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Sold or Not Sold |
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Dear Edith,
My dad sold his vacation condo. He did not use a lawyer at closing. At settlement, my father paid property taxes and state transfer tax (actually the buyer deducted them from the price she paid). It is now months later and the buyer has not transferred the deed into her name. My dad received notice that property tax has not been paid on the condo and it was going up for auction.
We contacted a lawyer who sent a letter to the buyer stating either to return the transfer fee or record the deed. She has not responded. If our lawyer does the deed it will not only cost us the price of the lawyer but also we will have to pay transfer tax again. The tax department said let the buyer worry about it, auction and failure to pay taxes won't affect my dad, she will have to settle the problem sooner or later. My dad is 84, he doesn't need this. This woman owns a settlement company so she knows what she is doing. Do we pay the lawyer and proceed further or just wait it out? —J.
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Perhaps the new owner is stalling about putting that deed on record because she doesn’t want to come up with those transfer taxes she gave your father credit for. He should have paid them directly to the state. I’m with the tax department, though. If your father received the sale price, signed a deed and had it accepted by the buyer, he doesn’t own the property and I don’t see why he should be concerned. It’s up to the buyer to put that deed on record, and to do the worrying about tax foreclosure. Your dad had better double-check all this with his lawyer, though. |
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Edith
Originally published on April 1, 2007 |
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