Queens Borough President Melinda Katz announced on Monday that her office will host a workshop next month at Borough Hall to help homeowners and other property owners who may be affected by the city’s upcoming tax lien sale due to unpaid taxes and other bills owed to the city.
Katz’s Tax Lien Assistance Workshop is scheduled for Monday, May 4, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Room 213 in Queens Borough Hall, 120-55 Queens Blvd. in Kew Gardens
Unpaid taxes and other bills owed to NYC may be sold at the city’s next lien sale to private debt collectors, which in turn can trigger foreclosure proceedings. Property owners on the 2015 Lien Sale list, however, may be able to avoid this if they act by May 14.
The placement of a property on the Lien Sale list means the city can sell the lien placed against the property to a third-party private entity, if the property owner does not pay off his or her debt to the city or enter into a payment agreement with the city on or before May 14. If the lien is sold to a third party, that third party will then be authorized to collect the debt from the property owner, along with a potentially substantial amount of fees and interest penalties. If the property owner does not pay off the debt to this third party within a certain time frame, the third party can foreclose on the property.
According to the 2015 30-Day Lien Sale List, as of April 7, 2015, the ZIP codes of the top five areas in Queens with the most properties on the 2015 Lien Sale list are (in order): 11434, South Jamaica/Springfield Gardens; 11368, Corona; 11691, Far Rockaway; 11433, Jamaica; and 11413, Laurelton.
“I urge you to protect your home, protect your family, and protect your property,” Katz said. “Because your stability is integral to the neighborhood’s stability and we want to help.”
By Forum Staff
