Public Advocate Calls for Major Reforms to the City’s Tax Lien Sale

Each year since 1998, the city has sold off landlords’ unpaid fines and bills to private investors, who then collect payments and can seize properties if the owners don’t pay. But when the debt is sold off the inflating interest can becoming a crushing burden, and residents often feel the brunt of the pain as landlords cut costs on crucial services, according to a report by Public Advocate Letitia James.