Hundreds Of Small Residential Buildings In Our Area On Tomorrow's Tax Lien Sale List
The legal right to as many as 660 single family and small residential buildings in our area may be sold at the City’s tax lien sale tomorrow, May 12th.
The Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN) reported that — as of May 2nd — over 1,000 buildings in our area were on the 10-day sale list, targeted by the City for unpaid taxes and water bills, and sixty-five percent of them (668) are 1 to 4 family homes, condos and co-ops.
The City’s Department of Finance sells tax liens [the legal right to a property until a debt on that property has been discharged] on buildings if owners have not responded to at least four notices or entered into some sort of a payment plan.
The liens are sold to third-party collection agencies, who “can add fees and high interest of up to 18 percent, compounded daily,” the CNYCN said. And this can place a homeowner at greater risk of foreclosure because of “mounting debt.”
Over 7,000 1 to 4 family buildings are on the 10-day sale list across the five boroughs, the CNYCN reported. Almost half of those buildings — 42 percent — are in Brooklyn. Thousands of households — including several hundred in our area — have gotten off the City’s tax lien sale list in recent weeks by entering into a payment agreement or securing some sort of an exemption.
Read here for more information from the City, and here for more information from the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, about tax liens.
Buildings On City’s 10-Day Sale List 1-4 Family Buildings
Council District 39 (Brad Lander): 231 127
Council District 40 (Mathieu Eugene): 182 117
Council District 44 (David Greenfield): 289 186
Council District 45 (Jumaane Williams): 332 238
TOTAL 1,034 668