New York Court Of Appeals: No Due Process Violation Where Municipality Fails To Give Property Owners Notice Of Buyback Rights In A Tax Lien Foreclosure Sale

On February 21, 2012, New York state's highest court unanimously refused to extend due process protection to property owners challenging a tax lien foreclosure sale on grounds that they did not receive notice of their repurchase rights. Consequently, New York property owners, who were unapprised of their repurchase rights, will be unable to challenge the foreclosure on that basis. In Matter of the Foreclosure of Tax Liens by Proceeding in Rem Pursuant to Article Eleven of the Real Property Tax Law, by Orange County Commissioner of Finance v. Helseth, 2012 NY Slip Op 01324 (Ct. App. Feb. 21, 2012), the Court of Appeals held that a couple's due process rights were not violated when Orange County took possession of their two-acre lots without informing the couple directly of the opportunity under a local law to repurchase the property "back from the County through the release of the County's interest" (the "release option"). Id. at *2.

Defendant-property owners, the Helseths, purchased a four-acre parcel of land in Orange County in 1997. They subdivided the parcel...