Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

‘I pay my bills’: Chicago woman loses home despite paying property taxes on time for over a decade — sold for ‘delinquent taxes.’ How did this happen?
moneywise ^ | Dec 06, 2024 | Danielle Antosz

Posted on 12/06/2024 5:51:23 PM PST by where's_the_Outrage?

Robin McElroy, a Morgan Park resident, has cherished her Chicago home since purchasing it in 2012. But now, she’s facing panic and frustration over a mix-up involving unpaid property taxes.

Despite proof of consistent payments since 2012, McElory recently received a letter from the Cook County Circuit Court stating her home was sold for delinquent taxes, and she may owe three years of back rent to the buyer.

According to McElroy, she's never been late on her taxes. She even showed CBS News Chicago reporters proof of her tax payments.

It’s been a long-standing issue for McElroy — one she thought she had cleared up in 2019. Yet, the recent court notice has resurrected the ordeal, leaving her scrambling to reclaim her home.

In Cook County, which includes Chicago and its suburbs, property taxes are due twice a year. Taxes not paid by the first due date in March are considered "delinquent," and interest begins to accrue. If the second installment is due in mid-summer and remains unpaid, the property can be sold at an annual tax sale. However, homeowners typically receive a warning via certified mail, and paying the taxes in full before the sale prevents the property from being sold.

McElroy's case is different — she was never late on her taxes. In 2019, a letter from the Treasurer's Office explained that her property identification number (PIN) — a unique 14-digit code used for tax purposes — had been swapped with McElroy's next-door neighbor’s PIN on the assessor’s website. As a result, McElroy’s tax payments were misapplied to the wrong property.

The 2019 letter confirmed McElroy had paid her taxes correctly and stated there were "no grounds to proceed with a sale." Reassured, McElroy thought the issue was resolved. "They actually told me, 'Don't worry about it,'"

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Society
KEYWORDS: chicago; government; governmentimmunity; illinois; incompetence; morganpark; propertytaxes; robinmcelroy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last
Government employees should not be shielded from their incompetence.
1 posted on 12/06/2024 5:51:23 PM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: All
recently received a letter from the Cook County Circuit Court stating her home was sold for delinquent taxes, and she may owe three years of back rent to the buyer.

Time to get the band back together. There’s still time.

"It's 106 miles to Chicago, she’s got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and she’s wearing sunglasses."
2 posted on 12/06/2024 5:57:23 PM PST by mmichaels1970 ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mmichaels1970

The county and its idiots should have to pay huge damages to both sides of this issue and she should get clear title and should be relieved of taxes for the rest of her life.


3 posted on 12/06/2024 6:02:05 PM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson

Amen.


4 posted on 12/06/2024 6:03:34 PM PST by mmichaels1970 ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?
frustration over a mix-up involving unpaid property taxes

I think this is actual title fraud on the part of the county and is a bit more serious than "frustration over a mix-up." Moreover this statement is misleading. There were, apparently no upaid property taxes.

5 posted on 12/06/2024 6:07:51 PM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

“Forget it Jake. It’s Chi-Town.”


6 posted on 12/06/2024 6:09:35 PM PST by BipolarBob (Enough of this talk about narcissists, let's get back to talking about me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

4th amendment violation?


7 posted on 12/06/2024 6:24:32 PM PST by goodolemr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

Unionized government employees,

Out nation’s greatest threat.


8 posted on 12/06/2024 6:29:39 PM PST by NoLibZone (Scary that a party can "run" a candidate that doesn't feel any need to campaign.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

How about they break the tax sale and they pay triple damages on the house’s sale price? Personally - not at taxpayer expense. Applying ATF criteria, the tax agents “willfully violated the law”.


9 posted on 12/06/2024 6:33:02 PM PST by coloradan (They're not the mainstream media, they're the gaslight media. It's what they do. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mmichaels1970

Some judge needs his testicles crushed.


10 posted on 12/06/2024 6:34:04 PM PST by chopperk (airhi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

Unionized government employees.

Our nation’s greatest threat.


