Senate Bill No. 506
(By Senators Craigo and Dittmar)
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[Introduced February 21, 1994;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article three, chapter
eleven-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to notice of
delinquent real estate; and providing for notice by either
registered or certified mail.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, 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-3-2. Second publication of list of delinquent real estate;
notice.
On or before the tenth day of September of each year, the
sheriff shall prepare a second list of delinquent lands, which
shall include all real estate in his or her county remaining
delinquent as of the first day of September, together with a
notice of sale, in form or effect as follows:
Notice is hereby given that the following described tracts
or lots of land or undivided interests therein in the County of
________________ which are delinquent for the nonpayment of taxes
for the year (or years) 19____, will be offered for sale by the
undersigned sheriff (or collector) at public auction at the front
door of the courthouse of the county, between the hours of ten in
the morning and four in the afternoon, on the _____ day of
_________________, 19___.
Each unredeemed tract or lot, or each unredeemed part
thereof or undivided interest therein, will be sold at public
auction to the highest bidder for cash in an amount which shall
not be less than the taxes, interest and charges which shall be
due thereon to the date of sale, as set forth in the following
table:
Name of person Quantity Local Total amount of taxes,
charged of descrip- interest and charges
with taxes land tion due to date of sale
Any of the aforesaid tracts or lots, or part thereof or an
undivided interest therein, may be redeemed by the payment to the
undersigned sheriff (or collector) before sale, of the total
amount of taxes, interest and charges due thereon up to the date
of redemption.
Given under my hand this _____________ day of
_____________________, 19_____.
______________________
Sheriff (or collector).
The sheriff shall publish the list and notice prior to the
sale date fixed in the notice as a Class III-O 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 addition to such
publication, no less than thirty days prior to the sale the
sheriff shall send a notice of such delinquency by registered or
certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last known
address of each person whose taxes are delinquent and to each
person having a lien on real property upon which the taxes are
due, as disclosed by a valid lien instrument duly recorded in the
office of the clerk of the county commission: Provided, That in
a case where one owner owns more than one parcel of real property
upon which taxes are delinquent, the sheriff may, at his or her
option, mail separate notices to the owner and each lienholder
for each parcel, or may prepare and mail to the owner and each
lienholder a single notice which pertains to all such delinquent
parcels. If the sheriff elects to mail only one notice, that
notice shall set forth a legally sufficient description of all
parcels of property on which taxes are delinquent. In no event
shall failure to receive the mailed notice by the landowner or
lienholder affect the validity of the title of the property
conveyed if it is sold pursuant to section four of this article.
To cover the cost of preparing and publishing the delinquent
list and mailing notice to the landowner and any lienholder, a
charge of six dollars shall be added to the taxes, interest andcharges already due on each item and other charges shall be
stated in the list as the total amount due.
Any person, whose taxes were delinquent on the first day of
September, may have his or her name removed from the delinquent
list prior to the time the same is delivered to the newspapers
for publication and the mailing of the above required notice by
paying to the sheriff the full amount of taxes and costs owed by
such person at the date of such redemption. In such case, the
sheriff shall include but fifty cents of the costs provided in
this section in making such redemption. Costs collected by the
sheriff hereunder which are not expended for publication and
mailing shall be paid into the general county fund.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the sheriff the
alternative of providing notice to delinquent property taxpayers
by either registered mail or by certified mail, return receipt
requested.)