Box Elder County Land Debacle Cont'd

It seems like people are waking up to letters or notices of noncompliance. They made the notices sound so serious, that they make, at first glance, feel the property owner feel guilty they own the land. The county has since updated their letters to be more friendly, perhaps to save them from the on slaught of phone calls and emails.

Speaking of e-mails, I'm starting to get a steady flow of questions from land owners. I want to reiterate that the county attorney's position (at least when I spoke to them), state they consider the property owners of the illegally subdivided parcels as victims, not criminals. They are reviewing actions on how to deal with the original subdividers.

Another question I'm getting is: what am I going to do with my useless land? Here's a typical email I receive below:

"Back in the day, I also bought 15 acres for around ~$320/acre in Box Elder county.

When I got the property tax statement from the county, it said the all the parcels (60 adjacent 1/4 acre plots) was assessed around ~30k.

I was really happy since I paid a fraction for it. What makes me mad though is that the county is saying that I can't do anything with the land (e.g. sell it) but they want me to continue paying the yearly taxes, which is ~$250 a year.

This brings me to a point: Why is the land worth this much if you can't do anything with it or even access it in some cases? You still think its worth holding on to despite that fact we have no choice as of now.

Best Regards,

...

This is an interesting question. What in the world should I do with it now? The fact that it was incorrectly subdivided does not excuse land owners from taxes. In these cases, your options are limited:

1. You lose your property. Don't pay the taxes and your property will be foreclosed.

2. You sell back your property to the original developer.

3. You keep paying taxes and keep the property for novelty [for the heck of it].

4. You wait for Box Elder officials to come up with a solution [court case injunction, etc.].

If you have invested a significant amount of money into this venture (thankfully, I haven't), #1 and #3 aren't good options.

Zoning Department emails me back

The zoning department has finally emailed me. You should read their response, as it may answer some of your questions. The PDF file is available here.

Have more questions?

Feel free to email me at don [at] donsausa.com.

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