What if my Tennessee mobile home was de-titled or affixed to the real estate?

Two ways a manufactured home can be owned in Tennessee

Most manufactured homes are titled property, the way a vehicle is. The title is the ownership document and it moves with the home. But when a home is permanently affixed to land the owner also owns, Tennessee has a process where that title can be surrendered and the home becomes part of the real estate, documented in the county land records rather than on a title certificate.

After that, the home is generally bought and sold with a deed, along with the dirt, instead of by signing over a title.

Why it matters when you only want to sell the home

If we are buying the home to move it, and the home is legally part of your real property, the paperwork is not a title assignment. It is a transaction that has to separate the home from the land again, which usually means recorded documentation and, depending on the situation, involvement from a closing attorney or title company.

It also matters if there is a mortgage on the land, because a lender's deed of trust generally covers the improvements on that land, which includes an affixed home. You cannot remove the lender's collateral without addressing the loan.

How to find out which situation you are in

Sellers rarely know off the top of their head, and that is fine. These are the clues.

• Look for an affidavit of affixation or a title surrender in your closing paperwork
• Check whether the county assessor bills the home as real property with the land, or separately
• Check whether you were ever issued a title certificate for the home
• Look at your deed to see whether it describes improvements on the parcel
• Ask the register of deeds office in that county what is recorded against the parcel
• Ask your county clerk's title office whether a title record still exists for the serial number

What we do with it

Once we know whether the home is titled property or part of the real estate, we know which kind of closing it is and who needs to be involved. Neither one is a problem. What causes problems is finding out three weeks in.

This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a specific home was validly affixed or can be severed is a question for a Tennessee attorney or the appropriate county office.