Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida
Our property (house) is in St Johns County. We purchased it in 2011 from Fannie Mae after they foreclosed on the previous owner who had a mortgage with Chase. Chase and Fannie Mae filed an recorded a Release of Mortgage prior to us obtaining the free and clear Deed in our name. During our purchase of this property the real estate transaction was executed with licensed real estate firms on both sides (Watson RE for us). We obtained clear title from a law office which executed the transaction (escrow).
Forward to today: the mortgage holder (Chase) of the previous foreclosed owner has been, since 2011, claiming to be an escrow agent based on the old dismissed mortgage for the property tax, every year, with the Saint Johns Co tax collector's office. The property tax records show CHASE as the PAYOR (payer) of our property taxes which is incorrect because WE pay our taxes. Furthermore, the Tax Collectors Office notify CHASE via 2 letters, the first in 2011, to update their records -we have copies of the letters. We have contacted CHASE and their agent Corelogic multiple times without results. We do not have any relationship to CHASE. We have extenuated our means to bring this to a proper and final resolution. Neither Chase nor their agent, Corelogic, will respond to us. The CHASE escrow claim is always based on the same loan number which appears in our property tax bill. Such loan has been released with the Release of Mortgage as stated above. I have compiled all the documents from public record spanning since before we purchased the property to now which shows a clear, unambiguous paper trail that the our property is currently ours ONLY without attachments to any other third party.
Fact: Chase, Corelogic (Chase's agent) and the St Johns Tax Collector have been notified multiple times of this error since we purchased our property. They have refused to stop the false claim to be escrow for our property and keep requesting tax information every year from the Tax Collector's Office which provides the information and records them as PAYOR without challenging their false claim.
Question: What legal recourse do we have to defend ourselves from CHASE and or the Tax Collector's Office from this false escrow agent claim? Are they breaking any laws? What is their accountability and liability on such a false claim?
1 Answer from Attorneys
1. not sure why it matters if you are paying the taxes.
2. send a certified letter to all parties confirming your understanding of the facts and ask the tax collector to change their records.
3. there is not harm caused unless you are not getting your tax bill because of this mix up.
4. seek some actual legal help with your paperwork.
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