I cannot believe that the local court system cannot figure out that there are not any attorneys working for the Cleveland Bar Association who are taking on Pro Bono representation for the indigent and neither is the LEGAL AID SOCIETY when it comes to PROPERTY TAX FORECLOSURES.
THE POOR CANNOT GET FAIR LEGAL ADVICE TO ASSIST THEM IN THESE PROPERTY TAX FORECLOSURES BECAUSE THE COSTS OF THE ATTORNEY IS OFTEN MORE THAN THE TAXES IN ARREARS PLUS FEES.
WE HAVE HAD DENIALS OF LEGAL ASSISTANCE & ADVOCACY FROM AROUND 100 VARIOUS LOCATIONS...
THE County itself has a very limited assistance program to help people that are delinquent in their property taxes.
The Tax Certificate Purchasers are negligent in forwarding the POST TAX CERTIFICATE PURCHASE LETTER OUTLINING THE RIGHT TO REDEMPTION PROCESS FOR OWNERS TO REACT TO WITHOUT LEGAL COUNSEL.
The exhorbitant 18% INTEREST RATE tacked onto property tax liens & certificates escalates out of control.
The LEGAL (LAWYER ONLY) FEES of the TAX CERTIFICATE HOLDER which become the liability of the property owner can go up to $2,500.00....
The ADMINISTRATIVE FEES of the accrue alongside the above fees on a case by case basis.
The COURT FILING FEES are also SEPARATE LEGAL FEES Assessed against the owner.
The costs of advertising the Tax Certificate Sale and Delinquencies in the paper are also assessed against the owner.
The Preliminary Judicial Report (TITLE SEARCH) also gets assessed against the owner...
Soon, the owner of the property has almost 10 times the cost of the original taxes in just fees.
Then, they never get their letters citing a right to redemption.
Then, (DURING THIS ALLEGED "RIGHT TO REDEMPTION PERIOD" )--the Tax Certificate Holder is not allowed to file the foreclosure action for 12 months...
If the owner has not been contacted with that info about who bought the certificate, then they must go through a three ring circus with the County Administrators trying to get contact info for a company called: PLYMOUTH PARK TAX SERVICES...located in Morristown, NJ....but even once you google their contact numbers and call them...YOU GET VOICEMAIL which NEVER GETS RETURNED... And so you wait, and wait....until...
Along the way, they post a notice on your home telling the residents (WHO MAY NOT BE THE PROPERTY OWNER)....that they must vacate the premises as the house is in foreclosure and will result in a sheriff sale. (The tenants quit paying rent, vandalize said home, and end up in eviction court with owner who is trying to save property rights/interest.)
Then the tax certicate holder attorney's file a FORECLOSURE ACTION against the property owner....
If the property owner is INDIGENT AND UNABLE TO AFFORD AN ATTORNEY:... he will ultimately be referred to call: 1) The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Assn. and 2) Legal Aid Society of Cleveland Ohio....both places deny assistance for "PROPERTY TAX CASES". The owner must represent "PRO SE" or pay more in legal fees than the costs of the tax certificate.... AND BY THE WAY...MOST OTHER LOCATIONS INCLUDING THE CONGRESSMEN, HOUSING ADVOCATES, NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES, AND SO MANY OTHERS, DENY UNDERSTANDING THIS AREA OF LAW AND THE MANY FACTORS THAT ARE INCLUSIVE.
(BY THE WAY...HERE IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY---YOU LEARN THAT A COUNTY PROSECUTOR WENT ON TO WORK FOR GLS CAPITAL CUYAHOGA WHICH LATER WAS BOUGHT OUT AND IS NOW PLYMOUTH PARK TAX SERVICES.
PROPERTY OWNERS MAY HAVE ISSUES OVERLOOKED SUCH AS:
1) TITLE DEFECTS... WHICH REQUIRE A CLAIM TO BE FILED AGAINST THE TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY. (OLD OWNER'S LIENS NOT REMOVED, OLD OWNER'S TAXES NOT PAID, OLD OWNER'S JUDGMENT LIENS NOT SATISFIED, AND TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS.)
2) HUMAN ERRORS AT THE COUNTY AUDITOR'S OFFICE.
3) INFLATED APPRAISALS BY BOTH PREDATORY LENDERS AND THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATION THAT ARE UNJUST.
4) QUESTIONABLE DOCUMENTS FROM THE TAX CERTIFICATE PURCHASE INCLUDING TAX CERTIFICATES THAT ARE NOT NOTARIZED BY THE COUNTY TREASURER AS REQUIRED BY LAW.
5) REFERRALS TO GRANTS THAT HELP WITH PROPERTY TAX ASSISTANCE...AND THE ONLY LOCALLY FUNDED GROUP IS NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SOLUTIONS ON EAST 55TH & BROADWAY. (THEIR GROUP HAS HAD A LONG WAY TO COME IN THIS NIGHTMARE WORLD OF FORECLOSURE WITH LOTS OF LEARNING CURVES...
YET THEY (NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES) ARE THE ONLY RESOURCE IN TOWN...AND YOU'LL GET THAT REFERRAL FROM THE ONE AND ONLY OFFICE OF "XSPAND" WHICH IS THE LOCAL SUBSIDARY OF PLYMOUTH PARK TAX SERVICES WHICH ONLY HAS 2 NON NEGOTIABLE COLLECTORS STRIKING UNFAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES WITH OWNERS PREVENTING THE LOW INCOME FROM HAVING ANY WAY OF PAYING THEM OFF WITHOUT SELLING THEIR SOULS....MOST OF THEIR PAYMENT PLANS ARE VERY UNSCRUPULOUS AND ALMOST SET UP SO THAT THE OWNER MAY NEVER GET OUT OF DEBT IF THEY ARE LOW INCOME.
While homeowners get LOST in this SYSTEM of failures, the truth remains that the County Government has set them up for failure with alterior motives including ultimately getting the pick of the litter of houses redonated to their LAND BANK from the foreclosing Plymouth Park Tax Services so that the County may execute it's vision of turning greater Cleveland into a great big huge GREEN PARK through it's demolition process and also through it's steering process...which steers the elderly, low income, and demographically disadvantaged in a worldly nightmare of going nowhere but to the curb through the FINAL EVICTION imposed by the CIty of Cleveland Housing Court after the Sheriff has auctioned off the property to the interest holder...PLYMOUTH PARK TAX SERVICES.
Now, another part of that deal is that upon Plymouth Park Tax Services gaining full ownership of the properties through the Sheriff's confirmation of sale......they (PPTS) go on to REDUCE THE VALUES at the BOARD OF REVISIONS. Then they sell them to other for profit entities at cut throat prices and then those people rehab and retail those properties for far beyond retail all for the cost of the property taxes.
Meanwhile, all interests under the 14th Amendment are totally abused per the 14th Amendment because the citizens cannot get unbiased legal representation that is affordable and the County Administrator's stonewall them with outrageous fees and assessments based on fraudulently inflated prices of homes in the very first place-all enacted by none other than FRANK RUSSO and Jim ROKAKIS without any consideration or factors incorporated that protect the rights and interests of the low income in our community at large... You see, they were trying to eradicate the low income, steer them out, and make it impossible for the less than gentrified to afford living in the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County...
So...I tried to summarize the due process that rapes our citizens' spirits with a checklist a mile wide that ultimately requires them to pay over 10 times the amount of the actual property taxes that should have been due all along! This entire mess turns into a snowball gone out of control which often times has nowhere to go but to hell in a handbasket making local law firms rich with their legal nightmares!