11 posted on 12/06/2024 6:35:28 PM PST by NoLibZone (Scary that a party can "run" a candidate that doesn't feel any need to campaign.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NoLibZone
I would say it goes slightly deeper. Lately there have been so many stories about the government and private companies that put people through hell for years because they can not be bothered to just do their jobs.

I am not sure how much of this is due to unionization, how much is due to farming out jobs to overseas call centers and how much is due to companies, and the government for that matter, being allowed to grow so big that the average person is just an ant in their sight.

This either gets fixed or it does not end well.

12 posted on 12/06/2024 6:37:39 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear

You will appreciate this.

I’m a COVID long hauler (never vaxxed, I’m one of the unlucky few that COVID messed up badly). Each time I’m exposed, my system has an adverse response.

I was in and out of the hospital several times at the beginning of the year.

We cleared all the bills for the first few stays.

The bill for my final stay started coming in. I contacted the hospital to arrange a payment plan, $300 per month, and paid with my husband’s credit card. They were suppose to debit that card every month and we would have been paid off by summer.

The billing company ran it for one month then stopped. When my husband called, they wouldn’t give him any information or let him make a payment. When I called, they wouldn’t authorize a payment because I was not the card holder.

I’m working/disabled and barely leave the house. I got rid of my credit card years ago.

I asked for paper statements so we could mail a check. No go. I asked if we could bring a check monthly to the hospital; no, it had to be sent to a payment center and they moved us to a collection agency.

My husband and I both had to get on the phone to get the dang thing paid.

Even better: a client of mine has building-wide internet. The contract was coming up for renewal so they signed in March of 2022. Then, in May of 2022, they received another contract from the same provider for their internet service. Thinking something didn’t complete with the autosign on the first, they signed and returned it.

They were double billed for internet, to the tune of $4K a month, even though a senior rep at the company acknowledged the mistake and the bandwidth allegedly being provided to the building exceeded the system’s capacity. Cost them over $50K before I was able to get them out of it.


13 posted on 12/06/2024 7:16:00 PM PST by TheWriterTX (🇺🇸✝️🙏🇮🇱)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: AndyJackson

And be publicly caned (100 strokes apiece) as a warning to the rest of the county imbeciles to do their job correctly.


14 posted on 12/06/2024 7:16:47 PM PST by curious7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TheWriterTX
That is exactly what I am talking about. It is not that what you are asking is unreasonable. It is their screwup but you generally have to pay to fix it.

And their response is "sucks to be you." That is really bad customer service at the very least.

Your options are going to a lawyer and going to the media.

15 posted on 12/06/2024 7:31:48 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

It’s Chicago. Who bought the house, and what is the relationship to the local alderman? Son, cousin, business partner, who is his lawyer, what is the connection to City Hall?


16 posted on 12/06/2024 7:47:03 PM PST by jonascord (First rule of the Dunning-Kruger Club is that you do not know you are in the Dunning-Kruger club.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

She needs to get a very good and aggressive attorney who will go after the govt folks at a govt level and a personal level at the same time. Plus defamation, ruingin her credit rating and basically falsely making her a tax cheat, plus severe emotional distress, lying it was taken care of, legal fees, any associated medical bills, punitive damages, gross incompetence/negligence,etc


17 posted on 12/06/2024 7:57:46 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mmichaels1970
...ecently received a letter from the Cook County Circuit Court stating her home was sold for delinquent taxes, and she may owe three years of back rent to the buyer.

I wonder who the buyer is and how he's connected to the democrat fraud machine.

Since he didn't own the property for that time period, there is no way in heck she should owe him *back rent*.

Someone is looking for a landfall here and it's disgustingly corrupt. This woman is going to be on the hook for all the legal bills to defend herself.

This is what a rope and tall tree are for.

18 posted on 12/06/2024 9:09:18 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

I hope everything works out for this woman.


19 posted on 12/07/2024 4:26:42 AM PST by Tired of Taxes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

I can’t imagine buying property in Cook County.


20 posted on 12/07/2024 4:27:44 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson