Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Exactly 2 months (11/22/13) ago I closed on a one family home that was a short sale and had been under contract since 1/31/13. During the entire time I was never advised that there was a Village Tax on the property, only the School and County Tax. The Village Tax is substantial, equaling $100.00 a month. This greatly changed the payment I was planning on having. I did not find out until I was actually at the closing. When my attorney was going over the taxes and he said "Village Tax of ___", I said that I did not know there was one! My realtor was also at closing and she also said she was not aware of the Village Tax either and I do believe her. Possibly, I should have stopped the closing at that point, but it did not even occur to me to do that or if I could do that.

Are there any remedies/recourse that I can get for this. I think the only recourse would be to sue for a monetary amount?? Clearly, all the facts were not disclosed to me and I don't know if it is the Seller and Buyer Realtors/Brokers, the mortgage lender, my attorney, or a combination. During the process I kept getting different figures from the mortgage lender and I continually complained about it and on at least 2 occasions they requested the taxes and I only sent the School and County because most properties in New York only have these property taxes. My realtor also sent copies of tax bills at least twice to the lender. Never once did the lender come back and say, "I still need the village tax bill". You would think they would.

Also, on the GFE's, the taxes were never broken down and were always more than the taxes I knew about, but I attributed it to the STAR exemption not being applied to the school tax figure.

Thank you very much and if there is a case I would appreciate the name of an attorney.


Asked on 1/23/14, 5:53 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kevin Connolly Kevin J. Connolly

This is odd.

The GFE is always at odds with reality, because lenders think that they reduce their liability that way. But the GFE will not support a lawsuit unless Did you not see the title report? Were the village taxes not disclosed in the report? When was the GFE delivered? The bank may have some exposure. Your lawyer, too. Feel free to contact me 516-242-1453 and we'll see. There may be a RESPA violation. There may be legal malpractice.

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Answered on 1/23/14, 6:23 am


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