A 91-year-old grandmother in Pennsylvania may soon be forced to leave the home she has lived in for 25 years after it was sold at a tax auction because of an unpaid property tax bill.
A Home Lost Over COVID-Era Tax Mistake
Gloria Gaynor — not connected to the singer of the same name — has lived in her Upper Darby home for more than two decades. But the property was sold to a law firm at a tax auction after a $3,500 tax bill from 2020 went unpaid during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although her family resumed payments the following year, the earlier debt remained unresolved, leading to a lien and eventual sale of the home.
Under Pennsylvania law, companies that buy unpaid tax debts at auction also acquire ownership of the property, a process that has drawn criticism in this case because the home was appraised at about $250,000 earlier in the year. The purchaser, CJD Legal Group, has become one of the most frequent buyers of tax-defaulted property in Delaware County.
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Family Says She Could Be Forced Out
Gaynor’s daughter, Jackie Davis, says the family recently received notice that the new owners intend to involve law enforcement to remove her mother from the house, even though she is bedridden and living with dementia. “She’s in a hospital bed. Are they going to lift the bed up with her in it and take her and put her on the steps?” Davis told reporters.
The family’s legal efforts to reverse the sale were unsuccessful in court, and Davis now says she’s trying to find a safe place for her mother to live because assisted-living facilities may be unsuitable due to her condition. However, fighting the matter further in court would be prohibitively expensive.
County Response
Delaware County officials have explained that once a property is legally sold at a tax sale, the new owner has the right to decide whether to pursue changes in occupancy through the courts. So far, no formal eviction filings or writ of possession have been recorded, but the situation remains uncertain for the elderly woman and her family.
