Last month Harvard took action against four delinquent property owners, placing liens on their properties for a total of $470,000. If any of the owners do not make an effort to pay the late taxes, the town will have the option of foreclosing their property after a 12-month waiting period.
Two of the properties, Hillside Garage at 36 Ayer Road and a 10-acre parcel of vacant land on Old Mill Road, accounted for the bulk of the unpaid taxes. In a legal notice dated Jan. 6, 2025, Treasurer-Tax Collector Lindsay Ames stated that the Hillside Garage owner owes about $270,000 in taxes that have been delinquent since 2009. Westchester Company, Inc., an Acton-based residential real estate construction management firm, has been delinquent since 2006, owing about $170,000 on the Old Mill Road land.
The legal notice for the other two properties, single-family houses on Candleberry Lane and Pinnacle Road, was dated Feb. 24, 2025. The owners of each of those properties have missed only the past few years of tax payments, owing about $37,000 and $27,000, respectively.
When property taxes are delinquent, the town sends a demand notice to the owner after the fourth quarter due date in May each year. Once a property has been delinquent for an entire fiscal year, ending on June 30, the town is entitled to place a lien on it. The lien is recorded with the Registry of Deeds, and if the property is sold, the town will receive payment for the delinquent taxes, along with interest and any expenses.
After a lien is placed, property owners can choose to pay the taxes and have the lien removed at any point over the next 12 months. If they don’t pay, or at least make an effort to negotiate a repayment plan, the town can begin a foreclosure case in the state’s Land Court. If the court grants the foreclosure, the property owner can no longer redeem their property, and ownership transfers to the town.
On Nov. 1 last year, a new state law went into effect that provides more relief for delinquent taxpayers. Interest on unpaid taxes accrues daily at the rate of 14% per year from the first date after the bill was due. However, when a municipality places a lien on a property, the interest rate used to increase to 16%. The new law dropped that rate to 8% to help those struggling to keep up with their property taxes.
The November law also made repayment plans more lenient, with minimum down payments reduced from 25% to 10%, and maximum repayment periods extended from 5 years to 10 years. Ames said the town doesn’t typically have a lot of late taxpayers, but when it does, it works with them to develop payment plans that they can manage. The owners of these four properties, Ames said, have not been responding to the town’s notices of delinquent taxes.
The four liens are currently in the hands of town counsel, according to Ames. Once they are recorded with the Registry of Deeds, the clock will start ticking on the 12-month waiting period. Ames said her intention is to never take anyone’s home, although it has happened before during her time as Harvard’s tax collector, a position she has held for about six years.
Should Harvard eventually proceed with foreclosure and sale on any of these four parcels, the new state law stipulates that the town can keep only what is owed in taxes, interest, fees, and foreclosure costs. The remaining equity in the property must be returned to the owner within 60 days of the sale.
