{"id":37034,"date":"2025-11-17T23:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T23:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/37034\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T23:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T23:44:07","slug":"91-year-old-delaware-county-woman-loses-home-in-tax-lien-fight-investigation-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/37034\/","title":{"rendered":"91-year-old Delaware County woman loses home in tax lien fight | Investigation update"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (WPVI) — A 91-year-old Delaware County<\/a> woman is facing eviction over what her family says was an oversight that led to an unpaid tax bill.<\/p>\n

As a result, her home was bought from under her, and now time is running out before the bedridden woman is forced out.<\/p>\n

The family of Gloria Gaynor received notice last week that the owners who bought this property at a tax lien sale will be forcing her from the home with the help of the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n

RELATED | Property tax sales threaten the American Dream for local homeowners <\/a><\/p>\n

Property tax sales threaten the American Dream for local homeowners<\/p>\n

The clock is ticking, and Gaynor’s daughter said she doesn’t know what she’s going to do.<\/p>\n

“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?” questioned Gaynor’s daughter, Jackie Davis.<\/p>\n

Davis said her mother is running out of time in her Wayne Avenue home in Upper Darby.<\/p>\n

“I don’t have a proper place for her as yet; so, I’m asking for time,” said Davis, who lives in Florida.<\/p>\n

We detailed the family’s plight in an Action News Investigation into the system of tax lien sales this summer.<\/p>\n

Gaynor’s story began in 2020 during COVID-19. Afraid to leave her home, she didn’t pay her property taxes. Her attorneys told the Investigative Team she had the means to do so and made the payment in 2021 when things began to return to normal. But that payment wasn’t applied to the taxes in arrears.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO | Pennsylvania state representative calls for change after elderly woman home sells at tax lien sale<\/a><\/p>\n

The 6abc Action News Investigative Team recently brought you a story about a 91-year-old woman on the verge of being forced out of her home.<\/p>\n

Gaynor’s daughter said she was allegedly unaware, and her tax lien went to auction.<\/p>\n

“I would say, the exception, not the rule. In most cases, tax sales are taking place because people are either unable to or unwilling to pay taxes, and the county and the school districts need to recover those funds,” said Alexander Barth, who represents the family.<\/p>\n

“This is a diamond in a rough case, I would say. This is not every tax sale situation. Most tax sale situations are houses that are damaged or underwater. This is the exception again, but this is stripping generational wealth from a family. This is a sole asset that the mother had to pass on to her children, and now it’s — and it had very little debt on it, and there was mostly equity in this home. And now they’ve lost that,” he added.<\/p>\n

CJD Group legally bought the lien for $3,500 plus fees. Attorneys for Gaynor fought the sale, calling it a truly rare circumstance given her age and slight dementia. But the courts repeatedly ruled in the buyer’s favor. Now CJD is coming to get its property.<\/p>\n

“This is essentially kind of the end game of the situation, unfortunately,” Barth added.<\/p>\n

“I just need to come up with a plan to be able to take her to a home with me. That is my solution,” said Davis.<\/p>\n

Gaynor’s situation is clearly unfortunate, but critics would argue that her daughter, who lives in Florida, has had months to prepare for this dire situation, either by securing assisted living arrangements here locally or accommodations with her in Florida.<\/p>\n

Davis said her mother won’t survive in such a facility, and she needs more time and money to find a home big enough to house her family and her disabled mother.<\/p>\n

“I’m praying. I am praying and hope to luck it doesn’t happen, and I can find a place for her,” said Davis.<\/p>\n

CJD Group and its attorney have returned repeated requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Gaynor’s attorneys say how long Gaynor has depends on the sheriff’s office.<\/p>\n

Mike Connolly, the communications director for the Delaware County Communications and Public Affairs released the following statement:<\/p>\n

“Once a property is sold at tax sale and the deed is transferred, the new owner is the party who determines whether to pursue a change in occupancy. If they choose to move forward, the process begins with filings in the Court of Common Pleas, and those filings appear in the public docket.<\/p>\n

Individuals can review the status of any Complaint in Ejectment or related filings through the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System’s online ‘Public Access’ portal. The Sheriff’s Office becomes involved only if the court issues a Writ of Possession, and there is no such action on file for this address at this time.<\/p>\n

We understand that this is a very difficult situation for the family, and we recognize the stress that uncertainty around housing can create. While the County is required to follow the procedures set by state law in tax sale matters, we remain mindful of the emotional toll that these circumstances can have on residents.”<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPPER DARBY, Pa. (WPVI) — A 91-year-old Delaware County woman is facing eviction over what her family says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[22800,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-37034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-22800","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}