PaulaW2 (Hawaii)
Posts: 23
Posts: 23
Posted:
We have an interesting situation that was recently uncovered and is now beginning to cost us a lot in legal fees. One of our owners owns an empty lot, all of the mail sent to them has been returned as undeliverable, I went to the property tax office to see who they show as the owner and the address of record, they show the same information that we have and all of their mail has been returned as well. However, all property taxes are current and always have been.
I was finally able to gain an e-mail contact by checking various resources and we have now connected with the property owner. He says he is not the owner, the property was foreclosed on back in 2008. We recently sent a demand letter for dues via our lawyer, and are ready to proceed with a lien. The problem is that the property owner has gotten cranky at the current mail and demands, called our lawyer and provided information about the foreclosure proceeding. Our lawyer checked in with the bank handling the foreclosure and their lawyer and we now know that the foreclosure proceeding was curtailed by the bank and there has never been another order to reinstate the proceedings.
The lawyers have been talking, and evidently the bank may be planning to move forward with the foreclosure, but there is an issue with FEMA because of our recent hurricane Lane so that is stalled for awhile. Our problem is that all of this is costing in time spent by the lawyers. Who can we anticipate passing on the legal fees to? It's just gotten so messy, this is the very much condensed version. At this point it appears the original property owner still owns the property even though he has not paid a mortgage payment or property taxes in ten years, and our lawyer has recommended that we file the lien naming him. (Our HOA has only recently been turned over to the homeowners, prior to that there were no dues). Property tax office is not telling us who has paid the property taxes over the years, but we know they have been paid. The demand letter and then the lien should be about $200, but now we are into this for over a thousand dollars. None of that can be expected to come from this property owner.
I was finally able to gain an e-mail contact by checking various resources and we have now connected with the property owner. He says he is not the owner, the property was foreclosed on back in 2008. We recently sent a demand letter for dues via our lawyer, and are ready to proceed with a lien. The problem is that the property owner has gotten cranky at the current mail and demands, called our lawyer and provided information about the foreclosure proceeding. Our lawyer checked in with the bank handling the foreclosure and their lawyer and we now know that the foreclosure proceeding was curtailed by the bank and there has never been another order to reinstate the proceedings.
The lawyers have been talking, and evidently the bank may be planning to move forward with the foreclosure, but there is an issue with FEMA because of our recent hurricane Lane so that is stalled for awhile. Our problem is that all of this is costing in time spent by the lawyers. Who can we anticipate passing on the legal fees to? It's just gotten so messy, this is the very much condensed version. At this point it appears the original property owner still owns the property even though he has not paid a mortgage payment or property taxes in ten years, and our lawyer has recommended that we file the lien naming him. (Our HOA has only recently been turned over to the homeowners, prior to that there were no dues). Property tax office is not telling us who has paid the property taxes over the years, but we know they have been paid. The demand letter and then the lien should be about $200, but now we are into this for over a thousand dollars. None of that can be expected to come from this property owner.