it.
The owner can answer with a repair plan of its own and proof it can carry it out, and the court then gives the owner 90 days to bring the house up to fire, housing and building codes. The court may add another 90 days for good cause, and if the house is brought into compliance in time, the nonprofit's petition is dismissed.
If the judge approves, the order signs off on the nonprofit's repair plan and hands it temporary possession of the property. The owner can go back to court and regain the house after paying the nonprofit the compensation the court sets, but has to honor any rental agreements the nonprofit made.
If the owner takes no steps to get the house back before the nonprofit finishes the rehabilitation, the nonprofit can petition the court for a judicial deed. A judicial deed wipes out the old ownership and the liens on the property, except tax liens and mechanics' liens.
Can a Kansas court cut the redemption period for an abandoned house in foreclosure?
If the court finds after a hearing, on at least 21 days' notice to every party, that the house has been abandoned or isn't occupied in good faith, it can shorten the owner's redemption period or end it.
As a rule, a Kansas owner can redeem (buy back) a house sold at a foreclosure sale for up to 12 months after the sale, unless another part of the law says otherwise. When the default comes before a third of the original loan on the senior mortgage has been paid, the court orders a three-month redemption period.
A Kansas owner whose empty house has missed mortgage payments may want this walk-through of foreclosure in Kansas next.
What happens when taxes go unpaid on an empty house in Kansas?
The county can bid the property in at a tax sale, and when the property is an abandoned building, the owner gets just one year from that sale to redeem it.
Here, abandoned means a building left unoccupied for at least a year without reasonable maintenance. A homestead, and real estate not covered by the shorter periods, gets three years from the tax sale.
Property still unredeemed when the period ends goes through a tax foreclosure and sale. Up to the day of that sale, the owner, the owner's heirs or a mortgagee can still redeem.
If the property sells for more than the taxes, interest, penalties and its share of the sale costs, the court orders the extra paid, on proof, to the owner or whoever else is entitled to it.
If a county doesn't start a tax foreclosure on property inside a city, and the taxes stay delinquent three years after the property first became eligible, the city itself can start the sale.
How does a Kansas city get an unsafe or abandoned building repaired or torn down?
Through a public hearing and a council resolution. Every Kansas city's governing body has the power to make an owner repair or remove an unsafe or dangerous building, or to remove it itself.
The same law lets a city have abandoned property in town rehabilitated, or do the rehabilitation itself. Once the city's enforcing officer reports a building as unsafe or abandoned in writing, the council sets a hearing where the owner, lienholders and occupants can show why it shouldn't be condemned.
If the council finds the building unsafe or dangerous, its resolution orders the building repaired or removed and the lot made safe and secure. The resolution gives the owner a deadline: if the work isn't started in time or isn't kept moving until it's done, the city will have the building repaired or razed. When the owner doesn't repay the city's cost, the unpaid balance can be collected from the owner or assessed against the lot as a special assessment on the tax rolls.
If a building is an immediate hazard to the public, the enforcing officer can put up barricades or have it vacated, taken down, repaired or shored up without delay.
Kansas cities can also require weeds to be cut on any lot in town. For an empty property whose owner lives elsewhere, the weed notice goes by certified mail to the owner's last known address.
Who looks after a foreclosed Kansas house before the redemption period runs out?
The owner keeps possession until the redemption period ends. The buyer at the sale, who holds the certificate of purchase, may pay the taxes, the insurance on the buildings and other costs needed to keep the property from going to waste.
If the owner redeems, the buyer is paid back for that spending.
The buyer is entitled to stop waste or destruction of the property, and on a proper showing the court can issue an injunction or appoint a receiver to hold it until the buyer is entitled to a deed.
How do you report a run-down vacant house in Kansas?
In Topeka, a complaint about a property can be called in anonymously to (785)368-3161 or sent through the city's online service request portal.
Topeka counts housing problems, unsafe structures, sanitation, inoperable or unlicensed vehicles, weeds and graffiti on private property as code issues.
After a complaint comes in, a code official schedules an inspection to see whether a violation exists.
You can also tell me where it is. I'll find out who owns it and reach out about buying it and fixing it up.