What can I do to recoup my money for on these three properties

Why have you been paying property taxes on property you don't own?   Unfortunately, you may not be able3 to recoup what you've paid, at least not easily. You will need to figure out who owns the property. That is not at all clear from your post, and you may need to have a real estate attorney do a title search. You may also find out that the property has many, many owners, each of whom received their share from a deceased prior owner and that title is not clear. If you can figure out who owns the property, then you can try to sue the owners to recover the amounts that you paid. If you are an owner yourself, then you won't be able to fully recover, because part of the payments will likely be your responsibility, but you can still try to recover the other owners' shares. But if you did not have a written agreement with the other owners under which you would pay the taxes and get reimbursed, you may well be deemed by a jury in a lawsuit to have made a gift by paying the taxes.   You need to get a real estate attorney involved, and possibly a probate attorney as well. Don't wait, and don't just keep paying these expenses. Best wishes to you- I hope you can get things figured out and get repaid.