Sewer lien 7 months after closing

[Miliee]

What is the name of your state? Michigan

We sold our house in September 2006. I just received an email from our realtor stating that she received notice from the title company that a letter was received from the Township to the new property owners. The letter states: "I'm forwarding you a a sewer bill that was outstanding from the previous homeowners. This should have been taken care by the realtors that were involved in the closing of said property. I have sent a bill to previous homeowner and it has been returned by the post office with no forwarding address. This outstanding sewer bill will be placed on a lien on your property taxes in accordance with the" ......ordiance.

Couple of things: The bill is for almost 3 quarters (9 months) worth of payments. If the sewer bill was that far behind shouldn't we have been contacted of it before now? Wouldn't it of come up in the title search? Why was this over looked? Would the title insurance cover this? Who's responsible for payment? I was never under the impression that we were late on paying this, we thought everything was up to date.

The other thing is that the post office has our forwarding address. Just yesterday I received both a letter with our old address on it with the sticker from the post office with our forwarding address and a letter from a doctors office that was sent back to them to inform them of our address. Unless the post office decided to leave only the township out of the loop, I think it's a crock.

I don't know where to go from here......

[FlyingRon]

Originally Posted by Miliee

Couple of things: The bill is for almost 3 quarters (9 months) worth of payments. If the sewer bill was that far behind shouldn't we have been contacted of it before now?

Who knows. Do you have records of you making the payments?

Wouldn't it of come up in the title search?

No. Not unless the lien was already in place.

Why was this over looked?

The title company or whoever handled the settlement screwed up. They should have caught this when preparing the HUD-1. Normally all this is looked up so the sewer bills and the like can be prorated to the times that you and the purchaser actually own the house.

Would the title insurance cover this?

If the purchasers have an owner's title policy it would protect them from this type of thing. However, they would be right to come after you.

Who's responsible for payment? I was never under the impression that we were late on paying this, we thought everything was up to date.

If you didn't make the payments, regardless of the impression, you owe it for the time you were the owner

The other thing is that the post office has our forwarding address. Just yesterday I received both a letter with our old address on it with the sticker from the post office with our forwarding address and a letter from a doctors office that was sent back to them to inform them of our address. Unless the post office decided to leave only the township out of the loop, I think it's a crock.

The post office might have screwed up, or the bill might have been misaddressed by the town.

I don't know where to go from here......

Get your cancelled checks or whatever records you keep out and go down to the Town and look at the history they have on your account. If you can show you paid, they should be able to resolve it. If you didn't pay, you need to pay.

[LindaP777]

Does it matter who overlooked or did not forward the bill? If you owe it, pay it!

[nextwife]

Pull out and review your closing statement. If your closing agent did their job, they may have deducted the funds needed to pay this off from proceeds, based upon the numbers in the special assessment letter. It's possible the check didn't go out. It's also possible they gave the buyer a credit from you to cover the bill when it came (sometimes the work is done, but not billed until the end of the year.

Before you pay anything, check your closing statement so you don't pay it twice.

[Rhubarb297]

Originally Posted by FlyingRon

Who knows. Do you have records of you making the payments?

No. Not unless the lien was already in place.

The title company or whoever handled the settlement screwed up. They should have caught this when preparing the HUD-1. Normally all this is looked up so the sewer bills and the like can be prorated to the times that you and the purchaser actually own the house.

If the purchasers have an owner's title policy it would protect them from this type of thing. However, they would be right to come after you.

If you didn't make the payments, regardless of the impression, you owe it for the time you were the owner

The post office might have screwed up, or the bill might have been misaddressed by the town.


Get your cancelled checks or whatever records you keep out and go down to the Town and look at the history they have on your account. If you can show you paid, they should be able to resolve it. If you didn't pay, you need to pay.

Good advice. Same with the one below talking about a credit on the HUD.