Property tax (Los Angeles: 2015, apartment, assessor)

[RollyMop]

I recently bought apartment, signed all paperwork in end of December 2014, and apartment was funded in January 3 2015.

Couple weeks ago I got the letter with Notice of Delinquency http://lacountypropertytax.com/portal/bills/nod.aspx
Long story shortly, the tax statement was sent to old owner in October 2014. It was two parts, first part they payd, but second not. As result I got penalty about 200 $, and bill for 1900 usd
I asked my escrow, they told me that I should to pay my taxes, but it is not clear for me, why Ishould pay Afront, it looks like I will pay for second part of 2014, but I start to be the owner in 2015 January.

Any advise about topic?
Thank you

[HyperionGap]

You are the current owner. If your property taxes are delinquent the municipality is coming after you.

[RollyMop]

Thank you for comment. Sure, I gonna pay for it. Just interesting if I can take my money back from seller or maybe can I some how avoid the penalty, because I really didn't get the tax bill.

[tcmtcm]

The same thing happened to me recently - just pay it and move on because ultimately it was your responsibility to be certain your tax bill was current/paid/addressed correctly. Frustrating as heck, but nobody else will take responsibility for that oversight.

[True Freedom]

I hate to sound defeatist, but your best bet is to pay the bill, the penalties, and move on.

This happened to us. We spent alot of time trying to fight it. Our realtor even knew people at the assessor's office who tried to help. They admitted that it was 100% their error; however, we still had to pay the fines.

It's stupid. It sucks. It's unfair. But, you are not going to change it, and you will waste a lot of time trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.

[Voyageuse]

I had the opposite problem. We bought a house in April 2014 and received eight supplemental bills for a total of ~ $1,200. Today, we received a refund of $399 for over-payment. The moral of the story? The L.A. County Tax Assessor's office is REALLY screwed up. Just pay it.

As far as recourse goes, I suppose it's possible to go after the title company for not informing you of the delinquency earlier, but I'm not really sure if that's an option. Perhaps someone more educated on the topic could speak to that as a possibility.

[honobob]

Originally Posted by RollyMop

I recently bought apartment, signed all paperwork in end of December 2014, and apartment was funded in January 3 2015.

Couple weeks ago I got the letter with Notice of Delinquency http://lacountypropertytax.com/portal/bills/nod.aspx
Long story shortly, the tax statement was sent to old owner in October 2014. It was two parts, first part they payd, but second not. As result I got penalty about 200 $, and bill for 1900 usd
I asked my escrow, they told me that I should to pay my taxes, but it is not clear for me, why Ishould pay Afront, it looks like I will pay for second part of 2014, but I start to be the owner in 2015 January.

Any advise about topic?
Thank you

The 2014-2015 tax year runs from 7/1/2014 to 6/30/2015. The value is based on the priors owners base value as of 1/1/2014. The bill went out in Oct. to be paid in two installments in Dec and Apr.

If this is the regular bill and the prior owner only paid the first installment then you should have paid his bill in Apr since you were there half the year. Call the Tax Collector and the Assessor. Ask the Tax Collector to waive the late fees. Make sure the Assessor has your correct address and ask if the prior owner has any UNSECURED assessments against them. The bill you have may well be an unsecured supplemental bill that will go to the owner NOT you.

You will have two supplemental bills coming to you. They are the result of your 1/3/2015 change in ownership. For example lets say the lasts years tax bill was based on $200,000. Then you came in and established YOUR new base of say $400,000. Since the last base was less then you will owe taxes based on the $400,000 from Jan 3 to 6/30/2015. Now since the 1/1/2015 lein date is before you bought the next tax bill for 7/1/2015 to 6/30/2016 will be based on the old owners value of $200,000 so you will get a second supplemental bill for the difference from your value and the old owners. The first supp is only for 6 months but the second supp will be for the whole next tax year.

Usually the title company will collect the second installment from you at the closing. Make sure they didn't.

Another problem will be if the prior owner did a change of ownership or new construction in the prior year. If there was no notice to the title company then the tax collector will chase the prior owner. If they missed something it should be on them.

[2sleepy]

Call the title company that handled the transaction. That's part of what you pay for; for them to charge the seller for any taxes due up until the close of escrow. If they screwed up you should be able to recover the deficiency from them

[RollyMop]

So, I got the email from Tax Collector, see below:

Spoiler

The only thing you can do is pay what is owed. I have attached an Auditor claim form so that you can try to request and reimbursement from the Auditor. Your realtor or closing agent should have let you know that taxes were due that were your responsibility in April, 2015.

******* ********

Public Service Division
Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector
PO Box 512102
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(: (213) 974-2089 / 7: (213) 620-7948 / *: echeck@ttc.lacounty.gov

Link to form: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzQ...ew?usp=sharing

[Dora123]

Ok. I just borrow this thread to ask my question. First time in LA, I received my property tax bill (~$3000) which will be paid in two installments. But when I logged on the property tax website to pay for it. I saw another $2000 listed under 2015-010 that will be due at the same time. What is this tax? Thank you in advance.