17736_Authority_August

(30) day no Ɵ ce be sent to the property owner(s) at the address of record via cer Ɵ fied mail. P.S. §7106(a.3). It is important to note that prior to a lien being filed, in addi Ɵ on to verifying property ownership, all necessary parcel iden Ɵ fica Ɵ on(s) included in the lien should also be confirmed by reviewing the current deed. If the cer Ɵ fied mail is subsequently returned, the no Ɵ ce must then be sent by regular United States mail and an addi Ɵ onal ten (10) days granted prior to filing. Once these no Ɵ ce requirements are met, a Ʃ orneys’ fees, filing fees, cer Ɵ fied mailing fees and any other administra Ɵ ve fees that have been established by the authority can be added to the base amount of lien. From an administra Ɵ ve standpoint, once the municipal claim is filed, the authority should note in its records the amount of the account balance that is a municipal claim so that appropriate interest can be calculated when a pay-o ff is requested as municipal claims become subject to statutory interest rates applicable to liens as opposed to the delinquency interest rate that may have been adopted by the individual authority. In most cases, the maximum interest rate permi Ʃ ed by the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act is ten (10) per cent. 53 P.S. §7143. It is a common misconcep Ɵ on that once a lien is filed, addi Ɵ onal liens are not needed because the existence of one lien will put Ɵ tle companies and other en ƟƟ es on no Ɵ ce of a delinquent balance and any addi Ɵ onal amounts that accrue a Ō er the lien filing can be captured in a lien le Ʃ er. This is not the case and it is important for an authority to consistently review accounts – even previously liened accounts – for addi Ɵ onal liens or other collec Ɵ on e ff orts for several reasons. Under the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act, claims must be filed on or before the last day of the third calendar year a Ō er that in which the rates are first payable. 53 P.S. §7143. Therefore, if any authority does not regularly review and update liened accounts, unfiled claims within the Ɵ me permi Ʃ ed may be lost. Bankruptcies also present a need to keep lien amounts current. Generally, a municipal claim will be considered a secured interest in a bankruptcy proceeding and will receive priority treatment. This means the authority will either receive preferen Ɵ al payment status or, if there are insu ffi cient funds to pay creditors, the lien will survive discharge. However, any amounts not liened before the date a bankruptcy pe ƟƟ on is filed will be considered an unsecured claim and the authority’s only recourse will be to file a proof of claim and be treated similarly to other unsecured creditors seeking payment. Another reason to keep liened accounts current is because sheri ff sales and tax sales will o Ō en only recognize amounts liened prior to the sale date. In such cases, overdue amounts not protected with a municipal claim will not be en Ɵ tled to sale proceeds. Finally, for authori Ɵ es which have filed municipal claims over the years, be mindful that liens need to be revived every twenty (20) years. If deemed worthy of revival, a Sugges Ɵ on of Non-Payment should be filed within the twenty (20) year period to preserve the authority’s priority and protect its interests. 53 P.S. §7143. Implicitly, good records of liens and all collec Ɵ on ac Ɵ vi Ɵ es should be kept. CollecƟng arƟcle conƟnued from page 21.