In 1996 a property tax bill for $1.63 was mailed to Kermit and Dolores Atwood. The bill never reached its destination, according to the Times-Picayune. Now, 11 years later, the Atwoods are in danger of losing their home.
The Atwoods’ nightmare began when they learned in 2000 that their four-bedroom, two-bath home had been sold in 1997 through a tax sale for the $1.63 in unpaid taxes, plus 10 cents interest and $125 in costs associated with the sale.
“We found out about it seven days after the three-year redemption period ended,” during which delinquent taxpayers can reclaim their property, Atwood said. She then complained to the sheriff’s and assessor’s offices that she never received the bill and knew nothing about it.
The house, which the couple has owned mortgage-free since 1968, previously was totally state homestead exempt, meaning there was no tax bill, Atwood said. The couple’s mailing address during that time changed from a rural route and mailbox number to 4122 Dauphine St. because of the implementation of the parish’s 911 emergency phone system. The tax bill mailed to the rural route address was returned as undeliverable to the Sheriff’s Office which, after advertisements of delinquent taxes in the parish’s legal journal, put the property on the auction block.
“The Sheriff’s Office could have easily found us,” Atwood said. “We’re in the phone book. We didn’t go anywhere … And we never thought about telling the assessor’s office about our address change because we’ve never had to pay property taxes before.”
The couple got the state tax commission to nullify the sale and they thought everything was alright. It wasn’t. In 2002, they tried to sell their home and found that there was a “notice of pending litigation” on the property. The people who bought the house in the tax sale are suing to get the Atwoods out of it.
It gets worse. When hurricane Katrina hit, it toppled trees into the Atwood’s home. Since they don’t have a clear title on their house, they couldn’t qualify for a mortgage to fix the damage. They don’t have insurance. The Atwoods now live in a FEMA trailer while they battle it out in court. What terrible luck.
Elderly couple’s lives in limbo over unpaid $1.63 tax bill [Times Picayune]
(Photo:Scott Threkeld)
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Um, doesn’t someone actually have to go TO the residence and say “Ma’am, you have an unpaid tax bill and we can’t reach you buy mail? Shouldn’t that be a requirement of a “reasonable” attempt to contact somebody? (You know, like..send a live human out to their house and actually knock on the door?)
@dwayne_dibbly: In the old days, it would be inconceivable for property to be siezed without doing this (go out on knock on the door). Then some lazy assed sheriff decided to see what happened if he just procesed the paperwork without stopping by the house, and nobody complained. Then some other lazy assed sheriffs said “well Buford’s just been doing paperwork, not visiting each house” and they started doing it too. We accept this, and then it becomes accepted practice.
If the notice of back taxes was RETURNED to the auditor, somebody in the office should have done research to obtain a valid address. I work for a state billing agency, we search all sorts of public records to locate debtors before turning their accounts over to the attorney general for hardcore collections and wage garnishments.
That said, we still would have writen off a bill for $1.63.
pay your taxes and this won’t happen to you
@humphrmi: No kidding, and I think it’s criminal that they’re allowed to seize property like that.
@pfblueprint: Oh yeah…Damn you, filthy stinking elderly tax evaders for defrauding the county out of $1.63 because they never sent the bill to the right address…you deserve to get your property auctioned off without being notified! (<—-that’s sarcasm, son)
So, the company that’s suing is out about oh, $126.63? This is the definition of “sleazebag businessman.” Sue the agency that didn’t notify them properly, and stop harassing old folks.
Someone in the area should picket their business.
[blog.nola.com]
Nice update to the story at the link above. The case is over and done with and they own the home free and clear.
The tax officers screwed this up royally or worse.
When we supposidely missed our (per-capita) tax one year, I got constant calls from a collection agancy until we got it straighted out. We actualy did not owe it to them, we moved and the money went to the previous town.
Why this elderly couple was not properly notified makes this case stink. Does the tax office there have a link to this land company?
I had this happen to my wife and I this past year – we didn’t receive our parish (we’re in LA as well) tax notice because some f**ker was stealing mail from our mailbox in December when it was mailed (wholely different issue). We found out our $90,000 home was sold in a tax auction for $300 to someone that lived in town.
We were lucky enough to get a notice from that person saying we could buy it back from them for twice what they paid to buy it ($600). So, we said F that and went to the Sheriff’s office, paid the back taxes, and they cut that person a refund check and title cancellation on the spot and printed us a new title for our house.
People that buy homes in tax auctions are not required to notify the current owner, they just have to wait 3 years and then it’s legally theirs. If this person had not been greedy and tried to double their money, we would have never found out about it and they would have taken possession of our home 3 years from now.
B*tches.
It really ticks us off now because almost every night we see ads for tax auction buying systems, and how you can buy prime real estate for pennies on the dollar. It’s actually supposed to get worse as more and more homeowners are unable to pay their mortgages when the ARM rates reset later this year.