Magistrate orders partial lien release for city purchase, reduces lien for new owner, and fines repeat blight case $45,000

The Special Magistrate hearing included several non-rental matters involving liens, nuisance/maintenance repeat violations, and a request tied to a forthcoming city purchase.

Partial lien release to let the city close on a lot

Michelle Tolliver, project manager for the Midtown Redevelopment Area, told the magistrate the city is under contract to purchase an otherwise vacant lot that had become cross-encumbered by liens tied to a nearby nuisance case (case CEB 031218, originally recorded in 2012). The city asked for a partial release so the lot the city planned to buy — described in the record as 537 South Martin Luther King Boulevard — would be free of the encumbrance while the liens remain on other properties owned by the same respondent. Magistrate Riggio ordered that the liens in case CEB 031218 be reduced to $0 as they attach to 537 South Martin Luther King Boulevard only; the liens remain on 407 Jefferson Street and any other properties owned by the respondent.

Lien reduction for new owner at 865 Winchester Street

In case CEB 031058 involving property at 865 Winchester Street (previous owner David Mayhew; new owner Gail Smith/GLS Revocable Trust), code staff…