Weld’s bill would regulate land purchase contracts
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WHEELING -- West Virginia Senate Majority Whip Ryan Weld has crafted a bill that could help cities with the problem of dilapidated homes.
The West Virginia Legislature is set to convene Wednesday, and Weld, R-Brooke, plans to introduce legislation regulating land installment contracts.
These contracts allow potential homeowners to purchase property through a landowner on an installment plan.
Often landowners around the state purchase property at delinquent tax sales, then try to sell them to a second party through land installment contracts, Weld explained.
"While these contracts do serve a purpose, they often are used to prey upon lower income individuals who can't qualify for a mortgage," he said. "These payments become so burdensome (to the second buyer) they can't keep up with the payments."
The prospective buyer defaults on the contract, and another person then comes along and seeks to buy the property on installments. The home continues to change hands and likely isn't being properly maintained along the way, Weld said.
"The property then becomes so dilapidated, the person who originally bought it walks away and does nothing about it," he said. "It becomes eventually uninhabitable, and the city is stuck with the home."
Currently, there are no state laws that regulate land installment contracts, according to Weld.
He said his bill would require inspections of the property, and offer protections to those who move in in the event of forfeiture.
"It would offer them protection from being kicked out with nothing to show for it," Weld explained. "I'm the city attorney for Wellsburg. I see the fallout from the properties all the time."
A second bill being crafted by Weld seeks to protect the identity of minors in sexual assault cases. He explained too often the details in public court filings expose the identity of minors who are victims of crime -- especially those who are victims in sexual assault cases.
Weld intends to introduce legislation that would keep the criminal complaint confidential and sealed from the public unless a judge allows it to be opened.
"Law enforcement brought me the bill -- which pertains to the confidentiality of names in sexual assault cases when they involve minors," he said. "It would afford protection from those names being publicized.
"Several states already have laws in place that keep court records and criminal complaints in these cases confidential unless ordered released by court."
Weld said the legislation was inspired by an Ohio County case. While the details in the cases' criminal complaint didn't name the minor, the victim could be identified by other information found in the document.
The complaint also contained graphic details of the crime, according to Weld.
"This information puts the victim through another circumstance when it is publicly known -- especially if the victim is a minor," he said.