“Dear PoP,
The DC Government stole our Petworth home, 929 Farragut St, just east of Georgia Ave, through a classic screwup. It was an improper sale of the deed through an improper tax sale based on completely incorrect property taxes. Now the house is boarded up and no one is living there. If it happened to us it could happen to anybody! We’d like to get the story out to other DC residents and taxpayers. Our FULLY PAID FOR $450,000. house was sold for $40,000!! I’d like to tell you the whole story.
The short version is that I got a ten times higher than normal property tax bill. When I went in person to DCRA I was told that someone had put it into the vacant tax classification. The house had been under renovation when it was misclassified. By the time I got the bill and went down there it was already rented and occupied. They didn’t know how to get it out of this classification. I went many times and called many times and was never able to get the tax classification changed even though it stayed occupied. Eventually the DC city council shortened the period of time during which you could dispute a tax bill from three years down to six months. Without notice they sold the hose for taxes!! We have been trying for the last FIVE years to get this rectified!”
I’ll be honest I normally very skeptical of claims like this but I decided to sit down with the owners because the case seemed so wild. The owners Dennis Dyer and his partner Amy Marx sat down with me last week to discuss the case. I’ll be honest again, the case is a bit complicated and while Mr. Dyer and Ms. Marx had folder after folder of affidavits and leases and other communications it still wasn’t completely clear to me. As best I can understand it seemed like the house was accidentally placed into vacant status and was sold due to unpaid tax bills.
This is likely a case for a proper investigative reporter but I’d like to throw it out to you guys – do you think it’s possible (in this specific case) that the city could have accidentally placed a home into an incorrect tax status and sold it before the owners were able to correct the problem? For those who have a lot of free time, after the jump you can find more details.
If you do think the city made a mistake – since the house has already been sold – do you think the owners will be able to recoup their losses? Has anyone else heard of a similar situation?
Ed. Note: The WBJ’s Michael Neibauer recently wrote about D.C.’s tax lien market here.
Update: DCRA also encourages people to look at the Complete Guide to Vacant Property Compliance FY 2011
After the jump you can see a detailed letter sent to the mayor and a full timeline of the incident submitted by Ms. Marx. (more…)
