All Forum Posts by: Denise Evans

@Joshua Tucker, if you will email me, I'll send you the current list of attorneys knowledgeable in Alabama tax sales law. 

@Ahmad Moore, in Alabama property managers are not allowed to handle eviction. That is practicing law without a license. If you own the property in your own personal name (not an LLC or corporation or trust, for example) then you can file your own eviction lawsuit. They are not difficult, but you do have to follow the steps exactly right. You can't just stumble around and "get close" and the judge will let you slide. If you do not own in your own personal name, you will have to hire an attorney. That is because even if you own 100% of an LLC, for example, you and the LLC are two separate legal "people." So, you a natural legal person would be representing an artificial legal entity--the LLC. When one person represents another in court, that is practicing law.

Property management companies often have attorneys with whom they have relationships, who can handle evictions for them.  If you do not have a property management company and do not (or cannot) represent yourself in court, then how do you find the right attorney?  If would call the District Court, where evictions are filed. I would say, "I am not asking for any recommendation. But, can you tell me off the top of your head the names of 3 lawyers that file a lot of evictions?" That will tell you who you should contact.

Beware of some of the links provided. The online announcement of the passage of the AURLTA is from 2006. There have been significant amendments since that time. 

The NOLO articles are also out of date. I did not read all of them, but here is one example. The  notice of default article recommends a notice that gives the tenant seven days to cure. The notice must say seven business days. The law used to be seven calendar days. It was changed to seven business days. Local judges will dismiss your eviction notice if it does not actually say seven business days, even if the landlord waited seven business days before filing. 

The NOLO articles also do not provide guidance on non-curable defaults, including, among other things, repeated similar defaults within six months or repeated defaults within 12 months. For example, if a tenant is late on the rent the first time, you give them the notice and opportunity to cure. If they are late again within 6 months, you do not have to give the notice of default and opportunity to cure, you can simply terminate.  That is for similar defaults within six months. If a tenant has any kind of defaults at all and then a third one within 12 months of the first one, you can terminate and do not have to let them cure.  

Be careful when relying on Internet resources that might be outdated, completely wrong, or incomplete.

The Alabama Uniform Residential landlord Tenant Act is contained in Title 35, Chapter 9A.  The easiest place to access statutes is on the Alabama Secretary of State office website.

it never passed. If it is re-introduced in 2022, I'll let everybody know.

I stand corrected. To clarify, every single one of the many, many, many Alabama title company attorneys with whom I've worked over the course of several decades handle quiet title lawsuits.

Michael, this is an Alabama forum, so I assumed your properties were in Alabama. It makes a HUGE difference to the advice. What state are they in?  If Alabama, the lawyers associated with title companies all do quiet title lawsuits as a routine part of their practice. There are some wrinkles related to tax sales, but they are not complicated.  If you want to send me a PM, I can recommend someone.  I don't like putting those  names in a general forum post, because sometimes after the passage of time an attorney will move in a different direction as far as specialties, but their name is still hanging out there in the forums. Then it becomes frustrating when someone contacts them, based on an old post.

Any title company attorney does quiet title lawsuits all the time. Shop around.

Title companies will insure on an in personam, just as they will insure when you get quitclaim deeds from all the heirs on just a regular retail purchase of real estate. In either case, there is no way to make ABSOLUTELY sure you got everyone covered, but the risk is minimal.

When you file your deed, you will be require to recite the actual consideration paid for the property, including the debt you assumed.  Look at the tax appraisal amount for the property card. Is the assessed value 10% or 20% of the tax appraised value? Owner occupied residential property in Alabama is assessed at 10% of its tax appraised value.  Rental houses and business property is assessed at 20% of its tax appraised value.

If already assessed at 20% of its tax appraised value, then simply substitute your purchase price for the tax appraised value and use the same percentage to figure out what your taxes will be.

If assessed at 10% of its tax appraised value, then double the current percentage of taxes to assessed value and apply it to your purchase price.  Yours will be slightly more than that because if the owner had a homestead exemption, then the assessed value is decreased by a certain dollar amount, usually $4,000, and then the taxes are calculated. The website following has a good explanation of Alabama property taxes:

https://revenue.alabama.gov/pr...