ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 403
(Senator Craigo, original sponsor)
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[Passed March 13, 1998; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact sections fourteen, sixteen, nineteen,
twenty-one, twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty-five,
article three, chapter eleven-a of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
all relating to sheriff's tax lien sales; requiring the
sheriff to collect subsequent taxes due from the purchaser
of a tax lien before a certificate of sale is issued;
establishing a time limit before charges attach for expenses
incurred for preparation of notices to redeem; requiring the
purchaser of a tax lien to furnish the person redeeming the
property with a certification of title examination;
providing that purchasers may only be reimbursed for title
examinations performed by certain persons; modifying form of
notice to redeem; and making certain technical revisions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections fourteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty-five, article three, chapter
eleven-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. SALE OF TAX LIENS AND NONENTERED, ESCHEATED AND WASTE
AND UNAPPROPRIATED LANDS.
§11A-3-14. Purchase by individual at tax sale; certificate of
sale.
(a) If the highest bidder present at the sale provided for
in section five of this article, bids and pays at least the
amount of taxes, interest and charges for which the tax lien on
any real estate is offered for sale, the sheriff shall issue to
him or her a certificate of sale for the purchase money, except
the sheriff shall require payment of any subsequent taxes due at
the time of the sale before a certificate of sale is issued. The
heading of the certificate shall be:
Memorandum of tax lien on real estate sold in the county of
on this
day of
, 19
, for the nonpayment of taxes charged thereon for the year (or
years) 19
.
Except for the heading, the tax commissioner shall prescribe
the form of the receipt.
(b) The certificate of sale shall describe the real estate
subject to the tax lien that was sold, the total amount of all
taxes, interest, penalties and costs paid for each lot or tract, and the rate of interest to which the purchaser is entitled upon
redemption. The certificate shall also set forth columns for the
entry of subsequent years taxes paid and costs required by the
sheriff to be paid on the date of the sale, and for the entry of
subsequent taxes and costs paid. For each certificate delivered,
the purchaser shall pay a fee of ten dollars, and that amount
shall be included in the costs described in the certificate.
§11A-3-16. Subsequent tax payments by purchaser.
Any person who has paid any subsequent taxes, other than the
subsequent taxes paid on the date of the sale as provided for in
section fourteen of this article, on lands for which he or she
holds the certificate of sale described in section fourteen or
fifteen of this article shall produce the certificate and copies
of paid tax receipts to the clerk of the county commission, who
shall endorse the amount of the subsequent taxes and the date of
payment of the taxes in his or her records upon the payment to
the clerk of a fee for the endorsement in the amount of two
dollars.
§11A-3-19. What purchaser must do before he can secure deed.
(a) At any time after the thirty-first day of October of the
year following the sheriff's sale, and on or before the thirty- first day of December of the same year, the purchaser, his or her
heirs or assigns, in order to secure a deed for the real estate
subject to the tax lien or liens purchased, shall: (1) Prepare
a list of those to be served with notice to redeem and request the clerk to prepare and serve the notice as provided in sections
twenty-one and twenty-two of this article; (2) provide the clerk
with a list of any additional expenses incurred after the first
day of January of the year following the sheriff's sale for the
preparation of the list of those to be served with notice to
redeem including proof of the additional expenses in the form of
receipts or other evidence of reasonable legal expenses incurred
for the services of any attorney who has performed an examination
of the title to the real estate and rendered a written opinion
and certification thereon; (3) deposit, or offer to deposit, with
the clerk a sum sufficient to cover the costs of preparing and
serving the notice; and (4) present the purchaser's certificate
of sale, or order of the county commission where the certificate
has been lost or wrongfully withheld from the owner, to the clerk
of the county commission. For failure to meet these
requirements, the purchaser shall lose all the benefits of his or
her purchase.
(b) If the person requesting preparation and service of the
notice is an assignee of the purchaser, he or she shall, at the
time of the request, file with the clerk a written assignment to
him or her of the purchaser's rights, executed, acknowledged and
certified in the manner required to make a valid deed.
(c) Whenever any certificate given by the sheriff for a tax
lien on any land, or interest in the land sold for delinquent
taxes, or any assignment of the lien is lost or wrongfully withheld from the rightful owner of the land and the land or
interest has not been redeemed, the county commission may receive
evidence of the loss or wrongful detention and, upon satisfactory
proof of that fact, may cause a certificate of the proof and
finding, properly attested by the county clerk under the seal of
the county, to be delivered to the rightful claimant, and a
record of the certificate shall be duly made by the county clerk
in the recorded proceedings of the commission.
§11A-3-21. Notice to redeem.
