The Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act (Act 135) is a Pennsylvania law that enables nonprofits and individuals to petition a court to be appointed “conservators” of properties they allege to be blighted and abandoned.
[1] The act was designed to provide community members with standing to petition for the right to rehabilitate and take ownership of abandoned properties.
[2] Representative John Taylor introduced the amendments, arguing that they would make conservatorship more attractive to private developers.
Under the law, in order for the court to appoint a conservator, the petitioner must show that all of the following apply as of the date of filing: A study carried out by the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania's school of law found that Act 135 petitions were "disproportionately filed in communities vulnerable to gentrification" and "disproportionately filed against Asian-American ... and to a lesser degree Black respondents.
"[1] A series of articles appearing in the Philadelphia Inquirer described how people at risk of displacement in challenging circumstances had lost their houses to conservatorships.