Hollis Herald

  Illegal apartments and dwelling units may jeopardize the health and safety of the neighborhood. Certainly they add a tremendous tax burden to the costs of municipal services such as police, fire and sanitation. Governor George Pataki has recently signed a new law contained in Chapter 45 of the Laws of 2000. Under this new law, the owner of a property with one to three dwelling units who refuses to pay his or her fine for creating illegal dwelling space will have a tax lien filed against their property after 30 days. Any owner who continues to ignore the law will now have interest and penalties accrue from the date the lien was entered until such time both judgment plus interest is paid. The ultimate penalty for these scoflaws ignoring the new law is a tax sale of the property. In any case, there is no getting around the liens which are recorded against the deed of the property. When selling the property the Title Company will be forced to pay the lien by deducting the amount at closing. Illegal occupancies just don’t make good economic sense anymore. Also, there is talk of reward money being set aside for folks who turn in violators. So, stay legal! For further information contact the office of NYS Senator Frank Padavan or visit his website at www.frankpadavan.com.