Tax lien and city taking a property

[Account Closed]

If I own a tax lien on a property and the city seizes the house from the current owner as abandoned, what is my position relative to the city? Do they have to pay off my lien? Can I end up with the property instead? The owner isn't competent so I can't purchase it from him and their are no heirs. The house has been vacant for years. I would like to end up with the property but if the city takes it, will they be required to sell it at auction?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[John Underwood]

@Account Closed

My thoughts are that your Tax lien would still be valid. If the city takes it over and doesn't demolish it then you should still end up with a Tax Deed. They may put their own code violation liens against the property that you would likely be responsible for.

I would talk to your Delinquent Tax Office and the city office that may take over the property and see what they say.

My brother had a Tax lien against a property and the city condemned it while he was waiting to be issued the tax deed. The code reinforcement office was aware of the tax lien situation and they waited to see if new owner would fix some things so that they could remove the condemned sign. It went pretty smoothly and they worked with him so he could get the problems fixed and start rehabbing the house.