What happens if you fail to pay you Property Taxes
If you fail to pay your property taxes when they
are due and continue to avoid paying them, you stand a good chance of
accumulating penalties and interest. After a given amount of time, the
county office can place a lien on your property. If you continue to
avoid paying the property taxes, you home can succumb to the auction
block. This can be done even if you owe an outstanding mortgage on the
home. You or someone else is going to have to pay the outstanding
balance owed on the property taxes. It is always best to pay the taxes,
but if you do not, an auction can take place.
How the auction works is the county decides you
have had ample time to pay the property taxes and you have made no
effort to do so. They will then notify any lenders of intent to auction
your property to recoup the taxes monies owed. Once the process starts,
you still have time to save your property before the day of the
auction. If you have the resources, you can apply monies to the
delinquent property taxes and have your property taken off the auction
block.
Once your property is deemed delinquent in
property taxes, the county will add this information into the file with
other properties that are going up for auction as well. Once this
procedure starts, there is only one way to stop it, you have to pay the
taxes and have it taken off the list. You will have to pay the
penalties and any interest that has accumulated over the years. When
you have a receipt stating payment has been made, your property is then
safe from auction and you retain ownership.
If you do not pay the property taxes, the auction
will go as planned. People sign up to participate in a property auction
and are allowed to view information about the property before bidding
starts. Many bidders will search the title to see if there are any
other lien holders on the property in question. Even if you are a
mortgage holder, your property can be auctioned off. The legalities of
a mortgage are more intense then the auction itself. The county will
put a minimum limit requirement on the property to recoup as much of
the tax owed as possible and allow bidders to bid accordingly. Once
some wins the bid, you have a new situation to handle.
Chances are, the winning bidder has searched the
title and now knows who the mortgage lender is and where to reach them.
The winning bidder does have a stake in the property and now it is a
matter of obtaining the property from you as the owner in a legal
sense. This is procedure is going to be lengthy and costly in some
cases. You are wise to contact a property tax attorney before you let
this matter get this far, because you will have more problems now than
you had before with just owing property taxes.
Article Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/taxes-articles/
if-you-fail-to-pay-your-property-tax-1955125.html About the Author
Owner of several property related sites, keen on
helping others to buy and sell properties, whilst saving money on fees
and maximising their returns.
www.cashforlondonhomes.com
http://www.4fasthousesales.co.uk/index.php/selling-your-house | 