State of the Land Updates

 Amendment to the Municipal Claims and Tax Lien Law Passes PA State Legislature

The amendment to the Municipal Claims and Tax Lien Law (MCTLL) was passed by the PA State legislature and signed into law on July 5th, 2023. It grants second class cities (Pittsburgh) and land banks in the area the legal right to access land through the Sheriff’s sale, rather than the Treasurer’s sale. The bill was presented as SB202, and HB711 in the Pennsylvania State Senate and House respectively by Senator Fontana and Representative Kinkead.

The Treasurer’s sale, also known as T-sale, is a process run by the City of Pittsburgh to reclaim liens on any privately-owned vacant properties. Any lien holder can request that the property go to Treasurer’s sale so they can reclaim the money they are owed. The main taxing bodies are the City, School District, and County, as well as the Water & Sewer Authority. T-sale is an open bid, so there is no guarantee that a resident will obtain the property they are looking to buy – a developer could swoop in and outbid them. Also, the tax liens from the previous owner are passed on to the new owner, making the process of acquiring vacant land very expensive and risky. Finally, before a piece of land can be sold, there are many legal services required to quiet the title and make a new deed. This process is extremely time-consuming and can take years.

The Sheriff’s sale is a county process and allows for priority bidding, which protects buyers with community ties from developers. This is one of the main goals of a land bank, so the passing of this law will greatly increase the land bank’s ability to recycle vacant land into productive spaces. It also expedites the process of quieting the title and clearing the liens, so residents can acquire the land much faster. This amendment will go into effect in 60 days, on September 3rd.

*Correction: last month we previously stated that city owned property was eligible for Treasurer’s sale. However these processes are to recycle privately-owned, tax delinquent properties.*
The city can buy or acquire these properties, which then go into their inventory, but no city-owned properties are sold during the Treasurer’s or Sheriff’s sale. If someone wants to buy a piece of city owned land, they can go through the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA), the Real Estate Office’s main process, or the Land Bank. The URA process is complicated, time consuming, and is usually for larger developers. The Real Estate office can take five or six years to process a property, and even then the buyer needs to pay off all of the back taxes. In many other cities, land banks processes are affordable, relatively quick, and manageable ways for residents to purchase both privately owned and city/municipality owned land. This is why we are fighting for a functioning land bank in Pittsburgh.

Updates on Pittsburgh Land Bank Budget 

The Pittsburgh Land Bank (PLB)was initially allocated $10M from the federal funds given to Pittsburgh through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The PLB board approved a budget for that $10M in December of 2022 so that it could achieve the deadline of allocating the money by the end of 2024, and spending the money by the end of 2026.

In January 2023 $3M of that money was shifted into a food justice fund, leaving the PLB with a budget of $7M to spend in a little less than four years.

Most recently, the Gainey administration slashed their funding in half again (down to $3.5M) due to concerns about thePLB’s ability to spend the money within the deadline. The other $3.5M will be reallocated to the URA, supposedly for other vacancy-related issues.

Listen to the WESA episode of The Confluence featuring Grounded’s amazing Director of Programming, Becca Simon! The later 2/3 of the podcast are about the food justice fund and the land bank budget cuts.

We want to hear from you! What are your thoughts?