throwthepearlaway

throwthepearlaway t1_j8f23om wrote

Reply to comment by Spaghetti-Bender in Baltimore residents who lose homes after tax sales rarely see extra funds from auctions by aresef

Oh yeah, those attorneys are ruthless and there's about 4-5 firms in the City that buy almost all of the tax sales. They don't even want the properties, they're just trying to gain that temporary lien ownership so that they can charge the attorney fees on top of the liens+interest.

The attorney fees are legal, but there is a maximum amount they're allowed to charge which increases over time to a set limit. It's supposed to cover the cost of the attorney who helps the bidder, but these vultures have set themselves up as both 'the buyer' and 'the attorney', and they always charge residents exactly the maximum.

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throwthepearlaway t1_j8eq8fx wrote

Reply to comment by delendaestcarthago in Baltimore residents who lose homes after tax sales rarely see extra funds from auctions by aresef

This is true. In order to claim the funds, you have to first see if there are any other claims against it. They make you search the court record for any standing suits/orders regarding the unclaimed tax sale auction funds and then certify that you have done so before they will cut you the check.

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throwthepearlaway t1_j8dwnbf wrote

Reply to comment by icarlin412 in Baltimore residents who lose homes after tax sales rarely see extra funds from auctions by aresef

the tax sale funds are first used to pay the existing liens on the property that caused the auction/sale. After that, the original owner is entitled to any remaining funds. They don't get pocketed by the city, at least not initially. The money just kind of...sit there in an account until claimed. According to the article, the combined balance is about $6 million sitting in the account at this time.

>If the funds are not collected by former owners within seven years, the city can seek a court order to access the money for other uses, officials said. But the city hasn’t done that in at least the last dozen years that Scrivener has been with the department, he said. “Money pretty much had been sitting in the account,” said Dorothy Reed, deputy chief of the Bureau of Revenue Collections.

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throwthepearlaway t1_j8dsity wrote

Reply to Baltimore residents who lose homes after tax sales rarely see extra funds from auctions by aresef

Worked for a time in the revenue collections office. Mostly the problem is that the city doesn't have working addresses for these folks since the only mailing address on file is the property that was lost in the tax sale auction. I believe that they do (or used to) post a list on the website, but it's kinda buried and not easy to find.

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