In re Upset Sale – Appeal of Hung Hu – Pa. C mwlth. – 11-15-21 – unreported memorandum decision**
https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/566CD20_11-15-21.pdf?cb=1\
In re Return of Sale – Appeal of Seneca Leandro View, LLC – Cmwlth. Court – 11-16-21- unreported memorandum decision**
https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/308CD21_11-16-21.pdf?cb=1
Held: Trial court order reversed or upheld in respective cases, because of failure to prove personal service of the notice of the tax sale on the owner-occupants of the properties.
From Huang Hu case –
Due process - The “collection of taxes may not be implemented without due process of law.” Husak v. Fayette Cnty. Tax Claim Bureau, 61 A.3d 302, 312 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2013). In re Consol. Reps. & Return by the Tax Claim Bureau of Northumberland Cnty. of Props., 132 A.3d 637, 644 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2016) (en banc) (Appeal of Neff).
Personal service required for owner-occupied properties, despite actual notice of sale, posting, or mail - 72 P.S. § 5860.601(a)(3) (emphasis added); see also Montgomery Cnty. Tax Claim Bureau v. Queenan, 108 A.3d 947, 951 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2015; Appeal of Neff, 132 A.3d at 645-46.
Incarcerated owner - This Court ruled in In Re Appeal of Hansford, 218 A.3d 995 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2019), that incarceration does not change an owner occupant’s status. The Hansford Court reasoned: The fact that an owner may be temporarily physically incapable of inhabiting his property [due to his incarceration] does not mean he is no longer an owner occupant
From Seneca Leandro Case
Section 601(a)(3) of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law,3 72 P.S. § 5860.601(a)(3), provides that where owner-occupied property is at issue, notice described in Section 602 of the Law, 72 P.S. § 5860.602, must be personally served upon an owner-occupant at least ten days prior to the date of the actual sale by sheriff.
The requirements found in Section 601(a)(3) are cumulative and apply in addition to those found in Section 602. Consol. Reports and Return by the Tax Claim Bureau of Northumberland Cnty. of Props. (Appeal of Neff), 132 A.3d 637, 645 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2016). Further, actual notice does not provide grounds to waive strict compliance with Section 601(a)(3)’s personal service requirement. Id. at 646. Consequently, “unless a taxing bureau obtains an order waiving the personal service requirement for good cause shown, its failure to comply with [S]ection 601(a)(3) of the [Law] will render a tax sale invalid.” Gutierrez v. Washington Cnty. Tax Claim Bureau and Bigger and Better Rental, LLC, ___ A.3d ___ (Pa. Cmwlth., No. 430 C.D. 2020, filed June 10, 2021) [quoting Montgomery Cnty. Tax Claim Bureau v. Queenan, 108 A.3d 947, 952 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2015)].
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This case is also reported in the PLAN Legal Update, which you can access and search—without a password—here.
**An unreported, non-precedential, memoradum Commonwealth Court decision can be cited for its persuasive value but is not binding precedent. See 210 Pa. Code § 69.414(b) and Pa. R.A.P. 3716
