COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 293
(By Senators Craigo and Dittmar)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported April 1, 1993.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-four, article three,
chapter eleven-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to notice to
redeem delinquent real estate; and providing for notice by
certified mail, return receipt requested.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-four, 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-3-24. Service of notice.
As soon as the clerk has prepared the notice provided for in
the preceding section, he shall cause it to be served upon the
following persons: (1) The person in whose name the real estate
was returned delinquent and sold, or, in case of his death, his
heir or devisee and his personal representative, if such there
be; (2) any grantee of such person, or his heir or devisee and
his personal representative, if such there be, if a conveyance ofsuch real estate is recorded or filed for record in the office of
the clerk; (3) any person having a lien upon such real estate
disclosed by any paper recorded in the clerk's office; and (4)
any other person having such an interest in the property as would
entitle him to redeem, if the existence of such interest appears
of record.
The notice shall be personally served upon all such persons
residing or found in the state in the manner provided for serving
process commencing a suit on or before the first day of February
following the request for such notice. If any person entitled to
notice is a nonresident of the state or if his residence is
unknown to the clerk and cannot by due diligence be discovered,
the notice shall be served by publication as a Class III-0 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 real estate is
located. If service by publication is necessary, publication
shall be commenced within two weeks after the first day of
February, and a copy of the notice shall at the same time be sent
by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last known
address of the person served. The return of service of such
notice and the affidavit of publication, if any, shall be in the
manner provided for process generally and shall be filed and
preserved by the clerk in his office, together with any return
receipts for notices sent by registered mail.