For those who don’t have their real estate taxes paid through their mortgage, it can be a struggle to save up the money necessary to pay the taxes in a lump sum when they come due. I would say approximately 75% of the people I meet with who have to pay their real estate tax on their own are delinquent.
In the past, in Beaver County, when a real estate tax became delinquent, the account was transferred to the Tax Claim Bureau. Once you got two years behind on taxes, the Tax Bureau would schedule a sale of your house. All of the tax sales occur in September. If you want to prevent your real estate from being sold, you can work out payments with the Tax Bureau. If that doesn’t work, you always have the option of filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to stop the sale and give you up to five years to get caught up on the taxes. I have helped many Beaver County property owners stop tax sales by helping them file Chapter 13 bankruptcies.
Only allowing you to fall two years behind on taxes before selling your house may sound harsh, but people may soon look back and think those were the good old days. I have noticed an increasing number of school districts and municipalities in Beaver County hiring a very aggressive tax collecting law firm out of the Eastern PA to sell the properties of homeowners that are behind on taxes. This law firm is holding sales every month and I’ve had clients who were not two years behind on their taxes.
If you find yourself falling behind on your real estate tax payments, call the tax collector as soon as possible and try to work out payments, so the problem doesn’t get out of hand. If you are unable to work out an affordable payment plan, give Steidl & Steinberg a call. You may not have time to wait.
