Santa Clara county. Due date was Feb or March, but since I didn’t get nothing in the mail I missed making the payment. They’ve put a 10% penalty. Any ideas on getting full or partial waiver. First time this is happening. Owner since 2017 so I don’t have a long history. I can tell them that there was nothing in the mail but they would have heard that a 1000 times and unlikely to believe me.
Unless you are a new homeowner you should know when your taxes are due. Your failure to pay them is your own fault. I doubt that the county office will waive the penalty.
It’s better to pay and forget about it. Government is the worst to work with. When government asks for money, just pay and forget about it. Government is the ultimate power and you need to give up before you ask 
You can try to charge a 10% penalty when the government pays you late.
It can’t hurt to call and ask. It is likely no so just pay up! Live and learn.
I went through the same thing in Santa Clara County last year - penalty because I forgot to pay . I paid the penalty and then sent an appeal outlining how I’ve been a model citizen paying my property taxes correctly all throughout and that this was a blip. I heard back in 2 months and the county returned the penalty to me. Send an email to SCCTax.Collector AT fin.sccgov.org.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I did send them an email and got a reply saying there’s a “Penalty Appeal” form to use. I described why I missed the payment saying I didn’t get the snail mail asking me to pay. I heard back a month later by mail saying “appeal denied”. They said the reason was unacceptable and that it was my duty to periodically check their website for upcoming payments/dues.