Tax Delinquency a Major Player in Foreclosure Crisis
By Sam Tuttle, Housing Staff Attorney
Increasingly, homeowners across the country are facing the loss of their homes not simply through foreclosure but because they cannot keep up with their property taxes.
As in many states, Illinois homeowners who are delinquent in their taxes may lose possession of their homes to private parties who pay the homeowners’ delinquent taxes, rather than paying the market value. The private party, or tax purchaser, then takes ownership, irrespective of the years the homeowner may have been making payments on the home. Consequently, homeowners who owed less than $1,000 in unpaid taxes have lost their homes due to a tax delinquency, even though the equity in their homes was 30 or 40 times that.
As property owners find it increasingly difficult to pay their mortgage and keep up with bills, they are also finding it difficult to pay property taxes. From Florida to Minnesota, property tax collectors are seeing double-digit increases in the number of tax delinquencies and, accordingly, the number of homes in jeopardy.
Last year the Shriver Center, with Housing Action Illinois and the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian, spearheaded an effort to improve protections for homeowners within the tax delinquency system, particularly seniors and the disabled. Senate Bill 2007, sponsored by Sen. Ira Silverstein, proposed increasing the notice given to homeowners of the potential loss of their homes and would have ensured that homeowners who do not get notice of proceedings, or do not understand the notice due to disability, have the opportunity to challenge the loss of their homes if they act diligently and can pay any back taxes that they may owe. Unfortunately, S.B. 2007 did not receive the requisite votes to pass out of committee. Nonetheless, as more and more homeowners face the loss of their homes due to unpaid taxes, the Shriver Center is committed to examining ways that homeowners can be better protected and see their way through these difficult economic times.
Tags: Add new tag, Foreclosure, Housing
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September 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 am
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September 12th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I`m in that boat, my tax`s sky rocketed. I was injured on the job in 2001 work comp will not pay my benefits, so my credit was destroyed along with my self esteem. I refinanced in 05 hoping my case would settle soon well guess what? It didn`t. I finally started getting a disability check from the government, my mortgage is 1032 my check is 1497 as you see I was barely making my payment. The mortgage was first to get paid so I can keep a roof over my head along with my daughters.
Then I was KICKED right in the stomach by the TAX MAN when he raised my tax`s, increasing my monthly mortgage payment too 1174.
The government needs to reform the Work Comp Insurance, they now you have to settle for peanuts because they can hold out much longer. Plus they are the ones getting the interest on the money that they should be paying to me along with 5 surgeries and the doctor bills. What’s the interest on 500.000 ? of course I will only get that much if I take an annuity. Once again the insurance is making money off of the injured worker. And then we have the money hungry Attorneys that stall so they get 20% of all monies collected. Is this why I never received my weekly benefits? My attorney gets 20% of the weekly benefits that I should have been getting for the past 7 years. Plus 205 of all unpaid medical. While I lose everything I worked so hard for that screwed up my body made me disabled. Is this a scam or what?
P.S All the goverment programs help the renters the 1 I did find don`t exist in McHenry County, Il
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