Over 1,300 Small Residential Buildings In Our Area Endangered By Unpaid Debts

Over 1,300 single family and small residential buildings in our area are on the City’s tax lien sale list — this year’s sale is coming up soon, May 12th.

The Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN) reported last week that almost 2,000 buildings in our area have been targeted by the City for unpaid taxes and water bills, and almost seventy percent of them (1,338) 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.”

Just over 15,000 1 to 4 family buildings are on the sale list across the five boroughs, the CNYCN reported. Almost half of those buildings — 43 percent — are in Brooklyn.

The group notes that households can still get off the City’s tax lien sale list 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.

Buildings Currently On City’s 90-Day Sale List          1-4 Family Buildings

Council District 39 (Brad Lander):                  422                                              249

Council District 40 (Mathieu Eugene):           379                                              256

Council District 44 (David Greenfield):           502                                             330

Council District 45 (Jumaane Williams):         653                                             503

TOTAL                                                              1,956                                          1,338