DETROIT (WXYZ) — A housing crisis you may not be aware of involving deed fraud is being carried out on a major scale. For victims, the impact can be devastating.
“One day, I went back and I couldn’t get in my house anymore,” said Kim Page, who is a victim of deed fraud.
Watch Simon Shaykhet's video report below:
Across the Motor City, victims like Page are sounding the alarm about a sharp rise in cases of deed fraud, which is ruining lives and leading to hundreds losing their homes each year.
“The doors were locked, so I had to kick my door in to change the locks so nobody could get in. But every time I would go back, somebody did the same thing I did,” Page said.
Countless advocates for raising awareness reached out to me shed light on how this is happening in Wayne County and beyond. Travis Alderson says it felt personal when someone targeted his grandmother.
“I’m glad you’re doing this story because it’s putting a lot of people up on these unscrupulous characters out here that are really taking advantage of women and elderly,” Alderson said.
Donovan McCarty, the director of Michigan State University's Law School Housing Justice Clinic, confirmed cases are on the rise.
“We’ve seen since 2020, hundreds of cases a year,” McCarty said.
He says in Page’s case, after a cash purchase, which is never recommended, another party forged a deed falsely saying Page sold them the home, then they tried to evict her.
On a broader lever, it’s not just Detroit.
“We’ve had clients in Oakland County, we've had clients far up north — it's all over the state,” McCarty said.
Watch our full interview with Donovan McCarty below:
McCarty is helping Page and several others to hold on to their homes and working with lawmakers to pass tougher laws.
Victims of this type of fraud say the impact can be devastating and it’s often not realized until locks are changed, mail is coming to a different name or there’s a for sale sign out front.
McCarty says forged documents are often submitted to deed offices and criminals can be hard to locate and prosecute.
Detroit Councilwoman Mary Waters says it’s a crisis, with many shelling out their life savings to a phony seller who appears legit.
“Somebody is taking time to type up these quitclaim deeds, taking them to the register of deeds and say that they own the property,” Waters said.
She now plans to host at a town hall on Wednesday. Another town hall is set for Feb. 12.
“People literally wake up the next morning and find that the property is gone,” Waters said.
For more answers, I visited the Wayne County Register of Deeds office, where people can sign up for free monitoring and property alerts notifying you by email if someone uses your name on a document.
Department Director Harry Kalogerakos says it’s a key step homeowners can take since laws do not allow his staff to reject a deed filing.
“We have statutory requirements, certain things we’re looking for in a deed," Kalogerakos said. "If all of those requirements are there, we have to accept the document. We are prohibited from reviewing it for accuracy and the truth of the document.”
For Page, it’s been a costly lesson and one she hopes others can learn from.
“It surprised me. It’s like how can people get away with forging a deed, saying that they bought your home from you,” she said.
To drive home just how big of an issue this is, Waters says many people are left homeless as a result and it can take as much as eight years to correct this type of problem.
You can sign up for property alerts, a free service. Here are the instructions:
- Visit waynecountylandrecords.com
- Click the “Property Alerts” tab Choose a method to create an alert — keyword or document
- Follow the instructions
- You will be sent a confirmation email from vanguardsupport@govos.com once you confirm the alert
- Submit a fraud complaint at waynecountymi.gov/register or call 313-224-5869.
You can also learn more about property fraud by reaching out to the MSU College of Law Housing Justice Clinic at housingclinic@law.msu.edu or 517-432-6967
If you’re interested in attending the town hall, you can find information on the city’s website.
