An Asian-American woman who paid cash for a Georgia condo had her home sold without her knowledge for $94.85 of taxes she wasn’t told she owed. The only notice she received was an eviction letter after the sale. Earlier notices of tax delinquency and foreclosure never reached her because town employees incorrectly addressed them. Those letters were returned undeliverable, so the town’s tax authorities knew required legal notice wasn’t given. The town admits it “made mistakes” but claims it can’t stop the eviction.
You have to ask yourself what kind of public officials would confiscate someone’s home over a $95 tax bill without at least calling the homeowner and warning her about what you’re fixing to do. No wonder people distrust and despise government.
I’m not familiar with Georgia tax foreclosure law, but the U.S. Constitution says government can’t take people’s property without due process, so I don’t see how this can be a legal sale. I think the buyer got a Brooklyn Bridge. If he bought the condo for the amount of back taxes, he also got an undeserved windfall that Washington courts wouldn’t allow. Our courts require taxing authorities to sell tax lien properties for fair value and remit any excess proceeds to the delinquent owners.
Note the owner in this case, having paid cash, owned the condo free and clear, so no bank is involved. You can bet the town wouldn’t mess with a bank this way because its lawyers would sue the town for interfering with their security interest in the property without satisfying legal notice requirements.
In my opinion, the buyer should get his money back, but not the condo, which the town had no right to sell to him. But if a court refuses to void the sale and awards possession of the condo to the buyer, then I think the town is on the hook for making the rightful owner whole. This should include buying a comparable property for her, paying her moving expenses, and compensating her for emotional distress, violating her civil rights, and interfering with what the law terms “quiet enjoyment,” i.e., a person’s right to live in peace in their own home. Half a million dollars might do it. If it costs the town a million, maybe it’ll teach ’em to be more careful next time. But whether Georgia’s laws and legal system will protect her from the town’s heartless and illegal actions remains to be seen.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to live under a government like that, and my inclination would be to sue them, take their money, and move to a more hospitable state. Like Washington, for example.
I write articles on topics like this to emphasize that where you live makes a difference. Even though we like to think of the USA as the greatest country on earth, it has places where you don’t want to live or even visit. Sadly, this blog’s “Bad States” tag is used all too frequently. I’ve written about Florida’s speed traps, Texas border towns whose cops shake down travelers for cash and valuables, and cities like Philadelphia and Ferguson that prey on their residents, especially minorities and poor people, with corrupt municipal courts and police. You should never buy a new home in Texas, because if it has costly defects, you’re screwed; the homebuilder lobby got the legislature to pass a law that took away your right to sue and forces homebuyers into an arbitration system run by the homebuilders. A Koch-supported group has been trying to export that scheme to other states nationwide.
Washington in most respects is a good place to live, at least in terms of respecting its citizens’ rights. Seattle, like other cities, has a cop problem but is trying to address it. Last week, a group of Seattle cops who sued for a “constitutional right” to beat up and kill citizens was thrown out of court — we have decent federal judges here. To up your chances of being shot by police, getting robbed by city hall, or to live under “right to work” laws and labor for $7.25 an hour, send your kids to lousy schools, and see Confederate flags flying from courthouses, you have to go to states like the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, and Arizona.
It would be harder for a travesty like this to happen in Washington, because this state tightened its foreclosure laws and outlawed publication notice decades ago. So my advice is, if you value your personal rights, property, and possessions, then live in Washington and don’t live in Georgia.
