Coldstream Homestead Montebello family asks court to overturn $888 tax sale

A judge approved an investor’s taking of a Coldstream Homestead Montebello rowhome owned by the Harris family for roughly six decades, and the homeowner has filed a motion asking the court to overturn the transfer after the family learned last year the property had been sold in a Baltimore tax sale. The sale, the family says, was sparked by an $888 balance made up of about $519 in unpaid property taxes and roughly $300 in environmental citations for trash and high grass.

Carlos Harris, who lives in Rosedale and inherited the East Baltimore house that his daughter Cairo currently occupies, said the house “since it’s been in the family … it’s never been out of the family.” Harris and his family report they were unaware of the environmental citations that contributed to the tax sale, and a photo tied to the matter shows debris dumped in the vacant lot next door to the family home.

According to court-related filings cited by the family, the judge found that legal notice requirements were satisfied before approving the investor’s taking this past August. Harris filed a motion earlier this month asking the court to vacate the judgment, arguing attempts at in-person service were insufficient and that he was not personally served. The motion includes the line: “Defendant did not grant authority to any person to sign documents, accept service, or otherwise act on Defendants behalf in connection with this matter,” and asserts that because Harris was never properly served the judgment is void.

A third-party online post circulating details about the case includes additional allegations that the family paid taxes monthly and that city systems failed to account for those payments, that two citations were mailed in 2021 but not received during COVID-related disruptions, and that a subpoena was never received and an affidavit bore a forged name. Those claims, including an allegation that a new owner removed a doorknob and took outdoor furniture from the yard where Harris’s daughter and grandson live, remain unverified and require court records and city mailing logs to confirm.

The Harris family’s case sits alongside recent Baltimore examples that have raised questions about tax-sale enforcement across neighborhoods. One homeowner reported finding a tax sale certificate on her front door notifying her that a sale last June transferred title to an out-of-town LLC for $12,000; she said, “My hands were shaking,” and “I can't just lose this home, how can they do this?” Attorney Thiru Vignarajah has framed similar disputes as repeated appeals to city officials, asking, “How many times must we knock on the door of City Hall asking for some help?”

The buyer of the Harris property has not been publicly identified in court filings available to the family and the filing media. The Harris motion asks the court to vacate the August transfer; the judge’s upcoming ruling on that motion will determine whether the family can regain title or whether the investor’s title will remain in place.