Two years ago we bought our home and this year we found out the the previous homeowner homesteaded the home when he should not have. The county, isd, and mud are coming to us for the back taxes on the home. We have contacted the title company since there was title insurance on the home, but they are saying that since there was no lien that there is nothing that can do. They did provide us with paperwork that stated the previous homeowner is responsible for all back taxes.

I have spoken with the homeowner and he says that he is looking into it, but until then I am still receiving past due notices and lien threats. I just want to ensure that I am not paying for someone else's mistake and looking to see what options I have. I am guessing that I need to write a check and take it to small claims court to recoup the money, but hoping for other options.

Ed Elmore in a College Station

What area is this in? What county? The title company may not be answering your question correctly. The following exception relates to property taxes on the policy:

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5. Standby fees, taxes and assessments by any taxing authority for the year (year of closing), and subsequent years; and subsequent taxes and assessments by any taxing authority for prior years due to change in land usage or ownership, but not those taxes or assessments for prior
years because of an exemption granted to a previous owner of the property under Section 11.13, Texas Tax Code, or because of improvements not assessed for a previous tax year.

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So that, "but not..." is talking about an exception to coverage, so that appears to be saying that IS NOT excepted from coverage, meaning it is covered.

Thanks for the answer. It is in Harris County. I am going to go back through the title information tomorrow. The previous homeowner is saying his attorney is looking into it, so I hope to hear something by the end of the day.

I will look for that wording in the title insurance policy.

If you don't get it resolved, call Rick Melamed (real estate attorney in Houston)

https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_A_Lawyer&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=179136

Second for Ed Elmore or his partner Cully Lipsey

Zak Patel '97

http://zakpatellaw.com

Thanks for the recs. I just wanted to update everyone on the information that has come to us recently from the tax office. We all know that it is a great run office and managed correctly. This is a direct quote from the letter that was received yesterday.

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You submitted a homestead application for your new property in early 2014. You noted in your application that you wished to transfer the residence homestead from (my address) to your new home. Although the new homestead application was processed on March 3, 2014 we failed to remove the exemption from your prior residence at that time. The homestead was not removed from your prior home until October 18, 2016.

I apologize for the inconvenience this delay has caused. Unfortunately, the appraisal district does not have the authority to waive penalties and/or interest.

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I also spoke with the school district since they are the ones pushing the hardest for the money and the rep said they are processing so many of these types of cases that they can not keep up.

Seems to me that the county either had an issue with how they were handling these, or they are not doing them correctly since they know that they can come back a couple of years later and force people to not only pay the back taxes, but also get a little extra in penalties and late fees.

Hmmm, so this seems to be a little different from your original post.

According to that letter, you have 2 properties in Harris County and maintianed a homestead exemption on both?

Maybe I am misunderstanding the letter, but I thought originally you were saying the previous owner had it improperly designated as homestead? Or was that letter addressed to prior owner?

If you did have 2 properties and had a homestead exemption on both, then you aren't going to have much lick getting out of this.

That was the original thought was that he had both his rental (the house we bought) and his current home with a homestead exemption. The letter was to him that he recieved from the tax office. He did complete the form to remove the exemption, but Harris county did not remove it from their system. That was them owning the mistake but saying it does not matter taxes are still owed.

n_touch said:

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That was the original thought was that he had both his rental (the house we bought) and his current home with a homestead exemption. The letter was to him that he recieved from the tax office. He did complete the form to remove the exemption, but Harris county did not remove it from their system. That was them owning the mistake but saying it does not matter taxes are still owed.

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So the letter went to previous owner right? If they removed the exemption to fix this, and that was done on a date prior to your purchase then I would think you aren't liable for anything?

AggiePlaya said:

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n_touch said:

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That was the original thought was that he had both his rental (the house we bought) and his current home with a homestead exemption. The letter was to him that he recieved from the tax office. He did complete the form to remove the exemption, but Harris county did not remove it from their system. That was them owning the mistake but saying it does not matter taxes are still owed.

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So the letter went to previous owner right? If they removed the exemption to fix this, and that was done on a date prior to your purchase then I would think you aren't liable for anything?

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Yes. He received it last week from them. They are saying that even though he did the paperwork to remove the exemption that they did not follow through with it and remove it from the system. Even with that they are saying that it does not matter even in their error, the home owner at the time it is found is responsible for the past taxes, penalties, and interest. Pretty screwy.

That's messed up.