Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Lack Of Notice, Dispute Over Homestead Eligibility Left Couple Facing Possible F'closure By Tax Certificate-Holding Neighbor & Subject Of Local Gossip
In Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reports:
Theresa Bollech found out by chance that a neighbor had purchased a tax-sale certificate on her family’s home in the Chevy Chase neighborhood in the District and was quietly planning to foreclose in a matter of weeks.
The Bollechs weren’t deadbeats. But they were at odds with the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue over their homestead exemption.
They say they never received notification last year that the city had placed a lien on their property and sold it to the neighbor in July at a tax-sale auction. In that, their experience was typical of a system in which the District sells tax-sale certificates — liens — on properties owing as little as $500 in back taxes or utility bills to speculators and financial institutions that are not required to notify property owners until they begin foreclosure proceedings, according to attorneys working with a consortium called the Alliance to Help Homeowners Maintain Equity.
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But all parties agree on one critical aspect of the system — the notice property owners receive immediately after the tax-sale auction: none. The city passes that responsibility to purchasers, who are required to notify property owners only when they file to foreclose, a motion that can’t be legally pursued until six months after a sale.
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Theresa Bollech said she and her husband didn’t know that the city had sold a tax certificate on their home in the 5700 block of 27th Street NW last July to a neighbor because they never received notice before or after the sale.
What’s more, she said, no one from the District said a word to them about the sale during a hearing in September with the director of the OTR’s homestead unit over the root cause of their delinquency — the disputed homestead exemption, which significantly reduces assessments for residents who claim a D.C. property as their primary home. (The unit ultimately ruled in the Bollechs’ favor.)
They wouldn’t learn that a neighbor had purchased a tax certificate on their home for months. But it became the subject of gossip in their neighborhood, and a neighbor tipped them off just weeks before the neighbor who purchased the certificate could have initiated foreclosure proceedings.
“There’s no way to describe what it feels like to think you’re going to lose your home,” said Bollech, sitting at the dining room table that now doubles as a repository for hundreds of tax documents. “How could they do this to us? How could they not say something?”
CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)
Land Contract/Contract For Deed/Rent-To-Own Rackets
The New York Times: The Housing Trap (In the wake of the housing crisis, low-income families have turned to seller financing to buy homes but these deals can be a money trap)
Beware The Fine Print: Consumers Forced To Sign Away Their Rights To Use Court System
The NY Times: Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice(Part 1 in series examining how clauses buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court)
Foreclosure Mills' Abysmal Record In Complying With New NYS Foreclosure Requirements
Justice Deceived: How Large Foreclosure Firms Subvert State Regulations Protecting Homeowners
MFY Legal Services Report On Questionable Practices By Process Servers In Debt Collection Cases
Justice Disserved: A Preliminary Analysis of the Exceptionally
Low Appearance Rate by Defendants in Lawsuits Filed in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Mortgage Mess Redux: Robo-Signers Return (A Reuters investigation finds that many banks are still employing the controversial foreclosure practices that sparked a major outcry last year)
CNN Video: As Foreclosures Mount, Florida Court Turns To 'Rocket Docket'
The Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases (2 Questions, 15 Seconds, 45 Days to Get Out; 'What's to Talk About?' Says a Judge)
"Produce The Note" Strategy When Dealing With Missing Promissory Notes In Foreclosure Actions
ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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