Buckfield eviction is first in 30 years

BUCKFIELD — A landowner's unwillingness or inability to pay back taxes on a plot of land on Brock School Road may force the town to evict a tenant living on the property.

At a July 16 selectboard meeting, Town Tax Collector Cindy Dunn told selectmen the grace period they had given two property owners to pay back taxes, current taxes and accrued interest to reclaim town-foreclosed property passed on June 30.

"I have exhausted all avenues to get a hold of these people," Dunn told the board.

"As of today, not one property owner has come in to make the arrangements to buy the property back," she said.

That means the properties are now owned by the town. The town must go through the bid process in order to dispose of the properties. 

The situation is complicated, however, by the fact that a mobile home located on a foreclosed parcel on Brock School Road is inhabited, but not by the property owner.

Dunn explained to the board that the current inhabitant owns the mobile home, but his sister owns the property itself.

This means the town may have to begin a process to evict the tenant.

According to Dunn, this is the first time in 30 years of working at the town office she may need to evict someone from town-owned property.

Reached on Tuesday, Dunn said she would bring two options to resolve the issue to the selectmen – first, to attempt to sell the land with the tenant on it – and second, to begin the eviction process.

She said that all together, the property owner will owe the town around $275.

At the July 17 meeting, the board unanimously voted to put the properties out to bid. On Tuesday Dunn confirmed that she had begun the bid process. She also said she had given the tenant until August 31 to vacate the property.

Dunn hopes the selectmen will decide to sell the lot as-is, inhabited by the tenant, in order to avoid the eviction process, which could be lengthy and expensive.

"Potentially, it could cost the town quite a bit of money, to hire an attorney ... as I understand it, it's quite a process to evict somebody," Dunn said. "You've got to go through the courts and the paperwork, I'm sure, is sky-high." 

Dunn said the board of selectmen will be presented with the two proposals at their August 7 meeting.