Timeline
Pacific Legal Foundation is working in courthouses and statehouses across the country to end this egregious practice.
Wisconsin
In 2022, the Wisconsin legislature overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 829, which ended all equity theft in the state.1 The bipartisan bill was championed by the Wisconsin Realtors Association and Pacific Legal Foundation.
North Dakota
In 2021, the North Dakota legislature unanimously passed House Bill 1199, which ended all equity theft in the state.2 The legislation followed a PLF report documenting the size of the problem and sharing the story of Drayton resident Kevin Juhl.3
In December 2018, Kevin was on a job hauling freight across the country when his wife called him, sobbing. The words she got out as she choked back her tears left him stunned: Pembina County had taken title to their home for unpaid taxes and was preparing to sell it at auction.
Fortunately for the Juhls, an attorney and their local state representative helped convince the county to reverse course and allow the Juhls to regain their property by paying their original debts.
Thankfully, the state legislature decided to do the right thing and protect equity rights for all North Dakota property owners.
Michigan
In 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court struck down the state’s home equity theft scheme.4 Here’s how we got there.
When Uri Rafaeli accidentally underpaid his property taxes by $8.41 in 2011, he never imagined what that small mistake could mean for his future—or the future of other property owners in his state. To collect that $8, plus $278 in interest, penalties, and fees, Oakland County took his house in Southfield, Michigan, sold it at auction for $24,500, and kept every penny.5 Uri lost his home and tens of thousands of dollars in equity—for the price of one Chipotle burrito.
Incredibly, Uri was not alone in facing this kind of injustice. Across Michigan, thousands of property owners lost everything because of Michigan’s aggressive tax-and-take system. From 2007 through 2021, Michigan counties foreclosed on nearly 290,000 properties for delinquent taxes—one property for every 35 state residents.6 When each property was sold at auction, the government kept all the profits, no matter how small the debt or how valuable the property, resulting in windfalls for counties around the state.
Fortunately, Uri fought back. With Pacific Legal Foundation’s help, he took his case to the Michigan Supreme Court, which in 2020 held that Oakland County had violated the constitutional mandate that government must pay just compensation when it takes private property for a public use. By keeping all the proceeds from the sale, the county had violated Michigan’s constitution.7
Uri did far more than get his house back: he secured the rights of every property owner in his state.
Montana
In 2019, the Montana legislature overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 253. The bill protects certain classes of property from equity theft, including residential, agricultural, and forest property.8 Montana can do more by expanding those protections to encompass all real property.