"Elizabeth Reid Steere" <elizabeth[at]aluluei.com> wrote:

- quote -

That's good to hear that someone is taking responsibility.

Mike

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Thank-you so much to all who responded. I spent yesterday
on the phone trying to figure things out. I was unable to
get through to the County Tax Collector. They have a
circuitous phone maze, and when you finally unearth the
option to speak to a human there's a message warning you
that if too many people are waiting to speak to someone new
callers will be disconnected and are advised to try again
later. I tried half a dozen times throughout the day but was
disconnected every time. I left a message for the escrow
agent, and then called my lender. The latter was very
helpful. They are aware of the situation and have been
trying to get the escrow agent to perform. The last they
heard was on August 13, when the escrow agent told them that
she had paid the overdue 2002-2003 tax bill that morning.
The bill I received a few days ago is dated 09/02, and my
lender had me fax that too them so they can get back onto
the escrow agent. I will try both the county and the escrow
agent again today, but so far it seems that the escrow agent
is at fault, and my lender is working to resolve the
situation.

Elizabeth
__________________________________________________ ________________
Elizabeth Reid Steere
elizabeth[at]aluluei.com http://www.aluluei.com

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Elizabeth Reid Steere wrote:

- quote -

It's more likely that the tax due on April 10 was to be paid
by the escrow company (which may be Fidelity) partially from
your payment and partially from the previous owners. Your
current escrow account should have nothing to do with it.
But that's minor. A little more significant is that _I_
can't reconcile $255.82 as an adjustment relating to
03/14/03; it looks more like 03/08/03 to me, but they could
have made some proration based on months rather than days.

In addition, I recall the tax year as being the calendar
year, so that payments on December 10 2002 and April 10 2003
are based on ownership in calendar year 2002. If I'm
correct in that assumption, hardly anything you report is
correct, so I may very well be wrong.

- quote -

<<snipped your analysis, which isn't bad, but....>
You need to contact the LA County tax collector to find out
whether it's the December 10 2002 or April 10 2003
installment which wasn't paid. If the former, then your
broker should be at fault for not informing you, although
the payment responsibility lies with the previous owners.
If your broker won't take care of it, your probable remedy
is to pay the money and sue the previous owners. (Whether
the amount paid is deductable on your income tax is another
question.)

If the latter, the escrow company is at fault for
non-payment, or possibly payment to the wrong account. Your
mortgage lender is almost certainly not the same entity as
the escrow company.

My credentials: I'm not a broker, but I've bought two homes
in Orange County, California, and be involved in the sale of
one in Los AngelesCounty, California. I'll forward your
post to our broker for further analysis.

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Elizabeth Reid Steere" <elizabeth[at]aluluei.com> wrote:

- quote -

Your understanding is correct relative to the fiscal year
2003 -2004. However, you said the notice from the county
said "unpaid taxes from 2002." This does not sound like an
unpaid first-half 2003 - 2004 default. I live in LA and I
can tell you that the county would not be sending you a bill
for a defaulted 2003 -2004 first half payment. At least in
the past, they couldn't work that fast!

Either way, your escrow agent is responsible for this. If
there were unpaid taxes regardless of time period, the
escrow agent was responsible for capturing that information
and withholding funds from the seller at the time of
closing. Those taxes are not your responsibility. However,
please note that as the property owner, the county will try
to collect from whomever it can.

I recommend that you first confirm with the county tax
collector, exactly what period has gone unpaid. It is
possible that this is nothing more than a county screw-up.
Then contact the escrow agent to get it squared away.
Or.... if you have faith in the escrow agent, call them
first and tell them to get it squared away. Put it in
writing and request that they get back to you within a set
period of time.

Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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I would greatly appreciate some advice or pointers to
information. I am originally from Australia but now live in
Los Angeles, and the whole US property tax system is new to
me.

I recently bought a house. The closing date was March 14,
2003. One of the items I paid at closing was $706.87 for
"Los Angeles County Tax Collector for 2nd half 02-03".
After closing Fidelity National Title Company refunded
$255.82 for "Proration/Adjustment of Unpaid County Taxes at
$706.87 Semi-Annual from 01/01/03 to 03/14.03". My
understanding was that the tax amount due on April 10 2003
would be partially paid from my escrow account and partially
by the previous owners. I assumed that this had been done.

This morning (September 6, 2003) I received a notice from
the LA County Tax collector for "tax defaulted in 2003 for
unpaid taxes of 2002". The amount billed is $706.87, plus
$80.68 penalty, plus $31.80 redemption penalty, plus $14
redemption fee, for a total of $834.35.

It seems to me that someone (Fidelity? the previous owner?
both?) messed up and failed to pay the amount due on April
10, and my pre-paid pro-rated contribution of $451.05 is
floating around in limbo somewhere. Does this sound right?
Have I misunderstood something? If my understanding is
correct, who should be doing what? I would certainly prefer
that the penalties and fees be the responsibility of whoever
messed up. Obviously I will be calling the Tax Collector's
office on Monday morning, as well as Fidelity Title and my
mortgage lender (who impounds the taxes) but before I do
that I want to make sure I completely understand the
situation.

Cheers,
Elizabeth
__________________________________________________ ________________
Elizabeth Reid Steere
elizabeth[at]aluluei.com http://www.aluluei.com

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