My West Park Lot 28 almost got sold for $55.55 without my knowing it.
This a warning for anyone owning property in Arizona.

Last Up date: 2009 April 10
This Page started on: 2009 April 03 20:19:21

If you haven't received an Arizona Tax Notice by mid September

Contact:
LaPaz County Treasurer's Office
1112 Joshua, Suite 203
Parker, AZ 85344
Phone # 928-669-6145

And make sure they have sent it to the right address.

Details of what happened to me are below:

On February 10, 2009 I got a phone call from a friend who lives at West Park lot #27, she told me there was a police man on my lot #28 looking for me. Luckily she saw the policeman and told him she knew me. He gave her some papers for me. And she gave them to me.

I own lot 28 in West Park and also lot 36 in Mountain View. A year ago I got a different P.O. Box in Quartzsite. I called the LaPaz County Treasurer's Office and give them my new box number. They updated the address for the Mountain View lot, but not the West Park lot.

I received the tax notice for Mountain View but not for West Park. They send out the tax notices in early September, and I mailed in the payment for Mountain View.

The papers my friend got was from: "Office of the La Paz County Sheriff". It was: "Notice of Seizure" dated 02/10/09 and it said the following: (It was all in Upper Case, but I will quote it here in easier to read upper/lower case.)

Final Notice.

We have seized in place your property for delinquent taxes. We are preparing to advertise your property for sale at public auction.

If your delinquent taxes and required sheriff's department seizure fees are not received in our office by 02/27/09 your property will be sold at public auction for the amount owed.

There was more about taking other property if the auctioned amount does not cover the fees, but it is irrelevant in this case.

On the second page it said:


For tax year 2008 current tax amount due $22.24
Total Seizure fees currently due $33.31
Total amount due [as of the end of this month]=$55.55

Yes, they would have sold West Park lot 28 for $55.55 You can believe there would have been someone there for the "Public Auction" who would have bought it. I suspect it would have been someone who either works for the LaPaz County Treasures Office, or was tipped off by them.

Obviously: In Arizona LaPaz County can seize and sell property for delinquent taxes in four months. Furthermore, they don't make much effort to find the owner. For better or worse, anyone who knows my name can find me with very little effort. LaPaz County did not even check all their tax rolls, and the Quartzsite Post Office should have known where they were forwarding my mail. Fortunately, other states do things differently. A retired Wyoming told me they wait 5 years before selling property for delinquent taxes.

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