H. B. 2028
(By Delegates Hunt and Amores)
[Introduced January 16, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary .]
A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article three, chapter
eleven-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to property taxes;
sale of land for the nonpayment of taxes; and the waiver of
notice of a sheriff's sale by a person claiming a lien
against real property.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article three, chapter eleven-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. SALE OF TAX LIENS AND NONENTERED, ESCHEATED AND WASTE
AND UNAPPROPRIATED LANDS.
§11A-3-3. Waiver of notice by person claiming lien.
(a) Any person claiming a lien against real property shall
be deemed to have waived any the right to notice provided by sections section two, twenty-two and fifty-five of this article
unless he shall have filed a statement declaring such interest
with the sheriff. Such statement shall be filed upon creation of
the lien and upon release of said lien and upon any change of the
lienholder's postal address since the original filing of such
statement.
Such statement shall be sufficient if it is filed at the
time the document creating the lien is filed and when said lien
is released on a form and in a manner to be prescribed from time
to time by the tax commissioner, which form shall include the
name of the person charged with taxes for the real property; the
tax map and parcel number of the property; the assessor's account
number of the property; a description of the interest claimed;
and the address to which notice is to be sent. The statement may
be amended at any time by the person claiming the lien, upon such
amended form and in such manner as may be prescribed by the tax
commissioner: Provided, That in counties with a population
greater than two hundred thousand any person claiming liens
against more than fifty parcels of real estate may file such
statement electronically in a similar format as before described
designed by the tax commissioner.
(b) At least once a year prior to July first, the sheriff
shall publish a notice that any person claiming a lien against
taxable real property must file the statement required by this section or such person will be deemed to have waived any the
right to notice provided by the preceding section. The notice
shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance
with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this
code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the
county in which such land is located.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify that a person
holding a lien against real property who does not file a
statement declaring such interest with the sheriff waives only
the right to receive a direct notice from the sheriff prior to
the date of the sheriff's sale of the real property.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.