Solve It 7: Tax Bill Blues

A home isn’t just an address on the front of a bill.

“Everything in that house is my fond memory,” says John Canniff about his late-aunt’s Dorchester home.

“That was our family house,” says John’s mother, Dot.

John and Dot often visited Dot’s sister, Loretta, at her home in Dorchester, until she passed away two years ago. They sold the house last summer.

“It was tough,” says Dot. “Because we not only knew Loretta, we knew all her neighbors.”

With the sale finalized, the Canniff’s thought they’d closed this chapter of their family’s history. Until earlier this year when they got a bill in the mail from the city of Boston.

“The paper said, you owe us money,” says John.

Quite a bit of money! It was a real estate tax bill addressed to John’s late aunt. Loretta was still listed as the assessed owner of the house and, according to the bill, she owed the city $930. John couldn’t believe it.

“It’s already been sold!” he says.

John reached out to the city and was surprised to hear it was his responsibility to pay the bill. So he called Solve It 7.

We contacted the city’s treasury department to get this tax bill burden lifted. A representative told us there was a delay in recording the new information when the house was sold. Because of that, a tax bill was sent to Loretta’s family, but the rep told us the bill had since been paid by the new owners. John was thrilled.

“You guys called us back and said, ‘We got a solve!’ and I was like, ‘God that’s awesome, that’s wonderful.'”

He’s happy his tax trouble is over.

“I can’t thank you enough,” John says. “I really can’t thank you enough.”

The city of Boston says if you sell a property and you still receive a tax bill like John did, you should contact the new owner and forward the bill to them.