Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

I sold a property in Chicago, Illinois in 2005. In the process, the title company found a tax problem that existed from 2000, before separate units were assigned to the individual units in the building. The title company determined that the taxes were uncollectible because they had not been carried forward on the books. A month ago I received a letter from the title company telling me that I owed them $25,000 - $8,000 in taxes and $17,000 in penalties - to reimburse them what they recently paid Cook County. First, my 2000 taxes were a lot less than $8,000, so there must have been other units that had issues that year. Second, I have the email the title company drafted explaining why it would insure over the unpaid taxes. Third, why would I have to pay anyway? Would I have signed an indemnity? I don't have one in my files.


Asked on 1/08/13, 1:19 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

This is way too complicated to analyze in this forum without reviewing all the relevant documents. That being said every title company insists on what is commonly referre to as an ALTA statement signed but the sellers, buyers and/ or borrowers that acts as an indemnity so that may be what they are talking about. You should have an attorney work with you on this.

Read more
Answered on 1/08/13, 2:37 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Real Estate and Real Property questions and answers in Illinois