Fidler Wants To Delay City Sale Of Liens On Sandy-Hit Homes

In the six months following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, victims of the storm have been facing a slew of problems beyond the damage to their properties. The New York Daily News is reporting that one of the new hurdles confronting residents is the city’s yearly sale of tax liens to debt collectors.

Every year the city sells the tax liens, which include unpaid property taxes and water bills, to third party debt collectors. The collectors then jack up the interest fees, sometimes as high as nine percent on homes valued under $250,000. The increased fees force many homeowners to foreclose their homes.

This year, 720 Sandy-damaged homes, located in Brooklyn and Queens, are on the city’s lien list. Lawmakers, like Councilman Lew Fidler want the city to delay the sale of the liens another year.

“Sandy hit many homeowners like a brick bat and many have still not recovered. For the City to come along and whack them again with a lien sale is not only cruel but, in the end, it will be counter-productive. If our goal is to get people to pay what they owe without losing their homes, this is the exact wrong way to go about it. Allowing people some more time to recover from this disaster is both reasonable and compassionate.” Fidler said in a press release.

The city has taken the step of removing homes who have faced extreme damage from the tax lien list but has not yet taken any extra steps.