I bought my first house at the end of 2012. I was responsible for paying the 2012 taxes, which I did. I just paid my 2013 taxes at the end of the year. Today I get home with a foreclosure notice on my door from the county I live in due to unpaid taxes from 2004. This was the first I have heard of this. No other notices prior. I had owner's title insurance and this was not disclosed at closing. Am I going to be on the hook for the unpaid taxes?
You need to call the title company that issued the policy and speak to them. I would also call a lawyer. Far from an expert but I would imagine you would have an owners claim against the title company. It is a good thing you got the owners policy, but sounds like the title company who did the closing isn't very good at there job. When you purchase a home a big part of their responsibility is running a tax search. Any unpaid taxes should be handled at the closing and prorated so that the sellers pays their share and any back taxes. If they are from 2004 that means there is a lien already on the property and by this point the property is eligible for tax sale. I would imagine taxes have been paid since then and they keep applying the new payment to the previous balance which has kept the property from going to sale. Tax liens will supersede any title insurance. Basically they are insuring a property that they cannot insure.
Bingo. Thank goodness you got a title insurance policy. Also, at closing, was there an actual closing attorney and did he do the title work? If so, that gives you two options to seek remedy: the title insurance company and the attorneys E&O insurance.
Sounds like the closing attorney and/or title insurance agent completely dropped the ball on the title search. Unpaid property taxes are about the easiest thing to find in a title search.
The closing attorney did not do the title search. I did one on my own, granted it was basic but I could only get back to 2005 at the time which was one year after all of this. I figured anything prior to that would have been already addressed. The company that did that title search has since been bought out by another company. Is that going to be a problem or do you think I would be able to file a claim with the company that has bought them out. I really appreciate the help guys this was a shock and made for a shitty night.
Do you have a title policy? you either do or u don't - if u have a policy someone wrote it according to an underwriter - I can assure u they did not base it upon UR interpretation of the title that u ran - they did a search - which would have revealed the unpaid 2004 taxes unless they specifically excepted this from the policy - if u have a policy it has a number on it - call the insurer or whoever owns them now and give them ur policy number - also call the closing agent - if time is of the essence go pay this taxes and proceed to get reimbursed via the insurer later
