Just goes to show. You don’t really own your property.
Gee, who runs the District?
Doh!
Part of the problem is that the sale isn’t drawing sufficient public attendance.
The tax sale to collect unpaid taxes should only focus on the unpaid debt, then return the balance of the sale to the owner.
Instead, it appears the winning bids at the tax sale are unduly low, giving the winner an exorbitant profit by flipping the property ASAP, and the value of the property is harvested by the tax sale bidder, without recourse of the original owner to collect his equity.
And where were his elected representatives?
Where was the DA? this is a crime.
Where is elder abuse services?
That was insane... the punishment was over the top.
What a pathetic article trying to blame the business people who bought the liens. This is an issue of the DC government and it wont be fixed because the reporter is either too biased or dumb to see the problem is the DC government.
Clearly the DC government does not care in the least what happens to these people. If they did they would require the business people who buy the liens to transfer everything above the amount of the lien and reasonable costs to the property owner. But instead DC only cares about getting more cash to buy votes. After all the property owners must be evil, they own property.
If I were that 76 years old man, I would have paid my property tax. Then I would not have lost everything dear to me through my own inattention or procrastination.
Sure, the story is sad, but it could have so easily been avoided. How many demands for payment did he ignore?
These crooks file their liens legally. But they work through loopholes and most of the homeowners didn’t know they owed the taxes. And if you did pay your taxes it’s your job to prove it. It’ll be like dealing with a debt collector. There’s nothing you’ll able to say that will convince them you’re telling the truth.
Bought and paid for . . .NOT . . . with property taxes we do not own anything, we just make huge security deposits and pay rent to the real owner the government. Don't pay the rent and we loose the property and the deposit.
Wait to see what happens when the IRS places liens on us for not buying Obamacare.
Maybe then we will get up out of our Lazy Boys, turn off dancing with the stars and retake this nation.
Maybe.
Where I live, you have until the last minute to pay the back taxes and it’s advertised as a tax sale with the amount owed. If a 76 year old couldn’t pay $134 or needed help paying, we as neighbors would have done it. I’m in NY state, granted upstate, and we would never let this happen to a neighbor. DC really sucks!
Almost happened to my best friend’s father’s property in Montgomery County, MD [Mo Co] just outside DC.
Mo Co allows owners to pay property tax in full or on a 50/50 plan [half in June, half in December].
Anyway, my friend’s father died in a traffic accident and he was on the 50/50 plan - nobody knew about it. So, the second installment was not paid at the end of the year.
Fortunately, Mo Co requires tax lien purchasers to send certified mail notifying of the transfer and to give 90 days to pay the delinquent tax plus 25% penalty. This is before any other action to be taken.
This was done, the tax and penalty were then paid promptly - no problem.
But, this thing in DC is RIDICULOUS ...
Rules vary but in general, unpaid tax liens are sold to investors on a silent auction basis and if the same investor pays the tax lien on the same property two years in a row, the investor is allowed to foreclose.
He lost his property because he didn’t pay $134 dollars.
The guy must be a mental midget.
No bank in the country would fail to loan him $134 dollars on his property. Something here is not right.
Is this guy really that stupid or did we miss a great part of the story.
“private property” is an illusion, just like “free speech”.
The government would love to seize your property, but can’t just yet. So they let you use the property, pay taxes and other bills and have financial responsibility for it. They confiscate a portion of it each year through the “property tax”.
Government: “That’s a real nice house you got there, fella. It’d be a shame if something....happened to it. We wouldn’t want that would we?
Now, you pay us a little protection “fee” and we’ll make sure that house stays safe and sound...”
Government is the biggest mob organization there is.
This will not happen in our family. We visit with, communicate with, take care of, check in on, each other. And that’s all I’m saying.
Did he ignore the notices required to be sent, first by the taxing authority then by the lienholder? All he had to do was pay the lien and accrued interest. Was there no one willing to help him out, or did he decline to ask for help?
If you were that 76 year-old man, you’d be suffering from dementia. Does that change your cavalier comment ?