City Council committee approves deed forgery prevention bill

A Philadelphia City Council committee has approved a simple change to city regulations that could keep many homes from being stolen.

A Philadelphia City Council committee has approved a simple change to city regulations that could keep many homes from being stolen.

Fairly often, people walk into Philadelphia City Hall and transfer the deed for a vacant home into their name. Steven Grossick says his home was stolen even though the person didn’t use his name on the deed transfer form.

“They used the previous property owner. The notary seal on the deed also was expired at the time when they did it. The person who took my property, he uses a nonexistent contact address on the deed also.”

The new bill would mandate if the name on the title doesn’t match the current owner, the transfer is blocked.

There would also be mandatory notification of the prior owner of the property, so if a theft attempt did occur, the owner would be put on notice.