Whenever the provisions of section nineteen of this article
have been complied with, the clerk of the county commission shall
prepare a notice in form or effect as follows:
To___________________________________.
You will take notice that ___________, the purchaser (or
_____________, the assignee, heir or devisee of ____________, the
purchaser) of the tax lien(s) on the following real estate,
________________, (here describe the real estate for which the
tax lien(s) thereon were sold) located in _____________, (here
name the city, town or village in which the real estate is
situated or, if not within a city, town or village, give the
district and a general description) which was returned delinquent
in the name of ________________, and for which the tax lien(s)
thereon was sold by the sheriff of _______________ County at the
sale for delinquent taxes made on the _________________ day of
_____________, 19___, has requested that you be notified that a deed for such real estate will be made to him on or after the
first day of April, 19___, as provided by law, unless before that
day you redeem such real estate. The amount you will have to pay
to redeem on the last day, March thirty-first, will be as
follows:
Amount equal to the taxes, interest, and charges due on the
date of sale, with interest to March 31, 19__ ........$__________
Amount of subsequent years taxes paid on the property, since
the sale, with interest to March 31, 19__
.......................... $___________
Amount paid for title examination and preparation of list of
those to be served, and for preparation and service of the notice
with interest from January 1, 19 (insert year) following the
sheriff's sale to March 31, 19__ ......................
$__________
Amount paid for other statutory costs
(describe)_____________________________________________________ ________________________________________.....................
$___________
Total ............... $_____________
You may redeem at any time before March thirty-first,
nineteen hundred _______________, by paying the above total less
any unearned interest.
Given under my hand this _________ day of
_________________,19____.
_________________________________________
Clerk of the County Commission
of____________________ County,
State of West Virginia
The clerk for his or her service in preparing the notice
shall receive a fee of five dollars for the original and one
dollar for each copy required. Any additional costs which must
be expended for publication, or service of the notice in the
manner provided for serving process commencing a civil action, or
for service of process by certified mail, shall be charged by the
clerk. All costs provided by this section shall be included as
redemption costs and included in the notice described in this
section.
§11A-3-23. Redemption from purchase; receipt; list of
redemptions; lien; lien of person redeeming interest of
another; record.
(a) After the sale of any tax lien on any real estate
pursuant to section five of this article, the owner of, or any
other person who was entitled to pay the taxes on, any real
estate for which a tax lien thereon was purchased by an
individual may redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued for
the real estate. In order to redeem, he or she shall pay to the
clerk of the county commission the following amounts: (1) An
amount equal to the taxes, interest and charges due on the date
of the sale, with interest at the rate of one percent per month from the date of sale; (2) all other taxes which have since been
paid by the purchaser, his or her heirs or assigns, with interest
at the rate of one percent per month from the date of payment;
(3) any additional expenses incurred from the first day of
January of the year following the sheriff's sale to the date of
redemption for the preparation of the list of those to be served
with notice to redeem and any title examination incident thereto,
with interest at the rate of one percent per month from the date
of payment for reasonable legal expenses incurred for the
services of an attorney who has performed an examination of the
title to the real estate and rendered a written opinion and
certification thereon:
Provided, That the amount he or she shall
be required to pay, excluding the interest, for the expenses
incurred for the preparation of the list of those to be served
with notice to redeem required by section nineteen of this
article and any title examination performed, shall not exceed two
hundred dollars; and (4) all additional statutory costs paid by
the purchaser. Where the clerk has not received from the
purchaser satisfactory proof of the expenses incurred in
preparing the notice to redeem, and any examination of title
incident thereto, in the form of receipts or other evidence of
legal expenses incurred as provided in section nineteen of this
article, the person redeeming shall pay the clerk the sum of two
hundred dollars plus interest at the rate of one percent per
month from the first day of January of the year following the sheriff's sale for disposition by the sheriff pursuant to the
provisions of sections ten, twenty-four, twenty-five and
thirty-two of this article.
The person redeeming shall be given a receipt for the
payment.
(b) Any person who, by reason of the fact that no provision
is made for partial redemption of the tax lien on real estate
purchased by an individual, is compelled in order to protect
himself or herself to redeem the tax lien on all of the real
estate when it belongs, in whole or in part, to some other
person, shall have a lien on the interest of that other person
for the amount paid to redeem the interest. He or she shall lose
his or her right to the lien, however, unless within thirty days
after payment he or she files with the clerk of the county
commission his or her claim in writing against the owner of the
interest, together with the receipt provided for in this section.
The clerk shall docket the claim on the judgment lien docket in
his or her office and properly index the claim. The lien may be
enforced as other judgment liens are enforced.
§11A-3-24. Notice of redemption to purchaser; moneys received by
sheriff.
