Posted on 02/10/2010 7:49:34 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
Dwayne Hodges got a rude shock when he purchased a new home in Bell Buckle. After paying his earnest money and signing the contract, he discovered that there was no water. Due to unpaid utility bills, the tap had been repossessed from the previous owner and it was going to cost Hodges $2,500 to reconnect. "Is there anything you can do," he asked Bell Buckle Board of Mayor and Aldermen at its Tuesday night meeting, "to keep this from happening to someone else?"
The town had agreed to cut his tap fee to $1,500 because of a clerical error on the town's web site that has since been corrected, but denied Hodges' request to prorate the fee over six months by paying $300 down and adding $200 to his regular water bill until it was paid off.
Alderman Frank Reagor and Alderwomen Annie Rooney and Jenny Hunt expressed concerns over the possibility of setting a precedent that could hurt the town later when someone else requested the tap fee be split into separate payments.
"It's bad business," said Hunt. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hodges."
Alderman James Anderson argued for Hodges, saying he felt the board made good decisions and would continue to do so every time the request came up.
"In my opinion, one of the advantages to living in a small town rather than a big town is that we can be flexible," said Anderson. "I don't think Mr. Hodges was in the wrong. I think the [previous] property owner was in the wrong and I think we can be flexible."
Hodges wasn't as upset over the payment schedule being turned down as he was about he possibility of the same thing happening to someone else.
"It doesn't show up if you do a title search," he said. "If there's not a lien on the property, you can't tell until you come in to turn your water on."
Rooney said she thought the real estate agent would have to tell the buyer under full disclosure laws but no one present could verify that. Hodges said the cost of hiring an attorney to try and recover the money from the previous owner would cost more than he was owed -- if he cold get the money at all.
"You can't get blood from a turnip," he said.
The member of the board said they weren't sure if there was anything the town could do to notify prospective buyers unless they came in and asked, but Mayor Dennis Webb said he would consult with Don Darden of the University of Tennessee's Municipal Technical Advisory Service to see what options there might be.
This state and the idiocy that makes this state never ceases to amaze me. Now a city can saddle you with someone else’s bills, boy don’t that open up a slippery slope...
I don't think I'd make an offer on a house without checking out the plumbing....
That’s a bunch of garbage. When I bought my house, we had to go to the city and pay the former’s water bill before they would allow me to have service. My real estate agent got the money for me, so I wasn’t out any. But it’s not right. Don’t penalize one person for another’s debt.
Exactly.
The property does not owe the water bill. The ex owner owes it.
I think there is even some doubt in the matter of past due property tax.
That is speaking from the standpoint of ethics. I realize the law can be whatever nut case legislators choose to say it is.
I’d spite them by digging a well.
Happened to me in CT. I bought a house in 96. a year later I got a delinquent notice fo borough taxes that I knew I already paid. My tax money was being applied to the previous homowner’s bill all along.
I tried everything I could. Spoke to an attorney, not covered under title search, no liens on the house, etc. I paid almost $1,500 in someone elses taxes and was told by the town “you were lucky it wasn’t more” and “Happens all the time”.
I’ve since sold that house and left that town forever. I hope they all rot.
The city or county should put a lean on the property. That way the past due bill will show up during the escrow.
But I agree that something should have been done to let the potential buyer know about these past dues bills before the contract was signed. Then the buyer could dicker with the price. And $1500 is outrageous! And another thing, why is the new owner responsible for the previous owners debts. Something is not right here?
It would be something to remember to put in a home purchase offer, that there be an escrow to take care of such hidden debts.
I’d fight it. With no proper lien on the property the debt should be with the previous owner. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the title company has some liability. Either the property is free and clear or it isn’t.
Nothing worse than the water tyrants of your community.
You are saddled with someone else’s bills all the time. When you pay your hospital bill, it is padded to pay for the people who don’t. However, in this case it says the tap had been repossessed. What does that mean? Did they physically disconnect the previous owner’s water line? So, in this case the money might be for a reconnect fee.
If it is forclosed, usually the bank forks over the owed monies, again, in escrow.
It is the escrow office's job, and ass on the line, to find out all this stuff prior to closure. That is the purpose of escrow, and escrow insurance.
At least that is how my settlements were/are settled purchasing homes in the sacramento county area.
Are escrow companies that much more different in other states?
No lien on the property. Nothing in title search, nothing in other normal records search (and nothing disclosed by seller). I don’t see any way this could be legal - and most certainly it is not ethical.
“Oh the property is free and clear but the water contract ain’t.”
Which town in CT was that?
There could not be a worse example than the hospital. The hospital does not pro-rate the amount it has paid in charity service over the number of paying customers and charge you that amount to even walk in their door.
This sounds like it is the ‘tap’ not water used. In such a case, the seller or builder is the legal party responsible, not the buyer. The holder of the tap cannot legally collect on the ownership of the tap from the one buying, if the ownership fee for the tap was due when a new owner came into focus. Hodges needs to sue the hell out of the seller, the city, and the real esatte agents who scammed him on behalf of the previous owner, probably the shady builder!
Think the legal costs were going to be more than one could hope to collect. You could get a judgment in small claims court, collecting it is another story.
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