Information from the County Attorney's Office
By Steven J. Franzen, Campbell County Attorney
Unfortunately, a common problem in rural areas is that land owners who recently purchase property find abandoned and junk vehicles on the property they recently purchased. This problem usually comes to the attention of the property owner when they inspect the property or through a local code enforcement officer because local ordinances limit the number of abandoned vehicles you may have on your property.
The rules do vary from city to city and county to county as to how many abandoned or junk vehicles you may have on your property, if any. However, in most scenarios trying to remove the vehicles can be an issue because the abandoned vehicle is not in the current or new land owner’s name.
The simplest way to solve this problem is to have a car towing, storage or junk company come and tow the vehicle. Chapter 376 of Kentucky Statute then allows the towing, storage or junk company to place a lien on the vehicle and eventually auction it off to recover the company’s cost incurred.
This resolves the problem for the land owner, but the actual or last known owner of the abandoned vehicle will still be responsible for excess fees and costs owed as a result of the vehicle being towed and stored.
Alternatively, and frankly a little less practical, the only other remedy for a property owner to obtain title of an abandoned vehicle on his or her property would be to file a declaratory judgment suit in the County where the vehicle is located. In such a lawsuit, the landowner would ask the court to declare the vehicle abandoned and name the land owner as the new owner because of where the abandonment of the vehicle occurred. I would always recommend retaining counsel to assist in this process as it can quickly become complex. Once a judgment is entered, the property owner would have to complete a form with the Department of Transportation, pay the necessary taxes and fees, and submit a copy of the judgment to obtain a new title for the abandoned vehicle.
If you have any topics you would like to have covered in this column, please contact my office by e-mail at countyattorney@campbellcountyky.org, by phone at 491-7700 or by regular mail addressed to 319 York Street, Newport, Kentucky 41071.