property tax foreclosure

The Michigan Supreme Court says local governments can't keep surplus cash from the sale of tax-foreclosed properties. It's a groundbreaking decision that could lead to waves of payments to former owners.

Oral arguments will take place Thursday in the Michigan Supreme Court in a lawsuit challenging Michigan's property tax foreclosure law.

The case is about whether counties that keep surplus proceeds from a tax foreclosure sale violate the takings clause of the U.S. and Michigan constitutions.

Detroit and Wayne County officials say a new program could help keep thousands of the lowest-income homeowners in their homes and out of tax foreclosure.

The plan, called Pay As You Stay (PAYS), calls for cutting the amount of money people owe on delinquent property taxes. It would reduce the balance to only those back taxes, or 10% of a home’s taxable value—whichever is less.

Some low-income Detroiters with property tax debt should soon get a chance to get that debt wiped out, thanks to a new program from the Wayne County Land Bank.

The program will work through a legal process called quiet title. The land bank will take ownership of the home. Then it will use quiet title to clear any debt attached to the property, and return the home to the former homeowners.

Wayne County will foreclose on fewer Detroit homes this year for the fourth straight year, according to numbers the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office provided on Friday.

Wayne County has 3,023 residential Detroit properties on its tax foreclosure list right now. 1,083 of them are believed to be occupied homes.

Can a county government seize a home for back taxes, sell it for price that exceeds the tax debt, and pocket the profits?

That issue is at the heart of the lawsuit that Erica Perez filed against Wayne County and County Treasurer Eric Sabree Tuesday.

Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree is applauding a new law signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer that allows county treasurers to work with homeowners, and implement payment plans with reduced interest rates on back property taxes.

A temporary law from late 2014 allowed this, but was scheduled to sunset June 30th. Now, the law has been extended until 2026.

A deadline is looming for Wayne County property owners hoping to avoid foreclosure.

Taxpayers have until Thursday to visit the Wayne County Treasurer's Office to make a payment on their unpaid taxes from 2016 or enroll in a payment plan.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will deliver his sixth State of the City speech on Tuesday, March 5. Duggan's office has not released any details of the planned speech, but in the past, he has focused on issues like affordable housing, jobs, and education. 

Civil asset forfeiture. Court fines and fees. Property tax foreclosure laws.

All are things local governments in Michigan use to operate and fund themselves. And all could be changed by a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The case had to do with whether police in Indiana could seize a man’s car after he was charged with selling heroin.

Even though the man was convicted, the court ruled the seizure was illegal because the car was worth many times more than the maximum fine for the crime. In other words, it was an excessive fine or fee—the kind prohibited by the Constitution’s 8th Amendment.

In the new year, the Michigan Supreme Court will decide whether counties can continue to hit the jackpot when foreclosing on properties.

Counties routinely sell real estate when taxes are long overdue. State law allows them to pocket everything - even if the sales price exceeds the amount of debt. The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether it's an illegal government taking under the Michigan and U.S. Constitutions.

Relief could be on the horizon for Detroit homeowners who missed their chance to apply for a property tax exemption. 

The Homeowners Property Tax Assistance Program offers relief to low income Detroit homeowners who can't afford their property taxes. But a lot of people don't know about it. And homeowners have to re-apply every year. 

515 Detroit families have the opportunity to stay living homes that were headed to tax foreclosure auction this fall.

They’re on the list for a buy-back program that involves the city of Detroit, Wayne County, and a non-profit housing group.

Another 50 Detroit families will own the homes they currently live in, thanks to a city program.

After years of being ravaged by property tax foreclosures that claimed more than one in three city homes,  Detroit will see fewer than 5,000 properties go to the annual Wayne County tax auction this fall.

The county announced preliminary 2018 tax foreclosure numbers Friday. They show the county is set to foreclose on 4,676 properties this year, with 1,499 of them occupied properties.

African-American homeownership has fallen further in Michigan than in any other state since 2000, and a growing number of low-income renters in Metro Detroit are “being squeezed from all sides” when it comes to finding affordable housing.

Those are two just two notable conclusions from a series of reports released by the Urban Institute this week about major issues in Southeast Michigan’s housing market.

Detroit has settled a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, alleging the city made it too difficult for residents to learn about, and qualify for, a property tax exemption based on poverty.

Thousands of Detroiters in poverty paid property taxes they didn't owe because they didn't know they were exempt, and the city didn't tell them.  Many lost their homes at tax foreclosure auctions when they couldn't pay the taxes.

One Detroit family celebrated getting a new home Thursday, as they also called for other families like them to receive similar compensation as victims of what they call “illegal” foreclosures.

A new lawsuit says Michigan’s property tax foreclosure laws are unconstitutional and amount to “government sanctioned theft.”

The case was filed this week on behalf of two men who lost Oakland County properties to foreclosure.

One of the men, Uri Rafaeli, lost a rental property in Southfield when he miscalculated the amount of interest he owed on 2011 property taxes by $8.41. Oakland County foreclosed, then sold the home for $24,500.

An effort to help some Wayne County residents from losing their homes to tax foreclosure seems to have stalled. Until the last minute, low-income property owners were being encouraged to apply for tax exemptions, with the hope of preventing their homes from being sold at Wayne County’s annual auction of tax-foreclosed properties.

Detroit City assessor Alvin Horhn’s office promoted the idea that some low-income homeowners might be able to avoid tax foreclosure this year if they hurried to apply for a tax exemption.

Many homes that go into tax foreclosure in Detroit are owned by landlords. The renters are often booted out once the homes are sold at auction.  

In a pilot project, Detroit has bought 80 of these homes where tenants have expressed interest in becoming homeowners.  The city used right of first refusal for the purchases. That means the city can buy the properties before they go to auction, paying only the county and state portions of the taxes owing, but not the city portion.