Kansas · Manufactured homesKansas manufactured home on land: eliminating the certificate of title

Kansas treats a manufactured or mobile home as personal property with a certificate of title until the title is eliminated. When the home is permanently affixed to real property by placement on a permanent foundation of a type not removable intact, it is considered for all purposes an improvement to real property – but only if its certificate of title is eliminated under the statute; once that happens, ownership of the home goes with ownership of the land, and no separate security interest exists in the home, which can be subject to a lien only as part of the real property (K.S.A. 58-4214(a)). To eliminate the title, the owner applies to the division with an affidavit in the prescribed form signed by all owners and by every party holding a mortgage, lien or other security interest in the home, giving the owners, the legal description of the land, a description of the home, the secured parties and a statement that an owner of the home owns the land; the certificate of title or, for a new home, the manufacturer's statement of origin; a release from each secured party; and proof that all fees and taxes are paid (58-4214(b)). The division approves the application and delivers it as directed, the approved application is recorded with the register of deeds of the county where the land lies, and on recording the title is presumed eliminated and any previously issued title is canceled (58-4214(c)).