Q. A mortgage company suspended the review of my loan applicationafter finding a lien against me for unpaid real estate taxes. Itseems the people to whom I sold my house three years ago failed topay the tax bill for the period between the closing date (May 31) andthe end of that year. As part of the closing settlement, I paid allof the taxes due prior to that. The city tax collector says thedepartment filed the lien legitimately against me as the owner ofrecord as of Jan. 1 of the tax year. And while he agreed that I amnot responsible for the unpaid bill, he said the city can't issue aletter explaining my situation. The mortgage company, meanwhile,won't process my loan without a clarifying document of some kind.What can I do?
M.B., Boston
A. Ruth Dillingham, special counsel for First American Title Co.,says you are not stuck permanently in real estate limbo. Your problemarises, she explains, because a municipality can file a tax lien forup to three years after a property has been sold. So the lien againstyou is legal, but it is also incorrect.
To prove that to your lender, Dillingham suggests you obtain acertified copy of the tax-delinquency notice from the Registry ofDeeds for the county in which the property you sold is located. Thatnotice will state the period for which the unpaid taxes are due. Alsoobtain from the registry a copy of the deed of sale for the property,which will include the date on which the sale occurred. Presentingboth documents to your lender should establish that you did not ownthe property during the tax period at issue and are not responsiblefor the delinquent payment.
Q. We are going to retire in a few years and are planning to builda home for that purpose. Are you aware of any Internet sites fromwhich we could download house plans at no charge, or even view themonline for free?
J.E., Belmont
A. Entering the keywords "home" and "blueprint" on a search enginewill produce a long list of sites offering residential blueprints. Afew examples: www.designbasics .com, www.houseplans.com,www.planshouse.com, and www.orderhomeplans.com. Some will allow youto download sample plans for review purposes, but most will charge afee (typically $100 to $200) for doing so. And all will point outthat the blueprints are copyrighted. That means you can't duplicatethem, construct buildings from them, or even use ideas you glean fromthem in your own home design without violating the copyrightprotection. I'm not sure about the enforcement process, but I suspectthat the penalty (up to $100,000 per violation) is probably areasonably effective deterrent for anyone aware of it.
If you purchase one or more sets of plans, the issuer will giveyou a license that will allow you to build or modify the design.Prices vary, depending on the type of design, the number you order,and whether the blueprints can be reproduced. You should expect topay from $500 to $750 or more for a complete set of constructionplans, which should include from five to eight copies enough toensure individual copies for you, the general contractor, and all ofthe subcontractors who will need them.
No comments:
Post a Comment