ashe

According to Harvell & Collins PA:

Don't take my word for it, ask the clerk of court.

Drag queen, you have obviously either learned nothing or you are the smoke blower. I choose to believe both.

I'm starting to understand why you drag that canoe.

Not an attorney Mutt, but have made quite a few bucks buying, selling, and trading real estate over the last 50 years. Just bought 20 acres that the taxes have not been paid on in five years. Unless the next owner steps up they won't be paid until after I sell or

There is no need for a new deed when you inherit property.

Jrscott, you are wrong, we have a county manager in his 50s who has spent the bulk of his career doing tax audits for the state government and who is out to get in the remainder of his 30 years for retirement by being a yes man and trading political favors.

Are you an attorney turd know?

Under Mutt, taxes do not have to be paid before title transfer. I have bought and sold several properties that had tax liens against them. You cannot get title insurance with a tax lien, not borrow money

I forgot the ten year rule. But the county would get the last ten years when it changes hands.

A development company? Good lord, you are stupid

Drag, who in the heck have you been letting blow all this smoke up your butt? When you inherit a property a deed is drawn by an attorney. The deed is then carried to the tax office for approval which means they check to see the taxes have been paid. If not the deed will not be recorded until they are.

Another problem is that if the owners walked away from their properties or if the development company is defunct there will be no owner to sell the property so it will never trade hands. I also heard you can inherit the property without the delinquent taxes being paid on the property.

One problem with your thinking coop. There is a 10 year limit on property taxes.

This is a foolish conversation.

Ever piece of property that has unpaid taxes has to have these taxes paid before a new deed can be recorded.

Ever piece of property in the county has to change owners at some point in time.

Drag no one is advocating not paying or going after the delinquent payers. But the big picture has been painted over and over. You will pay more in taxes were you to go after a property that was worth 75.00 and you have to spend 100.00 to get it as basking has already pointed out. And once again the property owner that had been dead for 30 years there was and is no excuse for that one.

I know of another county that foreclosed on a lot in a development that saw the bottom drop out with values. The county ended up owing the lot and the hoa fees were 800 bucks a year. They finally did dump the lot for a paltry 750.00. There by losing thousands of dollars on the attorney fees, hoa fees, and the taxes owed.

So it's OK for some property owners to never pay their property taxes while so many of us struggle to pay ours and the county should't even contact those not paying. Maybe the county could cut taxes for those that are paying if they would go after the ones that aren't and the sad truth is that if the county is not going to enforce any type of collection efforts against those that don't pay their taxes then we're all idiots for paying ours.

Also, consider that some of the highest value per square foot property in the entire county is in WJ town. And if the town is already working to collect delinquent taxes, then the county is already covered on the most expensive properties. The town can't collect without paying the county.

Once again, we are back to asking, why spend $100 to chase $75?

Why because the county long ago decided that it was more fruitful and less expensive to wait out the 10 years to get the 99% paid as the paper reports than to pay someone to specifically target these properties each year. As pointed out you wouldn't make enough to pay someone a salary to do this. (essentially all you got in a year would go to just paying that person).

We have folks in the commissioners slot for another year that well probably shouldn't be there and we have a young town manager who is hoping to make a name for himself. Unfortunately they aren't listening to the voices with more experience.

Now I agree that 30 years is way to long. However that's an exception rather than a rule in the county and since the guy is dead you will never collect it short of seizing the property (assuming it's worth what's owed at this point).

Personally if I was in charge I'd offer a sort of amnesty, come forward pay your taxes and we'll waive the fees for anything where it is owed for 10 years or more. Give em 90 days and then move to garnish wages and bank accounts for those properties for anyone failing to come forward.

I just think if someone hasn't paid their taxes in 10 to 20 years then it's time for the county to take some sort of collection effort against the property. The Town of West Jefferson forecloses on properties, so why doesn't the county?