(a) Upon payment of the sum necessary to redeem, the clerk
shall deliver to the sheriff the redemption money paid and the
name and address of the purchaser, his or her heirs and assigns.
The clerk shall also note the fact of redemption on his or her record of delinquent lands.
(b) Of the redemption money received by the sheriff pursuant
to this section, the sheriff shall deposit into the sale of tax
lien surplus fund provided by section ten of this article an
amount equal to the amount of taxes, interest and charges due on
the date of the sale, plus the interest at the rate of one
percent per month from the date of sale to the date of
redemption, the amount of the subsequent years taxes paid the day
of or after the sheriff's sale, plus interest at the rate of one
percent per month thereon from the date of payment to the date of
redemption, the amount of any additional expenses incurred after
the first day of January of the year following the sheriff's sale
for the preparation of the list of those to be served with notice
to redeem and any examination of title performed and certified
pursuant to the provisions of section nineteen of this article,
plus interest at a rate of one percent per month from the date of
payment to the date of redemption. In cases where the clerk has
not received from the purchaser satisfactory proof of additional
expenses incurred after the first day of January of the year
following the sheriff's sale as provided in section twenty-three
of this article, the sheriff shall deposit the money received in
the sale of tax lien surplus fund provided by section ten of this
article.
§11A-3-25. Distribution of surplus to purchaser.
(a) Where the land has been redeemed in the manner set forth in section twenty-three of this article, and the clerk has
delivered the redemption money to the sheriff pursuant to section
twenty-four of this article, the sheriff shall, upon delivery of
the sum necessary to redeem, promptly notify the purchaser, his
or her heirs or assigns, by mail, of the fact of the redemption
and pay to the purchaser, his or her heirs or assigns the
following amounts: (1) From the sale of tax lien surplus fund
provided by section ten of this article: (A) The surplus of
money paid in excess of the amount of the taxes, interest and
charges due and paid to the sheriff at the sale; and (B) the
amount of taxes, interest and charges due on the date of the
sale, plus the interest at the rate of one percent per month from
the date of sale to the date of redemption; (2) all other taxes
on the land which have since been paid by the purchaser, his or
her heirs or assigns, with interest at the rate of one percent
per month from the date of payment to the date of redemption; (3)
any additional expenses that may have been incurred from the
first day of January of the year following the sheriff's sale to
the date of redemption in preparing the list of those to be
served with notice to redeem and any title examination performed
in accordance with section nineteen of this article with interest
at the rate of one percent per month from the date of payment,
but the amount which shall be paid, excluding the interest, for
the expenses incurred for the preparation of the list of those to
be served with notice to redeem required by section nineteen of this article, and any title examination shall not exceed two
hundred dollars; and (4) all additional statutory costs paid by
the purchaser.
(b) (1) The notice shall include:
(A) A copy of the redemption certificate issued by the
county clerk;
(B) An itemized statement of the redemption money to which
the purchaser is entitled pursuant to the provisions of this
section; and
(C) Where, at the time of the redemption, the clerk has not
received from the purchaser satisfactory proof of the expenses
incurred in preparing the list of those to be served with notice
to redeem and any title examination performed in accordance with
section nineteen of this article, the clerk shall also include
instructions to the purchaser as to how these expenses may be
claimed.
(2) Subject to the limitations of this section, the
purchaser is entitled to recover any expenses incurred in
preparing the list of those to be served with notice to redeem
and any title examination incident thereto from the first day of
January of the year following the sheriff's sale to the date of
the sale to the date of the redemption.
(c) Where, pursuant to section twenty-three of this article,
the clerk has not received from the purchaser satisfactory proof
of the expenses incurred in preparing the list of those to be served with notice to redeem, and any title examination incident
thereto, in the form of receipts or other evidence and therefore
received from the purchaser as required by that section and
delivered to the sheriff the sum of two hundred dollars plus
interest at the rate of one percent per month from the first day
of January of the year following the sheriff's sale to the date
of the sale to the date of redemption, and the sheriff has not
received from the purchaser satisfactory proof of the expenses
within thirty days from the date of notification, the sheriff
shall refund the amount to the person redeeming and the purchaser
is barred from any claim. Where, pursuant to that section, the
clerk has received from the purchaser and therefore delivered to
the sheriff the sum of two hundred dollars plus interest at the
rate of one percent per month from the first day of January of
the year following the sheriff's sale to the date of the sale to
the date of redemption, and the purchaser provides the sheriff
within thirty days from the date of notification satisfactory
proof of the expenses, and the amount of the expenses is less
than the amount paid by the person redeeming, the sheriff shall
refund the difference to the person redeeming.
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