Properties that are in the McKean County Repository are no one’s
responsibility to maintain, explained the chief of the McKean
County Tax Claim Bureau on Thursday.

“The county owns it as trustee,” explained Kathy Roche. “There
is not a deed taken and recorded as property. We have the right to
sell it, but we are not responsible for the maintenance of it.

“Right now we are in a very gray area where no one is
responsible for the property condition,” she explained.

That is the case with all of the properties in the repository.
About half of the properties there are in the City of Bradford.

Roche said she frequently sees properties end up there because
of landlords who refuse to put money back in to the properties they
rent out.

“Landlords will rent them out until the houses are not
habitable, then it’ll end up in the repository. It’s bad for the
city,” she said. Once properties are in the repository, they stay
there indefinitely “until assessment tells me they are combined
with another parcel” or until someone buys them.

The Tax Claim Bureau has three tax sales in which a property can
be sold. The first is the upset tax sale; any property not sold
there is subject to a judicial tax sale. Any properties not sold
there will be placed in the repository.

Repository properties are sold be written bid. The minimum bid
for real estate is $250, and for mobile homes is $50.

All three taxing bodies must approve any sale from the
repository.

Roche said when someone bids on a property from the repository,
she sends letters to the municipality and school district where the
property is located. Both can accept or deny permission for the
sale to go through. If both accept it, Roche then presents it to
the county commissioners for consideration.

“Many have been denied because the bidding party is out of the
area,” she said. “There’s nothing that’s going to make them
responsible for their property.”

She explained one company, called McKean 8 Property Trust, was
“running some scams” in the county. They would buy condemned
properties from the repository, and then turn around and sell them
on the Internet auction site eBay. One family from Kentucky bought
one such property from the Internet. Roche explained the father had
lost his job, used his severance pay to buy the property and
relocated his family to Bradford, ready to move in.

When they arrived, they found the property they now owned was
condemned and uninhabitable.

“(The scam was) stopped thanks to the efforts of (Bradford code
enforcement officer) George Corignani,” Roche said, explaining he
thwarted further attempts at the scam.

As of the November 2009 listing of properties in the repository,
there were 71 parcels that are in the City of Bradford.

Passage of state law provides neighbors of blighted properties
with resource

With the passage of a law in Pennsylvania last year, neighbors
of blighted properties can do something about it.

The Pennsylvania Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship
Act went into effect Feb. 26, 2009. The law sets up a list of
individuals who can petition the Court of Common Pleas to be
appointed conservator — the owner, a lien-holder, secured creditor,
tenant, non-profit corporation, redevelopment authority, school
district, municipality, and residents and business owners within
500 feet of the building.

A property owner who wants to contest the petition must ask the
court’s permission to intervene.

The act spells out four initial conditions for appointing a
conservator — the property was not legally occupied for the
previous 12 months; the property was not actively marketed for sale
during the 60 days before the petition; the property is not subject
to an existing foreclosure; and the property was not acquired
within the last six months.

Three of nine conditions must be present for the court to
appoint a conservator. The building must be a public nuisance; is
in need of substantial rehabilitation and none has taken place in
the previous 12 months; is unfit for human habitation; is in a
condition that increases the risk of fire; is subject to
unauthorized entry because it hasn’t been secured by the owner, or
has been by the municipality; is an attractive nuisance to children
or for illicit purposes; poses potential health and safety hazards;
or negatively affects the economic well being of nearby residents
and businesses.

Once a petition for conservatorship is filed, a notice of a
pending lien is required to be filed, clouding the title until the
conservatorship is resolved.

If appointed, the conservator must rehabilitate the building.
The conservator will have the power to collect receivables; pursue
any legal claims associated with the building; contract for repair;
borrow money; enter into leases; secure insurance coverage; hire
and pay professionals; consult with historic commissions; and
exercise all the authority of an owner, according to the law.

The conservator is the owner for the purpose of filing plans,
seeking permits and submitting applications, but the property owner
is liable for the property and may become responsible for any debts
incurred as a result of the conservatorship.

The court may require the owner to post a bond in the amount of
the repair costs estimated in the petition for conservatorship as a
condition of retaining possession of the building, the law
reads.

When the final plan for the property has been approved by the
court and implemented, the conservator must file with the court a
full accounting of all income and expenditures during the
process.

Financing for the rehabilitation process isn’t clearly spelled
out, other than suggesting a lien holder on the property may
finance the rehabilitation so it can be first in line for repayment
when the process is completed.