Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Re: real estate taxes

Non-payment of taxes can be serious. It could result in the town foreclosing on your property for the unpaid taxes.

This sounds like an unusually long period of time for the town to have waited to raise the issue of an alleged non-payment.

I would start addressing the issue by researching the town's tax records for 1993, 1994, 1995, etc. See if any of the allegedly unpaid taxes were reflected in any of their records for more current years. Outstanding balances are often noted as "Tax Title" on subsequent real estate tax bills.

Also, if you purchased the property since 1993, or have refinanced the property, the closing attorney may have obtained a "Certificate of Municipal Lien" and recorded it with the appropriate Registry of Deeds where your deed or mortgage is recorded. This Certificate would be a record of what the town claimed was outstanding at that particular time, and may help you pursuade them their records are inaccurate or incomplete if it does not match what they are now claiming.

Obviously, if you can locate the checks that prove you made the payments, that may be your best course of action.

Another source of information may be your mortgage lender for that year, if you had a mortgage. They usually pay the real estate taxes by escrowing the money on your behalf, as part of your monthly payment.

Regards,

Alan Humbert