Selling a dead or junk car in Iowa Colony

The two-part test in 16-53

Section 16-53 starts with a car that is self-propelled and inoperable and has no valid plate, registration sticker or inspection sticker. Then one more condition has to hold. Either "the vehicle is wrecked, dismantled, partially dismantled, or discarded," or it "has remained inoperable for more than" "72 consecutive hours if the vehicle is on public property" or "30 consecutive days if the vehicle is on private property."

The city built this article on Local Government Code chapter 217 and Transportation Code sections 683.071 through 683.078, and treats each as separate authority. Section 16-56 makes it a public nuisance, to be abated and removed, whenever people on a public way can see it. The way out is a building: a car completely enclosed and hidden from the street and other property is exempt. Fences, trees and shrubs count only for licensed dealers, junkyards and collectors' antique or special-interest vehicles, so a backyard privacy fence is not on the list.

The ten-day notice and what follows

In Iowa Colony, the enforcing officer has to give "not less than ten days' notice." It goes certified, five-day return requested, to the last registered owner, each lienholder, and the property's owner or occupant. The deadline is tied to the mailing, not to the day you open the envelope: "The nuisance must be abated and removed not later than the tenth day after the date on which the notice was mailed." A notice that comes back undelivered pushes action to the 11th day after its return, at the earliest.

That notice is for the civil route only. Section 16-59 says these steps "are not required for a criminal prosecution."

Ask for a hearing and the municipal court sets one, but the date cannot come before day 11 after notice. The car is presumed inoperable unless you show it is not. The civil hearing has no jury; a misdemeanor prosecution does. If nobody asks for a hearing within ten days, the officer enters the property and has the car taken to a scrapyard, demolisher or government site. The officer then has five days to report the vehicle to the state transportation department.

Fines top out at $200, and the code counts every day as its own offense. Once the city has taken it, the car may not be rebuilt or made to run by anyone other than the person who owned it at that moment or someone that owner voluntarily transfers it to.

Parking, complaints and phone numbers

Section 38-29 bans parking on city property "between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 5:00 a.m." On a public street, the junked-vehicle clock is 72 hours.

Code Compliance works out of the Public Safety Building, 3144 Meridiana Pkwy, at 346-395-4543, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents can also file complaints through the city's online resident portal. The police line, 281-369-3444, is staffed weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; after hours, the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office takes dispatch.

Brazoria County title and Texas paperwork

Brazoria County's tax office sits in Suite 104 at 237 E. Locust St. in Angleton, (979) 864-1320. That is about 19 miles south of Iowa Colony, measured straight. Texas counties, not a state DMV, handle titles, and it is the buyer who applies. Your share: the title, signed with the sale date and odometer reading, plus a signed Form 130-U that shows what the buyer paid. Texas needs no notary on any of it. The sale also opens a 30-day window for your Vehicle Transfer Notification (web or Form VTR-346), so the buyer's tickets and tolls stay off your record.

Your plates can leave with you, though the registration sticker will not carry over to another car. Brazoria is one of TxDMV's 17 emissions counties. Title missing on an old car? A parts recycler may buy a car at least 13 years old, unregistered for seven years, without one. See selling with no title.

Getting an offer

Write online or call (877) 421-6008. Say which car you have, its miles, if it cranks, and what papers you hold. The truck can pull up to the car in a driveway off Meridiana Parkway, a pasture lot or a shop. Manvel is under five miles away, Pearland 10.0 miles and Alvin 12.0 miles; for statewide rules, see Texas.