Even if they lose their homes to a tax buyer, the original homeowners should share in the profits when the property is sold, the suit argues.
People enter the Cook County treasurer's office on the main floor at the County Building in Chicago in 2018.
The suit revolves around the Cook County Treasurer’s annual tax sale, and names both Treasurer Maria Pappas and Cook CountyWhen property owners fail to pay their property taxes for 13 months, the county can auction off their delinquent taxes to third-party buyers. Owners are given up to 30 months to repay their debts, plus penalties and interest. If they don’t pay up, the tax buyers can confiscate the property, including the value above what was owed for taxes and related penalties and interest.
State law provides one way for homeowners who lose their property to a tax buyer to get money back: the indemnity process, in which the original owner can argue in court they were unaware that falling behind on tax payments could result in the loss of their homes. If the original owners succeed, they are entitled to a payout from the county’s indemnity fund., even if they succeed, the fund is “$22 million in debt and eight years behind in paying people.
The plaintiffs include Michael Bell, owner of a home worth $115,000 in the 2200 block of East 100th Street in Chicago. After his mother died in 2017, Bell took ownership, but he was unemployed from 2018 to 2019 and failed to pay his property taxes for 2018, according to the lawsuit. In Spring 2019, the taxes to his home were sold to the Lien Group; the delinquent charges added up over time to more than $11,000 and he has been forced to cede ownership, the suit states.
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