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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Jake Wheatley |
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Wheatley anti-blight bill advances
HARRISBURG, April 13 – The House Urban Affairs Committee today approved a bill introduced by state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Allegheny, that is designed to help to reduce the number of abandoned properties in Pennsylvania communities.
"There are property owners in this state who lose interest, and this bill would help the neighbors and communities who have to deal with the results of that," Wheatley said.
Wheatley's bill (H.B. 1022) passed the House 181-19 in the last session but expired in the Senate. It would change state law on "adverse possession," a process that allows a person who lives in a home that's considered legally abandoned to take ownership of the property.
Current law imposes a 21-year waiting period for that process. Wheatley's bill would reduce that to 10 years for single-family homes on properties of one-half acre or less. The owner would have one year to dispute the claim. The bill would not apply to property that is part of a common interest ownership community, such as a condominium development, a real estate cooperative or a planned community.
"In addition to helping to reduce blight, this bill would help residents whose claim to a property is in limbo because of problems such as a defective or unfiled deed or an inheritance that wasn't provided through a legal will. Because they lack clear legal ownership, they have problems with getting property insurance, a grant or loan for property repair, utility discounts or real estate tax abatements, payment plans for real estate tax delinquencies or a loan from Pennsylvania's Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program," Wheatley said.
"Current law provides an incentive to homeowners in these cases to abandon property rather than spending large amounts of money to fix it up. Local governments end up having to spend money to demolish many of these properties. My bill would avoid these unproductive costs and instead help to keep people in homes and help them establish homeownership," he said.
The bill now goes to the full House of Representatives.
Wheatley represents the 19th Legislative District, which includes historic Pittsburgh neighborhoods such as the Hill District, North Side, South Side, Allentown, Hazelwood, Downtown, the Bluff, Knoxville, Beltzhoover, Manchester, Arlington, Arlington Heights, and West, South and North Oakland.
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