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IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Yoh Rukuson, : Appellant : : v. : : Sabrina A. Dantzler and the Tax Claim : Bureau of Dauphin County : BEFORE:

No. 469 C.D. 2002 Argued September 10, 2002

HONORABLE DORIS A. SMITH-RIBNER, Judge HONORABLE MARY HANNAH LEAVITT, Judge HONORABLE JESS S. JIULIANTE, Senior Judge FILED: December 16, 2002

OPINION BY JUDGE SMITH-RIBNER

Yoh Rukuson appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County that denied post-trial motions and granted the count of Rukuson's complaint in equity requesting that the court void the judicial tax sale of a property owned by Rukuson in the City of Harrisburg for lack of proper notice, denied Rukuson's request for damages, granted the counterclaim of the purchaser Sabrina A. Dantzler against Rukuson in the amount of $13,471.85 for the cost of improvements and also ordered Rukuson to pay Dantzler the $851.83 purchase price within thirty days. Rukuson questions whether, when a tax sale is voided, the owner is required to reimburse the purchaser for the cost of renovations, restorations and repairs made by the purchaser after the sale; whether, if there is such a duty, the purchaser is entitled to the cost of the improvements rather than the value added; and whether the trial court properly justified the monetary award to the tax sale purchaser by equating the same to the value added to the real estate, when there was no evidence or prior finding of fact to support such a conclusion.

The trial court's opinion pursuant to Pa. R.A.P. 1925 stated that the Tax Claim Bureau of Dauphin County (Tax Claim Bureau) held a judicial tax sale of the property at 308 Reilly Street, Harrisburg, which was owned by Rukuson, on March 31, 2000. Rukuson was over $4,000 delinquent in his real estate taxes, having failed to pay some or all taxes for the tax years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. Dantzler purchased the property at the sale for a total of $851.83. At the time of the sale the property was vacant and in a blighted condition. There was no electricity or water service to the building, and there was no kitchen or any working bathrooms. The roof leaked, and the walls had lost plaster as a result. In May 2000 the Tax Claim Bureau tendered a deed to Dantzler, and she immediately began a project to rehabilitate the property. She hired contractors and performed much work herself to have installed electric service panels, electrical wiring, fixtures, insulation, drywall and siding. The trial court noted that Rukuson, who has resided in Philadelphia since 1997, was aware of tax delinquencies because he previously had signed for certified notice of an attempted upset tax sale in 1998; however, the same notice was not provided for the March 2000 judicial sale. On that basis the court overturned the sale. The trial court noted, however, that the record supported an award to Dantzler on her counterclaim in equity for money she spent for capital improvements to turn this dilapidated structure into a habitable and functioning home. Dantzler did not know of the defect in title, and she came into court with clean hands, whereas Rukuson was seeking the benefits of Dantzler's labor and a reward for failing to pay taxes on a blighted property. The court rejected Rukuson's argument that the court could not order reimbursement for expenditures made within two years of the tax purchase under Section 20 of the Act of April 12,

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1842, P.L. 262, 72 P.S.

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Pennsylvania Law