H. B. 2208


(By Delegates Gallagher, P. White and S. Cook)
[Introduced February 19, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend and reenact sections four, twenty and twenty-one, article three, chapter eleven-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to providing a five percent preference to private, nonprofit, charitable organizations which bid on unredeemed land sold by the sheriff at public auction; and to exempt private, nonprofit, charitable organizations from certain report and survey requirements in order to secure a deed.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections four, twenty and twenty-one, 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 LAND FOR TAXES.

§11A-3-4. Sale by sheriff.

Each unredeemed tract or lot, or each unredeemed part thereof or undivided interest therein, shall be sold by thesheriff at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon on any Monday after the fourteenth day of October and before the twenty- third day of November: Provided, That no such an unredeemed tract or lot, or any unredeemed part thereof or an undivided interest therein, shall may not be sold upon any bid or for any sum less than the total amount of taxes, interest and charges then due: Provided, however, That at any such a sale held after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred sixty-five, each unredeemed tract or lot, and each unredeemed part of a tract or lot or interest therein, shall be offered for sale and sold in entirety as such the tract or part thereof or interest therein is described and constituted as a unit or entity in the list and notice prescribed in section two of this article: Provided further, That no part or interest in any unredeemed tract or lot, or any part thereof or interest therein, that is less than the entirety of such the unredeemed tract, lot or part or interest, as the same is described and constituted as a unit or entity in said the list and notice, shall may be offered for sale or sold at such the sale. If the sale shall not be is not completed on the day designated in the notice for the holding of such the sale, it the sale shall be continued from day to each following day between the same hours until disposition shall have been made of all the land is completed.
Effective the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, a private, nonprofit, charitable corporation,incorporated in this state which has as its principal purpose the construction of housing or other public facilities and which notifies the sheriff of an intention to bid and subsequently submits a bid, that is not more than five percent lower than the highest bid submitted by any person or organization which is not a private, nonprofit, charitable corporation which has as its principal purpose the construction of housing or other public facilities, shall be sold the unredeemed tract or lot, or each unredeemed part thereof or undivided interest therein, sold by the sheriff at public auction as opposed to the highest bidder.
The nonprofit corporation referred to in this section does not include a business organized for profit, a labor union, a partisan political organization or an organization engaged in religious activities and it does not include any other group which does not have as its principal purpose the construction of housing or public facilities.
§11A-3-20. What purchaser must do before he can secure deed.

At any time after October thirty-first of the year following the sale, and on or before December thirty-first of the same year, except for a purchaser which is a private, nonprofit, charitable corporation, the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, in order to secure a deed for the real estate purchased, must: (1) Secure and file with the clerk of the county court commission the survey or report provided for in sections twenty-one and twenty- two of this article; (2) examine the title in order to prepare a list of those to be served with notice to redeem and request theclerk to prepare and serve the notice as provided in sections twenty-three and twenty-four of this article; and (3) deposit, or offer to deposit, with the clerk a sum sufficient to cover the costs of preparing and serving the notice. For failure to meet these requirements, the purchaser shall lose all the benefits of his purchase.
If the person requesting preparation and service of the notice is an assignee of the purchaser, he shall, at the time of the request, file with the clerk a written assignment to him of the purchaser's rights, executed, acknowledged and certified in the manner required to make a valid deed.
§11A-3-21. Report or survey of real estate purchased.

Except as provided in the following section and except for a private, nonprofit, charitable corporation, an individual purchaser at the tax sale, his heirs or assigns, must, at his or their expense, have the county surveyor or a competent surveyor or civil engineer make either a report or a survey of the real estate purchased. The report shall contain such a description of the property as will identify it, and shall specify the metes and bounds thereof, if ascertainable without a survey, unless there is a recorded plat of such property to which reference can be made. If a survey is preferred, a plat of the property and description thereof by metes and bounds must be obtained from the surveyor. If the sale was of an undivided interest in any property, the report or survey shall be of the entire property. The report or the plat and description must be filed with theclerk of the county court commission within the time specified in section twenty of this article. The fact and time of such filing shall be endorsed by the clerk on the report or on the plat and description.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give private, nonprofit, charitable corporations a five percent preference when bidding on unredeemed property sold by the sheriff at public auction. The bill also exempts private, nonprofit, charitable corporations from report and survey requirements in order to secure a deed to the unredeemed property.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.