State Specific Question About: NEW YORK (NY)

We are buying a burned out duplex (structurally sound) from the previous owner for $1. via Quit Claim.

Previous owner had it for about a year before it burned. She purchased it from the county tax foreclosure auction. I'm having my attorney due the title search and he found out that the owner before her owed child support (here in NYS they are DEAD serious about CS and it goes to age 21 automatically) Apparently that owner's ex put a judgement/lien on the property which is still showing up.

I did some research on the local county tax foreclosure auction and the disclaimer says the following rather ambiguous statement:

All tax properties sold at auction are being sold subject to:

a) Rights of the public and others in and to any part of the premises that lies within the bounds of any street, alley, or highway.

b) Manufactured home, mobile home or trailer liens, if any.

c) All covenants, leases, easements and restrictions of record affecting said premises, if any.

d) Any state of facts that an accurate, currently dated survey might disclose.

e) Environmental conditions of property.

f) ALL NEW YORK AND FEDERAL LIENS IF ANY.

etc

CS is generally under state jurisdiction (although under Title IV of the SS Act, the feds give a kickback to the state child support agencies for collecting the most amount of $)

What say you? We already pay for CS (last one of three is aging out/turning 21 the beginning of January 2024 Hallelujah!!!!!!!!! DH has been paying for almost two decades solid now)

How big is the lien?

Call whoever has the lien and take them on a video tour of the burned out duplex. Tell them you'll give them $500 to release their lien and promise not to file any more liens against your now free and clear property.

If they refuse, let them know your alternative actions is a Quiet Title action, which will force their hand to come fight for their claim against a burned out property that they will have to deal with.

My thought is for $501, you still got a screaming deal on a cheap property, and now the title is unencumbered.

Be warned: this is the Govt. There are probably at least 13 people who will have to review your proposal and sign off on it. I had a similar fight with the Army Corps of engineers, and there were actually 13 people who had to sign off on my proposal to release an encroachment issue caused by a pervious owner. And it took about 3-4 months.

The other strategy would be to sell it to another investors and just cash out for $10,000-$20,000 or whatever you think a burn out duplex would bring. Use a quit claim deed or special warranty deed that specifies only that you did nothing to encumber the title during your ownership. A quick and safe small profit might be the better bet vs. rolling the dice on rehabbing and finding out later that now the Govt wants to sink their teeth into that juicy, freshly rehabbed property!

Sounds like a property that would be ideal for a land trust.

And if the pressure builds on this lace, you sell off beneficial interest to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington for a dollar.

Don't know how big the lien is yet. I thought the county was supposed to clear all this when it goes to tax auction.

Mapleaf... I don't know NY tax lien law, but in Missouri there are some liens that will survive: to whit, Govt liens such as IRS tax liens, etc. The Govt always gets their pound of flesh...

Or do they?

From what I understand, if the IRS doesn't follow up on the lien, it extinguishes after a period of time. I don't recall precisely, since I only heard that from a friend who is very into tax lien sales, but I want to say 10 years. From his experience, the IRS rarely if ever follows up on liens. They count on someone wanting to sell or finance the property and having to pay them off to convey clear title.

That may also be true for NY child support. Time to find an expert in the law on that and double check.

For an IRS lien, that magic day is 120 days after the deed is recorded. IRS liens happen regularly at tax sales and USDA auctions (back when they did them in Pa).

Our county treasure says she sees them often and has never seen them go after a new owner. I am inclined to believe that if the new owner had the same last name as the person with the lien, they might jump on that one though.

I am not sure about Child Support though. That is a state by state issue.

RayPA, numbers look good. we anticipate replacing the drywall, etc. just like we did on our 2nd duplex which was also burned out. We bought that one for 18K.

We are NOT willing to pay this dude's 7K CS bill!! My attorney said he contacted him on FB and asked if he made any payments. He probably won't respond but I'm pretty sure he hasn't and then the CSEU pile on penalties and interest. Although I've never heard of putting a judgement against a property for CS. Usually they just take away the guy's drivers and professional licenses (which IMHO is stupid and counterproductive) or send him to the hoosegow.

Makes me think my DH has been a grade A SUCKER for having paid dutifully for the past two decades to mommykins who is remarried to a sugar daddy and uses the money for pin money (never used it on the kids).