South Fulton County

South Fulton homeowner says there’s a lien on her boarded-up home over her trash bill

By Ashli Lincoln, WSB-TV
By Ashli Lincoln, WSB-TV

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Two years after Patricia Walker’s home was destroyed in a fire, she says it’s still uninhabitable.

“It’s boarded up due to vandals in the area,” Walker says.

That’s why she told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln she was stunned to learn that a lien was placed on her property for an uncollected trash bill.

“Oh, it was a big surprise,” said Walker.

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Walker told Lincoln because the house fire happened before the City of South Fulton entered into an agreement to streamline trash billing services with the Fulton County Tax Commissioner’s Office, she says she never received a bill or a trash bin.

“Notification is pivotal and without proper notification I think it’s an unjust lien,” she told Lincoln.

Last year, homeowners told us they were against the City of South Fulton’s decision to streamline trash billing services through the tax commissioner’s office.

Senior advocate Ellen Miller-Mapp told Lincoln last year she’s heard from concerned seniors about the threat of a tax lien against their property if they fall behind on their Fulton County sanitation bill.

Homeowners are required to pay the $233.16 annual bill.

The process of billing is a new form of collections for South Fulton homeowners. The city went with a single trash provider in 2023, after city-wide complaints from homeowners about inconsistent trash collection services from independent contractors. Miller-Mapp says some seniors who were with previous providers were paying less than the new rate.

Walker says she was alerted about the lien by Fulton County’s deed fraud program, known as R.E.A.A.C.T and not the tax commissioner’s office.

“Because in South Fulton so many properties have been stolen, I thought with the react tool, it would be great for me to be on a list, so if anything happens to my title I would be notified,” she said.

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Walker says after the notification the next day a private lien buyer, Investa Services had already purchased her tax debt. And days later she says she was shocked by the next discovery.

“I looked at it and seen that my property was transferred and sold, oh I had heart palpitations,” she said.

Walker says she’s currently disputing this lien and has paid the tax debt owed.

“Had we been notified properly, or if the sanitation would of said hey this is mandatory I would of taken care of it,” she said.

The City of South Fulton sent a statement saying;

The City of South Fulton’s Solid Waste Department charges an annual fee of $233.16 per homeowner. These fees are collected by the Fulton County Tax Commissioner’s Office, which manages the process of contacting taxpayers to collect payment.

The Fulton County Tax Commissioner’s Office is responsible for collecting payments, while the City of South Fulton only invoices for services provided.

Fulton County’s Tax Commissioner’s Officer and Investa Services LLC have not returned our messages.

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