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Lien Priority Litigation

Posted on Nov. 7, 2019

The case of Shirehampton Drive Trust v. JP Morgan Chase Bank et al.; No. 2:16-cv-02276 (D. Nev. 2019) presents a relatively straightforward lien priority fight. The case shows the continued fallout from the great recession. It also shows the perils of purchasing property at a foreclosure sale. When a federal tax lien exists, such a purchase becomes especially perilous, as the purchaser discovers here. I remember as a district counsel attorney having to deal with a few unsophisticated purchasers at foreclosure sales who discovered to their sorrow that the property which they thought they had purchased at such a bargain, would cost them much more than anticipated because of a federal tax lien that the sale did not defeat. The Shirehampton case does not break new ground but merely serves as a cautionary tale.

In 2008 Louisa Oakenell purchased property located at 705 Shirehampton Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89178 (“the property”). The property sits in a community governed by the Essex at Huntington Homeowners Association (“HOA”). The HOA requires its community members to pay dues. At the time she purchased the property, she already owed the IRS significant income tax liabilities for 2005 and 2006.  The court described the relevant facts as follows:

This matter concerns a nonjudicial foreclosure on a property located at 705 Shirehampton Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89178 (“the property”). The property sits in a community governed by the Essex at Huntington Homeowners Association (“HOA”). The HOA requires its community members to pay dues.
 
Louisa Oakenell borrowed funds from MetLife Home Loans, a Division of MetLife Bank, N.A. (“MetLife”) to purchase the property in 2008. To obtain the loan, Oakenell executed a promissory note and a corresponding deed of trust to secure repayment of the note. The deed of trust, which lists Oakenell as the borrower, MetLife as the lender and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., (“MERS”) as the beneficiary, was recorded on December 24, 2008. MERS assigned the deed of trust to Chase in May 2013.
 
Oakenell fell behind on HOA payments. The HOA, through its agent Red Rock Financial Services, LLC (“Red Rock”) sent Oakenell a demand letter by certified mail for the collection of unpaid assessments on June 26, 2009. On July 21, 2009, the HOA, through its agent, recorded a notice of delinquent assessment lien. The HOA sent Oakenell a copy of the notice of delinquent assessment lien on July 24, 2009. The HOA subsequently recorded a notice of default and election to sell on October 21, 2009 and then a notice of foreclosure sale on September 18, 2012. Red Rock mailed copies of the notice of default and election to sell to Oakenell, the HOA, Republic Services, the IRS, and Metlife Home Loans. Red Rock did not mail a copy of the notice of default and election to sell to MERS. On January 28, 2013, the HOA held a foreclosure sale on the property under NRS Chapter 116. Shirehampton purchased the property at the foreclosure sale. A foreclosure deed in favor of Shirehampton was recorded on February 7, 2013.



In addition to falling behind on her HOA payments, however, Oakenell also stopped paying federal income taxes. The IRS subsequently filed notices of federal tax liens against Oakenell at the Clark County Recorder’s office on May 1, 2009 and June 24, 2009. As of October 1, 2018, Oakenell had accrued $250,953. 37 in income tax liability plus daily compounding interest.

For any reader not familiar with the federal tax lien, a quick detour into lien law may help. For a more detailed discussion of this lien law, refer to Saltzman and Book, “IRS Practice and Procedure” at chapter 14.04, et seq. When the IRS makes an assessment, it sends a notice and demand letter (required by IRC 6303) almost immediately thereafter. If the taxpayer fails to pay the tax within the time prescribed in the notice and demand letter, the federal tax lien comes into existence relates back to the date of assessment and attaches to all of the taxpayer’s property and right to property. The lien also attaches to all after-acquired property as long as the lien remains in existence. In this case the federal tax lien would have attached to the property Ms. Oakenell purchased immediately upon closing; however, at that time the lien was known only to the IRS and Ms. Oakenell, since the IRS had not yet made the lien public by filing a notice of the lien.

In 1966 Congress passed the legislation establishing the lien priority rules that still apply today. Congress gave the federal tax lien the broadest possible power; however, it limited that power by creating a first in time rule in IRC 6323(a). That first in time rule allows a competing interest to defeat the federal tax lien if perfected prior to perfection of the federal tax lien. Perfection of the federal tax lien occurs when the IRS files the notice in the appropriate place. In this case the fight concerns the timing of the filing of the lien and not the location.

Because the notice of federal tax lien was filed here prior to the filing of the lien for the HOA, the federal tax lien defeats the lien of the association. HOA fees seem a lot like local real estate taxes; however, if competing with the federal tax lien, the two types of ownership liens operate differently. The real estate taxes, even though they arise after the existence of the filing of federal tax lien, come ahead of the filed federal tax lien because of IRC 6323(b)(6)(a). Congress added this subparagraph in 1966 to avoid circular priority problems which arose when a real estate taxes went unpaid after the filing of a notice of federal tax lien. Prior to 1966 courts had to struggle with the situation, because the purchase money mortgage defeated the IRS lien, the IRS lien defeated the later arising real estate taxes and the real estate taxes defeated the purchase money mortgage. With the passage of this provision, Congress had the IRS step back in order to allow the real estate taxes to come before the IRS; however, it did not do the same for HOA fees. As a consequence, the IRS defeats HOA fees that get recorded after the notice of federal tax lien. Since that happened here, the purchaser bought the property subject to the substantial tax liabilities secured by the federal tax lien. A very unfortunate result for the purchaser and one that should never occur but which does with surprising frequency.

In addition to the Shirehampton case, another lien priority case was recently decided, United States v. Patrice L. Harold et al.; No. 2:18-cv-10223. I will discuss the Harold case in an upcoming post.

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