City fines/ liens

[frostboot]

Client purchased a property via short sale in Washington, D.C.. Finds out after that previous owner had been issued many tickets/fines from city for trash issues. At the time of sale a lien had not been recorded on property and title report did not show any liens. Can the city now come after my client for the fines and possibly place a lien on the property? DC is a race-notice statute jurisdiction.

 

[Zigner]

Client purchased a property via short sale in Washington, D.C.. Finds out after that previous owner had been issued many tickets/fines from city for trash issues. At the time of sale a lien had not been recorded on property and title report did not show any liens. Can the city now come after my client for the fines and possibly place a lien on the property? DC is a race-notice statute jurisdiction.

You speak of a "client" - what is your relationship? What do you do?

 

[frostboot]

You speak of a "client" - what is your relationship? What do you do?

I am a Paralegal

 

[Zigner]

I am a Paralegal

Then I would suggest that you are doing your client a disservice by posting this question to an anonymous internet forum.

 

[frostboot]

Then I would suggest that you are doing your client a disservice by posting this question to an anonymous internet forum.

Please explain. You use the word anonymous, so I can't see how it's a disservice.

 

[frostboot]

Please explain. You use the word anonymous, so I can't see how it's a disservice.

Worst case scenario, no one offers anything useful and I continue trying to find the answer through other methods. Best case, I receive useful info which points me towards the right direction. Obviously, I wouldn't act solely based on a reply from an anonymous forum. I hope you weren't assuming that I would do that. That assumption is a bit insulting.

 

[Zigner]

Worst case scenario, no one offers anything useful and I continue trying to find the answer through other methods. Best case, I receive useful info which points me towards the right direction. Obviously, I wouldn't act solely based on a reply from an anonymous forum. I hope you weren't assuming that I would do that. That assumption is a bit insulting.

Then be insulted. But, in my opinion, the fact that you turn to an anonymous internet forum to get advice from (mostly) laypersons is a bit insulting to your profession.

 

[Ohiogal]

I am a Paralegal

Then you don't have a client. You are engaging in UPL.

 

[Ohiogal]

Worst case scenario, no one offers anything useful and I continue trying to find the answer through other methods. Best case, I receive useful info which points me towards the right direction. Obviously, I wouldn't act solely based on a reply from an anonymous forum. I hope you weren't assuming that I would do that. That assumption is a bit insulting.

I for one don't help people break the law. Ask the attorney supervising you. If you don't have one, then you are breaking the law. If you do have one, then the attorney is the proper person to ask.

 

[Ohiogal]

Then be insulted. But, in my opinion, the fact that you turn to an anonymous internet forum to get advice from (mostly) laypersons is a bit insulting to your profession.

What is insulting is this OP is practicing law without a license and deserves to be fined, have an injunction placed against him/her and be frozen out of his/her chosen career.

 

[Zigner]

What is insulting is this OP is practicing law without a license and deserves to be fined, have an injunction placed against him/her and be frozen out of his/her chosen career.

Because I wasn't aware of the specifics of the Law in D.C., I didn't comment on that aspect. But, yeah that too!

 

[OK-LL]

Client purchased a property via short sale in Washington, D.C.. Finds out after that previous owner had been issued many tickets/fines from city for trash issues. At the time of sale a lien had not been recorded on property and title report did not show any liens. Can the city now come after my client for the fines and possibly place a lien on the property? DC is a race-notice statute jurisdiction.

If the client received the property via Warranty Deed with the usual warranties, he should be able to seek relief from the Seller or more likely from his title insurance. Just because it was a short sale doesn't mean all the formalities were ignored. There's a lot more information required before anyone can give you useful advice in this situation. If your supervising attorney assigned you to research this issue, you should go back to him to discover more formal avenues for that research.