That wont clear the title, they will want to see proof from the owner, my understanding is that trying to get it done as abandoned property is near impossible and very costly.
I bought a 01 KLR, the two previous owners did not title the bike, the last title holder had paid off the lien.
However the last lien holder and owner signed in the wrong places, NJ MVC would not accept the title, although one would think that how both signatures were present, the bike did not come back as stolen so that their intent was clear. NOT SO. It took me a month to track both the last title holder and lien holder down, drove to the lien holders house to have him sign a letter declaring that he longer had any ownership claim to the bike, I then had to track down the previous owner, finally found him on FB, Had to offer him $100 and hour to meet me at NJ MVC to sign the new title over to me in their presence. It cost me $200, plus back taxes to clear the title. Going forward, as if I flip a motorcycle, I will no longer buy a bike without a clear title, and only buy it from the title holder.
I use to flip the old hondas, and it was easy to title them if I didnt have one, because many were not in the system. I use to send the info and $50 to a company in New Hampshire, get a clean title and then title it in NJ, however 20 years later it is a very costly and difficult process. I would imagine that you would have to run legal notices and the such to clear the titles on bikes purchased in a storage locker. Then have to prove that they were truly abandoned, and I would imagine that the storage facility owner would have to be able to prove that it was the motorcycle owner that leased the locker and abandoned the property not some Joe Schmoe who stole the bikes and abandoned them there. I recently purchased a boat, the owner never registered the trailer as it was stored in a lake community, NJ will not register this trailer until I take it a State trailer inspector who will declare that it is not a stolen trailer, for a fee of course.
I work in banking, and anything that can potentially have a lien on it will cause everyone to slow down, dot the i's and cross their t's, as it has to be clear as day and then some that the lien has been released or never existed.
Sorry but when it comes to government, common sense just does not exist!
I like the devils advocate thing, it makes everyone think!