If no one pays the taxes - what then?

I'll attempt to put a bit of background to this. HOA plat, covenant, By Laws and all necessary legalities began in 2002. Four of the six planned units (8 each) were constructed and the 5th building framed in. Wham, the original developer went bankrupt in 2008 emptied any treasury too. A couple of years go by and another developer buys the unfinished bldg. and the bank makes him buy the open land where the remaining 6th condo would go. No original paperwork is altered and so it stands. I am constantly questioned by mortgage firms and HUD as to the building count because the paperwork registered with the state clearly shows 6 buildings and 48 units. That is not going to happen. The new developer says he will never build there due to cost inefficiency. He also wants to move to another state.

The HOA owns none of the condos, they are all individually owned. The new developer & owner of the vacant land tried to "give" the empty land to the condo assn. Plain & simple, we do not want it. As it is the only thing that can go there is another condo just like these and then it becomes part of our HOA. We would be receiving a debt due to taxes and weed/grass mandatory cleanup.

Now, we hear that he found a buyer for the empty land which belongs to the HOA on paper. The potential buyer has talked to one board member and been made aware that he cannot buy it to turn around and sell it to someone who wants to put anything up other than a matching condo to this association. The buyer claims he doesn't care, simply wants to buy it. The board member believes that I do not.

What came up in conversation is this: Let's say, the owner defaults on property tax payments and leaves town. If the owner owes on the land, the village would (I'm guessing here) try to get the money from him first and can't. Then what happens down the road. Does the village take the land and then does it become eligible for the village to sell it? Does the land come to the HOA like it or not?

Needless to say, there's a ton of legalities and paperwork left out of this but in the end, the land is still all registered and platted as it was in the original sale with the village and state. The village would then own it and what if anything could they make us do, so they could collect what is due them.

Of course I am aware about an owner vote to let the land go and also the state would charge somebody 35,000.00 to redo the registered plat. It all comes down to "who becomes responsible for unpaid taxes"?

Thanks for reading this mess!

The way to protect things like what is built on property is to create deed restrictions. You should do this through your attorney or one specialized in property law.

Specifying that the land can only be used for xyz with specifics, along with a time frame and the inability to amend the restrictions can do this.

Then, if your buyer does flip the property, the restrictions are still in place and, if needed, enforceable on the new owner through the courts.

Many commercial property owners do this to prevent competing stores from moving onto the property they just vacated.

I failed to add that the restrictions can only be added by the existing owner.
Since the developer owns the property and, typically, can amend the governing documents at will, he could possibly sell the property free of any deed restrictions.

Thanks for the input folks. We have dealt with an excellent legal firm but no reason "yet" to involve them in any part of what is currently just a rumor we've heard. The current owner tried to give it to the HOA as "useless land". As I said, we do not want it. In the end, it turned out we found out it was a part of his collateral for the loan he took to complete this building. That and the Forty grand he'd have to pay to have the original documents re-stated stopped everything on a dime.

Now, it is 3 years later, this building was absorbed by the HOA as soon as there was occupancy permits posted on the windows but the land remained his property shown on our plat. I'd say, he should have changed it then? We have no clue of what is currently hearsay about him having found a buyer for the land. Time will tell and unless I'm crazy, he can't sell that open land without it becoming our knowledge and involvement in some way. I believe indeed it will be very involved with legalities and village participation when and if the time comes. That's when we will deal with a lawyer and what ever else is needed.

We're just on hold until something official begins. It was just a very interesting conversation item we hashed over and someone said "if the owner defaulted on taxes and the village took the land, what could happen as far as development or would we be forced to take it. The way all the legal papers read, there needs a vote of all owners to separate the land from the HOA. Would that just become null and void if the village took the land from him for tax payments due?

Yes, indeed it is a mess but not a pressing issue at the moment and a very curious thought was stirred up in casual conversation.

Was not the above the FIRST response to the OP ?