Important information on upcoming Lien Sales from Comptroller Liu

         The Department of Finance lists 17,547 properties across the city as potential candidates for the August 1, 2011 lien sale.  By borough, these properties break down in the following fashion:

o   Manhattan – 1,338

o   Bronx – 2854

o   Brooklyn – 7749

o   Queens – 4290

o   Staten Island – 1316

·         The dollar amounts owed to the City by property owners range from millions to the low thousands of dollars.  

·         The city only sells liens to a single authorized buyer and not to the general public.  The lien sale is the transfer of the lien to the single authorized buyer which hires collection agencies.  It is not a sale of the property, but if the taxes and/or charges are not paid or resolved, the lien holder can begin a foreclosure proceeding in court.

·         If the property owner does not make arrangements with the new lien holder who purchased the packaged liens, a foreclosure can commence within 6 months after the lien sale date.

·         The City’s last lien sale was July 29, 2010 when there were 5,416 liens listed.  After some taxpayers made payments, the total number of liens was reduced to 4,736.  It is important to note that the number of auctions in connection with foreclosures as a result of the city’s lien program for 1996-2010 has been quite small – on 315 family dwellings.

·         In all probability, only a subset of 17,547 properties on the current list will be packaged together for the lien sale on August 1 to the single buyer.

·         It is hard to say with certainty how many of the 17,547 properties are owned by individual homeowners versus real estate companies and other businesses, although a sample of 100 properties in Brooklyn showed 37 of the 100 were owned by individual homeowners.  In Bronx, the number was 33 out of 100.  However, when going to CB 12 in Queens – an area hit hard by the foreclosure crisis – the number was 62 out of 100.

				The Comptrollers office just updated its website yesterday to include need to know information on the upcoming lien sales (it’s center page, under featured news), http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/. They are  working with Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera on this.