LUBEC — The Lubec Board of Selectmen voted Wednesday to sell a 10.5‑acre property for back taxes after more than a decade of liens and discharges on the home and land.
The building on the property includes 1,116 square feet of living space and will be listed at $89 per square foot.
Houses in Washington County typically sell for almost twice that amount, but Board of Selectmen Chair Carol Dennison said the town intentionally set a low price to attract a buyer before winter.
The sale is complicated by the fact that someone is living in the home.
The property — previously owned by Todd J. Carboni of Connecticut, according to county registry of deeds records — has $2,433 in unpaid taxes tied to an October 2025 lien signed by Ruby Fry, Lubec’s tax collector.
That lien was the last in a yearslong pattern of liens and discharges that began in 2012, five years after Carboni bought the property, and ended with the 2025 lien still unresolved.
The town sent foreclosure notices to Carboni’s last known address but has been unable to reach him, and it ultimately took possession of the foreclosed property, which is now occupied by a resident whose tenancy status is unclear.
The home’s occupancy makes the property difficult to sell. Dennison said the town’s real estate agent, Shayna Smart of Bold Coast Properties, advised lowering the price from the original $165,000 listing and selling the property “as is,” with the tenant in place.
In a letter Dennison read at Wednesday’s meeting, Maine Municipal Association Legal Services advised the Board of Selectmen not to charge the occupant rent because doing so could create a legal landlord‑tenant relationship with the town.
“Most municipalities do not want or need this additional responsibility,” Dennison read from the letter.
She told other Board of Selectmen members, “We’re not being advised to do anything but to sell the property, as is, with a tenant in there.”
Dennison said the town received “a relatively good offer earlier this week,” but it was contingent on the home being unoccupied by June 27 — a condition she said is impossible to meet given the current occupancy.
The Board of Selectmen discussed the likelihood that selling the home will displace the tenant, but Dennison said listing the property “as is” shifts responsibility for the occupancy to the future owner.
The house is being sold with a quitclaim deed, which offers no guarantees about the property’s title history.
“It needs to sell quickly so the person can get access to the house before the winter, because once the winter comes, you can’t evict anyone in the state of Maine for the whole winter months,” Dennison said of the potential buyer.
The Board of Selectmen voted to list the property for $99,000, hoping a quick sale will shift the tenant issue to a new owner.
Attempts by Monitor Local to reach former owner Todd Carboni for comment were unsuccessful.
