Need Miami Attorney To Straighten Out Tax Deed Mess

Can anybody recommend a Miami attorney who genuinely knows how to wade through the messy aftermath of a tax deed auction and get everything fixed once and for all? In particular, one who knows how to deal with the employees at the Dade County Court's Tax Deed Unit and can get them to either release the surplus funds to satisfy the City of Miami's surviving liens once and for all, or at least give specific reasons why they won't so those objections can be satisfied?

I've gone through hell with the tax deed unit in particular. Their attitude throughout this whole process has basically been, "You don't have a claim on the funds, the City does, and the fact that you can't do anything with the lot until we release those funds to the city just makes you roadkill. We can put the folder back in the filing cabinet and sit on it forever if we feel like it..."

Also, if someone purchased a "lien certificate" from the City of Miami ~4 years before I bought the lot at the tax deed auction, the certificate was "issued" by the City 6 months before the auction, and finally recorded by the clerk of courts 6 months AFTER the auction:

a) Did the lien certificate even survive the tax deed auction?

b) If it did, can its holder be compelled to file a claim against the surplus funds, and exhaust that as a remedy before he/she can initiate foreclosure proceedings? (There's plenty of money in the fund to cover the amount... assuming the funds ever get released...)

c) If this certificate's holder "fell though the cracks" and was never notified of either the tax deed auction or the quiet title suit that finally finished a few months ago, does that present any particular problems?

[ Edited by miamicanes on Date 09/26/2007 ]

[ Edited by miamicanes on Date 09/26/2007 ]

I am going through the same thing with a house I bought at the last Duval Co. tax deed sale. They used the $10k surplus to pay all the back taxes but not the nuisance liens even though they still have about $7k to pay $3k of liens. They keep telling me that they are in the works of paying it and say they will. Meanwhile I have a rehab buyer and the title co says they will have to collect the $ from me a closing to pay they liens. I am trying to have them escrow the $ from me to give the city time to pay. It is frustrating.

Yeah. I wish I'd known how brutally hard it would actually be to get the damn surplus funds released. They City has been fairly nice about not trying to aggressively collect the funds from me, but pretty much admitted that they don't have the resources to go after the County and beat them up until they release the funds.

Apparently, the tax deed office has always acted this way, but it never was a major problem until property values in Miami skyrocketed, and people started routinely buying properties at tax auctions for WAY more than the taxes due because it was the only way left to actually buy property at a halfway sane price. ~3 years ago, you couldn't have bought an asbestos-flaked crackhouse with visible puddles of mercury and a mountain of cracked-open car batteries oozing lead in the back yard in a normal, MLS-listed real estate transaction for less than $460,000... that's how crazy & insane things got down here for a while at the market's craziest point).

The state legislature REALLY needs to change the law to allow the buyer to assume the surviving liens after the sale -- paying off the governmental entity to clear the title, but acquiring the right to collect reimbursement from the surplus funds as if he were the original governmental entity. The way the law is now is just plain fsck'ed, because it puts the burden of collection on entities that have neither the resources nor incentive to aggressively seek collection (the city knows that one way or another, it's going to eventually get its money if it waits long enough), and dumps the burden of those liens (not being allowed to build) on the hapless buyer who officially can't do anything to personally force their release. <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_frown.gif">

[ Edited by miamicanes on Date 09/27/2007 ]

A court order will encourage the County to pay off the liens. [addsig]

Right, but as I understand it, if I filed a motion asking the judge to order them to act & disburse the funds, they'd just move for summary dismissal on procedural grounds for lack of standing on my part, since I don't personally have a claim on the funds. I'd LOVE to be proven wrong, of course ...

You need to find a GOOD foreclosure lawyer, as you originally stated.

An experienced foreclosure attorney will be able to tell you in 30 seconds (usually at no cost) if they can get you your desired results.

In Jacksonville, I would consider it a no-brainer. In Miami, you need to find the right attorney. I'll ask around and PM you with a few names after the weekend if you would like. [addsig]

File a quiet title action, name the city in the suit. Once that happens they have to put in to get the surplus funds disbursed to them.
That was the way I did it and it worked.

I know a great foerclosure attorney in Miami, that might be able to help both of you. Let me know if you are still looking for one.

Update: I've been kind of distracted for the past 3 months. I ended up taking advantage of an insanely good deal to buy a townhouse in Broward, and was kind of overwhelmed by the purchase, move, and everything that goes along with it.

I'm still looking for a lawyer, and I think I need one QUICKLY. I went down to the lot today to cut the grass & clean up the trash people dump (sigh), and found the tattered remains of what appears to be a "PUBLIC NOTICE" that's been left there at some point over the past 4 weeks. Unfortunately, the only part remaining was enough to make out "PUBLIC NO" and see my lot's house number written on it.

I searched the list of upcoming tax auctions at www.miamidade.gov, and didn't find my property listed at any of them. I then signed up for an account at www.foreclosure.com, did a search, and found my property listed... apparently, listed about 11 months ago. Uh oh. The amount allegedly in question was fairly low, but there was no information about who was behind it. No case number, docket id, recorded document number, scheduled sale date, or anything.

According to the www.miamidade.gov property search website, my old address is still my official one. I submitted the change-of-address form to them weeks ago, but apparently they take a long time to actually get around to processing change of address notices. However, I'm still friends with my old housemate, and get mail delivered to me at the old address every week or two. I also filed an official permanent change of address card with the Post Office a few days ago, just to be safe.

As far as anyone can tell, no certified letters or orange slips have been delivered.

Can I safely assume that regardless of what happens, "they" (whomever "they" might be -- the City of Miami, some unknown lien certificate buyer who the City of Miami washed their hands of, etc) absolutely, positively, can NOT auction off the property without AT LEAST sending a certified letter to the official mailing address listed for me at the county's property search website, warning me that the property will be sold at a specific sale on a specific date unless payment for some specific amount is made to some specific entity by some specific date?

Or can they legally get away with taping a paper notice to a vacant lot's fence (knowing fully well it'll be destroyed by rain within a matter of days), publishing a classified ad somewhere (possibly in a form that I myself wouldn't even recognize as my own property if I were actively searching for it AND happened to see it), and claim that some earlier form letter warning that it might happen at some undetermined/undisclosed future date (or even a paragraph somewhere merely implying it by reference) is adequate notice?

If I appear to be safe from anything draconian taking place over at least the next 2 weeks, I've been thinking that my best strategy might be to try and purchase an owner's ALTA title insurance policy, on the theory that it will at least identify and enumerate any specific liens known to remain, and guarantee that I won't end up borrowing lots of money to pay off the liens once and for all, only to have yet another "submarine" lien come out of "nowhere" , like the villain in a cheesy 80s slasher film who just won't "stay dead". Apparently, Florida in general, and Dade County in particular, has a HUGE problem with slow and sloppy recording on a scale that would probably get people sent to prison if it were done by a private company instead of county governments

Yup,
Bargain76 had it right - a court order will encourage the County employees to be more helpful.

Find a good attorney by looking at recently filed tax deed cases. Attorney are pretty good at putting they name, address and phone number on all motions.