What Every Property Owner Should Know

Public Act 123 of 1999 shortens the amount of time property owners have to pay their delinquent taxes before losing their property. Property owners with taxes that are two years old go into forfeiture, which means the additional fees and higher rate of interest apply.  When the taxis 3 years old, the property is foreclosed on and will be sold at public auction.

For example, people who fail to pay their 2009 property taxes will lose their property to foreclosure in March 2012.
With this new act, the amount of time to pay taxes has been reduced from approximately five years to approximately two and a half years.

Property owners face high interest and fees for not paying their taxes. Taxes that are delinquent for more than one year will have a substantially higher interest rate (1.5% per month, as opposed to the current 1%). After one year, taxes will have a $175 forfeiture fee and additional administrative fees added to them.