Author Topic: Any way around P&I and attorney fees for late property tax?  (Read 1923 times)

mchap

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Any way around P&I and attorney fees for late property tax?
« on: September 11, 2014, 06:16:18 PM »
I posted yesterday about selling my uncle's house in Texas. I got a lot of good information. I'm hoping to see if anyone has more to add on the tax issue.

The property taxes have not been paid in 7 years. They now total about $22,000, more than half of which is late fees, interest, and attorney fees. I'm wondering if anyone has had success in negotiating these amounts down. My uncle is a crazy old man and believed that he was being overcharged, but this was not the case. He just decided not to pay and I just found out about it this spring.

I've contacted a couple lawyers and they say that I should just pay it. I'm assuming that this is correct, but I thought I'd see if anyone has any experience with this. I'm not disputing that we owe the county, but the amount charged for P&I seems crazy to me.

The county attorneys have filed suite and it is on the docket for December. Once they get a judgement against, they will supposedly be able to auction the property off in January. The lawyer that was assigned says that they would have done so sooner, but they weren't able to located my uncle to serve him papers.

Roland of Gilead

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Re: Any way around P&I and attorney fees for late property tax?
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2014, 06:27:58 PM »
If they auction the house does your uncle get the difference?  (IE, the house auctions for $100,000, they take $22,000 and he gets $78,000 minus auction fees)

mchap

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Re: Any way around P&I and attorney fees for late property tax?
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2014, 07:11:37 PM »
No, they get the whole thing. I've got an offer on the house of $95k and I'll probably accept near that amount.


Another Reader

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Re: Any way around P&I and attorney fees for late property tax?
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2014, 07:25:31 PM »
There is no incentive to negotiate because property taxes are the primary lien on the property and take precedence over almost anything.  The process of collection is spelled out in the law at the state level.  Get the house sold and the money paid out of escrow.

monarda

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Re: Any way around P&I and attorney fees for late property tax?
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2014, 08:01:00 PM »
Our neighbor used to be our county treasurer. I remember him telling stories of people with long overdue taxes and how he arranged it. It wasn't always so simple as you might think. You might have a chat with your county treasurer. They might compromise some. Maybe a little.