The Challenge:
There are thousands of blighted and abandoned properties in the urban core of Kansas City that have title defects. Lenders and other creditors, as well as heirs of deceased owners have viable legal claims against these properties. Typically, the owners of the claims have abandoned their rights for many years. Nonetheless, they continue to stand as major obstacles to the development of the property.
Because there is no clear, legal owner of these properties, no title company will issue title insurance for the properties and, as a result, banks will not make loans on the properties and the properties for all practical purposes cannot be sold.
Purchasers of the properties can bring individual cases to clear the title, but the average cost per case can range from $1,500 to $5,000 or substantially more, depending on the circumstances. These costs are often prohibitive for low-income individuals and contractors who are good candidates to purchase the properties. So, the title issues often keep the properties from being developed.
The result is that properties that could be developed are left abandoned and blighted—doing major damage to Kansas City neighborhoods and reducing the quality of life of their residents and thwarting revitalization efforts in urban core neighborhoods.
The Solution:
Neighborhood Legal Support of Kansas City (“NLS”) is a small, not-for-profit law firm that handles legal issues to help to empower urban core neighborhoods to grow stronger.
NLS works in close collaboration with organizations that are already doing great work to develop the urban core of Kansas City. These include: The Land Bank of Kansas City; the Dangerous Buildings Department of the City of Kansas City; Habitat for Humanity; Catholic Charities; Legal Aid of Western Missouri’s Economic Development Unit (“Legal Aid”); the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council; Westside Housing; the Chamber of Commerce’s Urban Neighborhoods Initiative and others. Over time, we also plan to take cases in Kansas and outside the Kansas City area.
NLS is currently handling quiet title cases, primarily on behalf of the Land Bank, that will clear title for properties and allow them to be developed so that they can become good quality, occupied, tax-paying properties. NLS is also representing not-for-profits that need quiet title work done to move forward with rehab work on urban core properties.
We work with neighborhood associations and other community stakeholders and private developers to prioritize Land Bank properties for title clearance. We clear title on lynch pin properties that are holding back neighborhoods, so that neighborhood revitalization projects can move forward.
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