Lost Title - want to sell

[missylou1]

My mom and dad want to sell their 1965? Schultz single-wide mobile home but she cannot find the title. They financed it through a bank in Virginia but when she called, they said that they still show the mobile home dealer as the owner. The DMV says they have no record of a title. They have lived in West Virginia for 40 something years and have paid property taxes and insurance on this. It is in a mobile home park where they have paid lot rent. They are in the process of buying a home in Kentucky where I live. What should they do if they cannot find the title. No one seems to know anything. Can they just do a bill of sale? Thanks for any advice you can give me.

M. Taylor

[David Oxhandler]

Selling a mobile home with out the title is the same as selling an automobile without a title. It is done but an educated buyer is not going to contract for titled property of any type with out a title transfer. In some states it is just illegal.

If the bank in Va has the original title and the dealer is still in business you will have to get them together to get the paper work right. If the dealer is no longer around perhaps a copy of the tile and a visit to the local title office is required. West Virginia Titles mobile & manufactured homes that are not attached to real property, as they would a car or any other vehicle.

In West Virginia The commissioner of motor vehicles may cancel a certificate of title for a mobile or manufactured home that is affixed to real property owned by the homeowner.

The homeowner must submit an application and the certificate of title. The cancellation certificate is then to be recorded in the county deed records.Upon recording the statute provides that the home is to be treated for all purposes as an appurtenance to the real estate to which it is affixed.


Check the local county deeds records to see if the title was "cancelled". If in fact it was ask about the procedure to un-cancel the title.

[missylou1]

The problem is that they bought it in Virginia and the dealer no longer exists and the state says they show the owner as the dealership they bought it from. The DMV doesn't have a record of a title either. The title that they received years ago is lost. They were going to transfer it to a West Virginia title before the sell but can't find it. So they have nothing showing that they are the owners other than they have paid property tax and insurance on it for 40+ years.

[David Oxhandler]

If they purchased it in Va and were issued a Va title then that state still has a record. Virginia does not have a vehicle registration requirement for manufactured homes. Buying in one state and moving to another can provide some unique challenges. MH sales are state regulated. Dealers are licensed in the state where they do business. A dealer can ignore most requirements when delivering to a different state where he is not licensed.

In Va MHs must be titled. That is probably why the dealer is the last owner of record. Contact the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
P.O. Box 27412
Richmond, VA 23269
(804) 497-7100