One of the many challenges that Realtors are facing in this poor Toledo market of high foreclosures sales is our buying clients receiving bills for water and sewer charges incurred by previous owners.  Agents have the utility department send us a faxed confirmation that no charges are outstanding for closing and then months afterward the buyer receives a bill for delinquent charges that they are liable for according to the water/sewer bills run with the property not the owner that is part of the Toledo Municipal Code. 

 But, our Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez is putting a stop to that by not processing these liens until the system gets fixed.

 Two problems have contributed to this issue.  The country instituted a new computer system that has taken forever to get information/usage bills transferred from the old to the new system.  And, bills for vacant properties may not getting posted for months because often the meter reader must get into the house for a reading and that may not happen until the new owner asks for the service to be turned on.  The prior owner may not have ever had the service turned off.

Regular not foreclosure sales generally don't have this problem because the purchase contract requires the seller be responsible for utility bills due at closing and in the future.  But, the bank owned/foreclosed homes often require contracts superseding this responsibly.

We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.