Showing posts with label tax title. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tax title. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Boston Globe Editorial: "Seizing home equity over unpaid taxes is unfair to homeowners"

State Representative Jeff Roy has co-sponsored legislation to avoid this and is mentioned in the article. 

"After Deborah Foss fell behind on property taxes on her two-unit house in New Bedford, the city sold her debt to an outside company, which pursued the $30,000 the retired grandmother owed.

But rather than simply recouping the debt, according to her lawyers, Foss fell victim to an overly punitive state law that cost her the entire house, valued at $241,600 — far more than was needed to settle her debt — and left her temporarily homeless last winter.

Massachusetts is one of a dozen states that allows a practice critics refer to as “home equity theft.” If a home is foreclosed on due to unpaid property taxes, the municipality — or a company that buys the tax debt — can sell the home and keep the profit, even if the sale price is more than the taxpayer owes.

The system often disproportionately and unfairly punishes elderly homeowners. Of course, people need to pay taxes. Municipalities should be allowed to recoup the costs they incur in collecting those taxes if a homeowner is delinquent, including by seizing a home."
Continue reading the Editorial by the Boston Globe (subscription may be required)

Read the PDF version of the editorial here -> 

BOSTON GLOBE; BAURKA/CANDY1812/ADOBE
BOSTON GLOBE; BAURKA/CANDY1812/ADOBE

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Boston Globe: "private companies can make a killing, legally, if you can’t keep up with your property taxes"

"On Nov. 11, Mark Mucciaccio answered the door at his home in Easton to a woman who said she had been sent by the property’s “owner” to change the locks on the doors.

The woman handed him a “to whom it may concern” letter that said the house, which Mucciaccio, 58, and his brother, Neil, 55, inherited from their late parents many years ago, was now owned by a company called Tallage Lincoln LLC.

The three-sentence letter cited a “final” court judgment giving the company ownership, but said nothing about taxes. Still, Mucciaccio had no doubt it came as a result of the thousands of dollars he owed in property taxes, dating back to 2016."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Town Council - Agenda - associated documents

The Town Council has an interesting set of discussions coming up this Wednesday evening. With the long weekend and hence the opportunity to do so reading, I thought I'd share the full document.

The DelCarte property discussion will be on the Finance Committee agenda for their vote Tuesday evening.

Franklin is getting to cleaning up the tax/title property is has. Per discussion with Jeff Nutting, this should be an annual exercise but this first batch gets the 'backlog' handled.

Some clean up of unused borrowing authorizations is on the agenda.

Franklin is looking to become a "Green Community" and proposing a committee of five town employees in order to apply for some grant money that will assist in generating further energy savings.

The public hearing for the downtown utilities is proposed for the Sep 29 Town Council meeting.


Town Council 20100908 Agenda document



Franklin, MA

Thursday, December 3, 2009

In the News - check your mail carefully

In October, Dacey sent letters to 800 delinquent bill payers, warning a lien may be filed on their property. He said the lien will be split evenly in the February and May bills, the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

He said people may wrongly assume the mortgage company and banks have paid their utility bills.

"I have a feeling a lot of people are getting these letters and think, 'I don't have to worry about this, the mortgage company is taking care of it.' It's wrong to assume that," he said.
Read more about this in the Milford Daily News here:

Franklin official: Pay your taxes or risk lien

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS




Saturday, January 19, 2008

Tax & Title Discussion (audio)

In the continuation of the Town Council meeting (after the Forensic Report and discussion), Administrator Jeff Nutting lead a discussion on Tax Title properties and what the town will do with them.

Time: 4 minutes, 13 seconds

Feeley, Pfeffer, Whalen



MP3 File