I was doing some research today and I ran across this scenario.
Chase bank bought a foreclosed house at the courthouse in Phoenix in 2003. This “house” resides on and spans 3 separate small parcels. Chase then sold the house to someone else but only transferred one of the parcels to the new owner (the one with all the value attached). The other 2 parcels are still in Chase’s name.
The problems is that there are 8 tax liens on both of the other 2 parcels - the ones not currently in the homeowners name, yet the house spans all 3. The tax liens have all been purchased by the same person on both parcels for the last 8 years. They are combined worth about 4k now.
Three years have gone by and the lien-holder could now start a judicial foreclosure. My question is, who will get screwed here? Will chase have to pay or the new homeowner? Or is the tax lien investor screwed? I mean, how can you foreclose on 2/3 of a house that resides on those parcels?
The parcel with value and new owner:
http://www.maricopa.gov/Assessor/TreasurersTaxBillTransition.aspx?URL=http://treasurer.maricopa.gov/parcels/default.asp?Parcel=50455034
The parcels with 8 liens each:
http://www.maricopa.gov/Assessor/TreasurersTaxBillTransition.aspx?URL=http://treasurer.maricopa.gov/parcels/default.asp?Parcel=50455035
http://www.maricopa.gov/Assessor/TreasurersTaxBillTransition.aspx?URL=http://treasurer.maricopa.gov/parcels/default.asp?Parcel=50455036
Also, since this house has tax liens going back to 2000, how was it sold in foreclose to Chase and then resold without those being cleared first? Just trying to understand all this. 
In the image below the parcel in red belongs to current owner and the two on the right belong to chase and have the 4k in liens. Thanks
http://www.snlcraftsncollectables.com/lien.jpg
Hi,
I am sure this will be litigated in court! The property is entitled to all three parcels, and if action has not been started in court it will be when someone realizes what's happened!
The tax lien holder will get back the exact amount of the liens and interest at the percentage allowed by the state!
The tax lien holder will not gain legal ownership of the property because it was never legally vested with the first parcel in the first place! It’s hard for the current home owner to even realize taxes are due and his home sits on 3 parcels so he pretty much has a very defendable position in court!
It is likely when this is litigated that the 3 parcels will be merged into one parcel and the property tax reduced significantly to reflect 1 property!
Ethically as an investor the original buyer with one parcel needs to be cured in court and given rights to his property and of course the guy who bought the tax lien certificates needs his principle and interest, this is an unfortunate problem that obviously was not caused by the buyer and no investor should want to make money at the expense of a bank or innocent buyer!
GR
I actually found a few houses in a similar situation. GR I sent you a PM as well. Thanks for your reply.