Prop.Taxes werent paid per settlement

[caad1010]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida


We bought our house on October (2006) and Property tax is due in November.
In the Hud statement we signed at closing, the seller was supposed to pay his part of the taxes up to the point of the sale and we pay the difference. About a month after we moved in, we started receiving the bill from the county asking for the full years worth. It got to the point where they were threatening to sell our house for the taxes due. The bank readjusted the escrow up an additional 700.00 per month and paid the tax bill. We have never been able to find out what happened to the money that was marked for taxes in the closing papers. My question is this: Is there a Way I can find out what happened to the money which was taken out at closing for this purpose?

[nextwife]

Are you SURE you were not given a CREDIT from the buyer's side on the closing statement? Have you talked to the title company? I've never heard of a closing statment that didn't collect the balance due for unpaid taxes from the seller at closing. At minimum, the closing agent would normally require a certified check from the sellers , show taxes as POC, and they would send in the check. I've never ever heard of closing and leaving payment of taxes wide open, rather than handling at closing.

[caad1010]

Originally Posted by nextwife

Are you SURE you were not given a CREDIT from the buyer's side on the closing statement? Have you talked to the title company? I've never heard of a closing statment that didn't collect the balance due for unpaid taxes from the seller at closing. At minimum, the closing agent would normally require a certified check from the sellers , show taxes as POC, and they would send in the check. I've never ever heard of closing and leaving payment of taxes wide open, rather than handling at closing.

I Think I may not have explained as well as I intended. Afetr looking at the HUD statement again it looks to me like this: We paid the SELLER his share of the taxes due from JAN 1 2006 to SEPT 21 2006(day we settled) this is my issue: You cant pay your property taxes on a monthly basis to the county, so either the seller had money put into escrow during 2006 up to closing or he was setting aside money on his own on a monthly basis.right? One stipulation per our lender was that prop.taxes be paid before disbusments of money. So the only thing i see is that 3600 was added into our loan for prop.taxes to be paid to the seller so he could pay the taxes. which he never did since we got a tax bill in novemeber for taxes due for 2006. Does that make sense? because it doesnt to me. Thanks for the response!

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by caad1010

I Think I may not have explained as well as I intended. Afetr looking at the HUD statement again it looks to me like this: We paid the SELLER his share of the taxes due from JAN 1 2006 to SEPT 21 2006(day we settled) this is my issue: You cant pay your property taxes on a monthly basis to the county, so either the seller had money put into escrow during 2006 up to closing or he was setting aside money on his own on a monthly basis.right? One stipulation per our lender was that prop.taxes be paid before disbusments of money. So the only thing i see is that 3600 was added into our loan for prop.taxes to be paid to the seller so he could pay the taxes. which he never did since we got a tax bill in novemeber for taxes due for 2006. Does that make sense? because it doesnt to me. Thanks for the response!

This is normal.

Seller got a credit and y'all were supposed to pay the tax bill when it came due.

[nextwife]

If you were credited taxes on the closing statement for the time during which the seller owned the property, then taxes at the end of the year are completely your (and the lender, if you have an escrow) responsibility. The seller has no further tax responsibility.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by nextwife

If you were credited taxes on the closing statement for the time during which the seller owned the property, then taxes at the end of the year are completely your (and the lender, if you have an escrow) responsibility. The seller has no further tax responsibility.

And I reckon that our poster signed something to that effect.

[thedoctorisin]

Originally Posted by caad1010

We paid the SELLER his share of the taxes due from JAN 1 2006 to SEPT 21 2006(day we settled)

This right here makes no sense. The property taxes prior to settlement are the responsibility of the seller. There is no need for you to pay the seller for something that is his responsibility.

Based on everything else you said, logically the seller should have PAID YOU for the property taxes from Jan. 1 to Sept. 21, because they were HIS responsibility but YOU ended up paying for them in November.

[efflandt]

Who handled the closing? That is the party that should have collected whatever upcoming property taxes were due and should have paid it.

When I bought my home in May (2002) and first installment was due June 1, the title company paid that installment, and the rest went into escrow with my lender to pay 2nd installment. They both screwed it up due to a double lot (which was correct on all papers), but that is another long story, and I did eventually get the money from both parties to get the taxes paid.

So you need to check your documents to see who was responsible to pay those taxes and either get the money from them, or sue them.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by efflandt

...

So you need to check your documents to see who was responsible to pay those taxes and either get the money from them, or sue them.

...

Wrong.

The owner of the property is always liable for the taxes and they are the ones who need to make sure they are paid.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by seniorjudge

Wrong.

The owner of the property is always liable for the taxes and they are the ones who need to make sure they are paid.

**A: not entirely true but true in most cases. I have written contracts whereby the Buyer was liable for Seller assessed taxes.

[caad1010]

I kept looking at the hud papers and finally realized that what they had done was take the credited money from the sellers(which was for the property taxes) and applied it towards our total loan to lower that down---(is that the normal process?) I know one of the stipulations before disbursing the money by our lender was that the taxes for 2006 were paid. We had assumed they would be taken care of. I am really NOT that stupid , I dont know why I didnt see that before on my hud statement!!!
I still feel something was done wrong, but i guess its to late.

Thanks again for all the answers!

Originally Posted by caad1010

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida


We bought our house on October (2006) and Property tax is due in November.
In the Hud statement we signed at closing, the seller was supposed to pay his part of the taxes up to the point of the sale and we pay the difference. About a month after we moved in, we started receiving the bill from the county asking for the full years worth. It got to the point where they were threatening to sell our house for the taxes due. The bank readjusted the escrow up an additional 700.00 per month and paid the tax bill. We have never been able to find out what happened to the money that was marked for taxes in the closing papers. My question is this: Is there a Way I can find out what happened to the money which was taken out at closing for this purpose?

[HomeGuru]

Next time DO NOT sign the closing docs until you have read and totally understood ALL line items on the HUD-1.

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by caad1010

I kept looking at the hud papers and finally realized that what they had done was take the credited money from the sellers(which was for the property taxes) and applied it towards our total loan to lower that down---(is that the normal process?) I know one of the stipulations before disbursing the money by our lender was that the taxes for 2006 were paid. We had assumed they would be taken care of. I am really NOT that stupid , I dont know why I didnt see that before on my hud statement!!!
I still feel something was done wrong, but i guess its to late.

Thanks again for all the answers!

Then the sellers did indeed pay THEIR share.

I am doubtful the closing agent followed the lenders closing instruction letter- the lender normally requires a sufficient tax escrow be collected to cover year end taxes.

Did you not wonder why the mortgage amount was too low?