H. B. 4486
(By Delegates Frazier, Moore, Ellem and Hunt)
[Introduced
February 12, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11A-3-19 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring the sheriff to send
tax tickets and other required notifications concerning
property taxes to the occupants of those properties when the
mailing address of a taxpayer differs from the mailing address
of that property.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11A-3-19 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, 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-3-19. What purchaser must do before he or she can secure
deed.
(a) At any time after October 31 of the year following the sheriff's sale, and on or before December 31, 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 January 1, 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 Class II property where the taxpayer's last known
mailing address is not the street or other physical mailing address
of the property the sheriff shall also send the annual tax ticket
required by section eight, article one of this chapter and the
notice to redeem to the "occupant" of the property at the street or other physical mailing address of the property. 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to requiring the sheriff to
send tax tickets and other required notifications concerning
property taxes to the occupants of those properties when the
mailing address of a taxpayer differs from the mailing address of
that property. Th bill protects purchasers on property through land
sales contacts to be protected from the landowners who do not pay the required property taxes in a timely manner.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.