What happens when the property taxes on a vacant Montana house go unpaid?
The county treasurer attaches a tax lien by the first working day in August, and anyone who pays the back taxes, penalties, interest and costs, after proving notice was mailed to the taxpayer, can take an assignment of it. The owner has until the first working day in August three years later to redeem; after that, the assignee gets a tax deed.
Before a lien attaches, the county treasurer posts or publishes notice that the overdue taxes are a lien and that, unless they are paid by a set date, a tax lien will attach and may be assigned to someone else. The county holds that lien unless it is assigned.
The window is two years for a subdivided lot with no house or commercial building on it and overdue special improvement district assessments. Redeeming means paying the lien with its penalties, interest and costs, plus any later taxes with interest and penalty.
Between May 1 and May 30 of the final year, the assignee must warn the parties that a tax deed will go to the assignee unless the lien is redeemed. That notice goes by certified mail to the current occupant, if there is one, and to each party other than a utility listed in a title report from a licensed title insurance producer. An assignee who fails to give the notice loses the lien: the county treasurer cancels it.
When nobody has taken an assignment, the county gets a tax deed only if the county commissioners direct it by resolution. A tax deed gives the new owner absolute title as of the deed's date, with limited exceptions.
A home the legal owner of record still lives in follows a separate path: the assignee applies for a tax deed, and the county treasurer holds a public auction within sixty days. At that auction, the opening bid adds half of the land and home's most recent assessed value, or half of an independent appraisal, to the back taxes and costs. The county treasurer pays any surplus to the owner of record within thirty days of the buyer's payment.
Own a Montana house nobody's living in, with the mortgage payments falling behind as well? Here's an overview of Montana foreclosure.
What can a Montana city do about a run-down property that endangers the neighborhood?
A city or town council has the power to define, control and abate conditions that endanger health or safety, offend the senses, or interfere with a neighborhood's comfortable enjoyment of life or property.
A condition that affects a whole neighborhood is still a nuisance even when some neighbors suffer more than others.
Montana defines a public nuisance as a condition from the use of real property that unlawfully interferes with a public right by endangering community safety or being indecent or offensive to the community. Breaking a statute or local ordinance counts as unlawful interference. A lawful condition cannot be a public nuisance.
Can a Montana county make an owner clean up junk and debris around a property?
Yes, if the county has adopted an ordinance. A county's governing body can regulate and prohibit community decay on or next to any public road in the county.
Community decay is a public nuisance created by letting rubble, debris, junk or refuse pile up until it harms health, offends the senses or interferes with the enjoyment of life or property.
The ordinance can set deadlines for removing or screening the mess.
If the county takes complaints from residents, at least three property owners within a quarter mile must complain before a county officer may inspect the site. The county can skip that requirement when it decides the condition is a health violation that may affect the surrounding community.
After written notice, if the owner still doesn't comply, county workers can enter the property to clean it up and bill the owner for the actual cost. An unpaid cleanup bill becomes a lien on the property, collected the same way as unpaid property taxes.
How do you report an abandoned home in Billings, Montana?
The city asks residents not to assume someone else has already reported an abandoned home, and to call the Code Enforcement Division clerk at (406) 237-6146.
You can also file a complaint through the city's online portal. The code enforcement officer assigned to that part of the city then investigates.
In Billings, the Code Enforcement Division enforces the city's nuisance codes, along with business, land use, sign and some parking rules.
Billings's code enforcement page warns that an abandoned home draws curious children and can become a target for graffiti, arson and drug crimes.
You can also tell me where it is. I'll find out who owns it and reach out about buying it and fixing it up.