Boston College Law Review Volume 61 Issue 2 Article 6 2-27-2020 Someone to Lien on: Privatization of Delinquent Property Tax Liens and Tax Sale Surplus in Massachusetts Caroline Enright Boston College Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr Part of the Law and Society Commons, Property Law and Real Estate Commons, State and Local Government Law Commons, and the Taxation-State and Local Commons Recommended Citation Caroline Enright, Someone to Lien on: Privatization of Delinquent Property Tax Liens and Tax Sale Surplus in Massachusetts, 61 B.C.L. Rev. 667 (2020), https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol61/iss2/6 This Notes is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SOMEONE TO LIEN ON: PRIVATIZATION OF DELINQUENT PROPERTY TAX LIENS AND TAX SALE SURPLUS IN MASSACHUSETTS Abstract: In Massachusetts, as well as in twenty-eight other states in the nation, municipalities can sell delinquent property tax liens to private investors. In ex- change for paying for the debt, the private entity can collect interest rates of up to sixteen percent and levy additional fees on the homeowner. If the homeowner is unable to pay the rapidly growing amount they owe, absolute title of the property, which includes any profits from the subsequent sale, passes to the private enti- ty—providing them with the property for pennies on the dollar.