Originally Posted by Bigmike18 (Post 1809042)

I did this type of work for many years as the owner of a title company. The normal process is that you use the prior years taxes as your basis for prorating the taxes. If there is a large change in the tax, more than 10% , the seller and buyer agree to recalculate the taxes when the bill is available. In this case we had a large increase in taxes this year, (wasn’t it a 25%increase) in Sumter county. I would say the seller owes his share of the increased amount.

Originally Posted by Jayhawk (Post 1809031)

I've never seen a document that calls for "re-proration" as you called it. Check your HUD-1 settlement statement and you will see a credit for the seller's portion of responsible taxes.

Originally Posted by retiredguy123 (Post 1809076)

This closing process may be technically legal, but asking the buyer to send a bill to the seller months after the sale is absurd. The title company should be sending the bill to the seller and take responsibilty for collecting it. Or, collect some money from the seller at closing and hold it in escrow. Everyone involved in the transaction is making money, and the buyer is the only one who gets cheated.

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC (Post 1809107)

Would think the title company running the closing would have checked the actual amount of taxes owed as of date of settlement.

Isnt it malpractice on their part?

Originally Posted by papasetti82 (Post 1809105)

Title Co. does not hold Sellers portion of taxes in escrow,the Buyer gets
a CREDIT for that amount at closing.

Originally Posted by Jayhawk (Post 1809150)

Almost every response to this thread is perfect evidence why no one should take legal advice from the posters on this website.

Originally Posted by retiredguy123 (Post 1809118)

The buyer only gets a credit for the estimated taxes, based on the prior year tax rate. But, if the tax rate is higher than last year, the credit is not enough to cover the proration of the current year tax bill. So, the title company tells the buyer to collect any shortfall directly from the seller when the tax bill comes out. In my opinion, the title company is in a better position to collect the shortfall from the seller because they can report the seller to the credit agencies if the seller refuses to pay what he owes. I think that should be the responsibilty of the title company as part of their expensive service.

Originally Posted by Toymeister (Post 1808822)

This one is easy. The dispute took place in Florida. You take him to small claims, you will win. The collections (if he does not pay) is by a judgement at the courthouse, eventually you will get paid when his second TV home is sold. Small claims cost 317.00 in filing fees and the cost to have this server in his local state.

Originally Posted by Jayhawk (Post 1809150)

Almost every response to this thread is perfect evidence why no one should take legal advice from the posters on this website.

Originally Posted by Footer (Post 1808747)

The closing company estimates the taxes based on the previous year and prorates for the closing settlement. Seller and Buyer sign a document that says if the actual taxes differ they will be re-prorated between the parties upon demand.

In my case the taxes were significantly higher than the estimate and the Seller owes me $2,000. I provided paperwork to my realtor, who forwarded to Seller's realtor who forwarded to Seller. I also contacted the Seller's ex- girlfriend and she spoke with him. However the Seller has not responded. It's been 9 months. Obviously he has no intention of reimbursing me for his share of the taxes.

The Seller is not a Florida resident but did buy another house in The Villages.

Just looking for opinions, advice, comments.

Originally Posted by Vikingjunior (Post 1809191)

Nope, if the seller is a resident of a different state Florida has no jurisdiction over the seller.