BALTIMORE — A Baltimore homeowner says her property was sent to tax sale over an unpaid supplemental property tax bill even though her mortgage company had already paid it. The city had applied the payment to the wrong address.
Sarah Gun had no idea she had an unpaid supplemental tax bill until letters and emails from nonprofits began arriving to notify her that her property was on the tax sale list.
"The [City] sent some notices to my address, which is a rental property and it's registered with the city, so I was never actually notified myself. They do have to notify the mortgage company, so they did, and the mortgage company paid the supplemental tax bill back in April," Gun said. "And then the city applied it to the wrong address and they sold my tax sale lien back in August."
Gun contacted her mortgage company, which confirmed the payment had been made and provided her with a copy of the check.
"I was able to bring it to the city. And from there they were able to look it up by the check number itself after a few weeks of back and forth," Gun said. "They transferred the funds over from the other address that was mistakenly applied to over to mine, and then they charged me interest for $200."
Gun said she believes the city misapplied the payment to a property on Foster Ave., a house with no connection to her.
"Nothing affiliated with me, nowhere close to the address, just a random house," Gun said.
Had the situation not been resolved, the financial consequences could have been significant.
"The tax lien, they sold it, thankfully I didn't have to pay the fees to the attorneys but that would've been, I don't know, hundreds if not thousands," Gun said.
The city's Finance Department said it believes a note accompanying the check may have designated the payment to the Foster Ave. property, another property in the mortgage company's portfolio. However, the city said it no longer has that note because it only retains that information for 6 months.
The Finance Department added that when a payment arrives without enough detail, agents attempt to reconcile it by matching the name on the check with an address in the system. The city processes payments for more than 250,000 tax records each year.
One of the letters that alerted Gun to the problem came from the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS), which conducts outreach to homeowners whose properties appear on the tax sale list.
"We're doing outreach via the mail. We're actually doing door knocking, and we reach out to people a couple different ways using that information, that publicly available information," said Stephen Kappen, the Tangled Title Project Manager for MVLS. "And I think that a lot of people have rights that they don't even know about in this process."
The organization also helps connect homeowners with additional resources.
"They can apply for tax credits. They can leverage other resources. They might not be getting discounts maybe on their water bill that they're eligible for," Kappen said. "Once they have an advocate on their side, they're much more likely to actually solve the problem."
Although Gun's property is registered as a rental, the city says property owners are responsible for keeping their mailing address updated with the Property Location Department by emailing propertylocation@baltimorecity.gov.
Gun's advice to other property owners is straightforward.
"Double check, be diligent, check your property tax assessment online. There's a partial year and a full year. Check your mail. Make sure you're getting your mail. I don't know, just be diligent and be on the lookout," Gun said.
The city confirmed Gun is eligible for a refund of the interest and penalties she was charged.
Homeowners have until April 30 to pay all outstanding taxes and charges to avoid tax sale.
The Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service and the Maryland Pro Bono Resource Center are holding clinics in March and April where homeowners can receive free advice and assistance. Click the links below for more information.
March 14
March 25
April 7
April 11
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