New Requirements for Tax Foreclosure Sale Bidders
On March 29th 2016, the commissioners court adopted a resolution that requires any bidders at a tax foreclosure sale to meet the qualification criteria laid out in Section 34.015 of the Property Tax Code. Essentially, a prospective bidder must apply for and have in their possession prior to the sale, a written statement from the Fannin Central Appraisal District (contracted assessor/collector) stating that the person does not owe delinquent taxes on any property they own or have owned in the past to any affected taxing unit having territory in Fannin County. Prospective bidders desiring to participate in the upcoming tax sale on October4, 2016 should begin the process of obtaining this necessary statement quickly. Click http://comptroller.texas.gov/taxinfo/taxforms/50-307.pdf to access the link to the comptroller form. These forms are also available at Fannin Central Appraisal District’s collections department upon request. There is a non-refundable $10.00 processing fee that is due when the request is submitted. Prospective bidders should allow 7 days for processing. The written statements expire after 90 days from date of issue. The purpose of the written statement is to ensure that bidders at a tax foreclosure sale (a sale that is held because the owners of those properties are delinquent in the payment of property taxes) are themselves not delinquent. This statement is required before a person can participate as a bidder in the sale.
Process: Prospective Bidder completes the Comptroller form 50-307, Request for Written Statement About Delinquent Taxes for Foreclosure Sale and submits it and the $10.00 processing fee to the Appraisal District’s Collections Department. The prospective bidder will have to list any property currently and previously owned. The request must be signed and notarized.
For properties that are in the territory of Fannin County and in a school district or municipality that the Fannin Central Appraisal District is the assessor/collector, the research can be conducted in house. The collector will research all properties (currently and formally owned) listed in the request and run a search to verify that the prospective bidder has not inadvertently omitted a property. If there are delinquent taxes owed for any properties for any years the prospective bidder owned the property, the statement will be issued indicating that information and the prospective bidder will not be allowed to bid on tax sale properties at this sale. If the prospective bidder desires to pay any taxes owed as indicated on the statement in order to participate in the sale, they can pay the tax, complete a new request for written statement, pay an additional processing fee and be issued a new statement indicating that no delinquent taxes are owed.
For properties that are in the territory of Fannin County and in a school district or municipality that the Fannin Central Appraisal District is not the assessor/collector, the research will take longer because the collector will need to request the delinquent tax information from the assessor/collector for that taxing unit. For example, if a property is located in Fannin County and Whitewright ISD, the request will be processed in two steps. The Fannin County portion will be researched in house. However, because Whitewright ISD has properties in the territory of Fannin County but since their Assessor/Collector is in Grayson County, the request will be forwarded to the Grayson County Assessor/Collector in order to determine if there are delinquent taxes owed to that taxing unit by the prospective bidder. The collector will research all properties (currently and formally owned) listed in the request and run a search to verify that the prospective bidder has not inadvertently omitted a property. Grayson County will have a deadline from the date of request to respond. They will either report there are delinquent taxes owed or no delinquent taxes are owed. If they fail to issue a report by the deadline, the collector at Fannin CAD will issue a statement that no delinquent taxes were reported. If there are delinquent taxes owed for any properties for any years the prospective bidder owned the property , the statement will be issued indicating that information and the prospective bidder will not be allowed to bid on tax sale properties at this sale. If the prospective bidder desires to pay any taxes owed as indicated on the statement in order to participate in the sale, they can pay the tax, complete a new request for written statement, pay an additional processing fee and be issued a new statement indicating that no delinquent taxes are owed.
Any person desiring to bid on properties at the Tax Foreclosure Sale on October 4th needs to file their Request for Written Statement About Delinquent Taxes for Foreclosure Sale as soon as possible in order to allow time to process this request ahead of the sale. The sale takes place on the North steps of the Fannin County Courthouse and begins around 10:00 a.m.
If you have questions regarding this posting, contact the Fannin Central Appraisal District’s Collections Department at (903)-583-8701.