COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 528

(By Senator Craigo)

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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported April 2, 1997. ]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-three, article three, chapter eleven-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to sheriff's tax lien sales; and requiring the purchaser of a tax lien to furnish the person redeeming the property with a copy of the title examination.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-three, 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. COLLECTION AND ENFORCEMENT OF PROPERTY TAXES.
§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 therefor. In order to redeem, he must 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 thereon at the rate of one percent per month from the date of sale; (2) all other taxes thereon, which have since been paid by the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, with interest at the rate of one percent per month from the date of payment; (3) such additional expenses as may have been incurred in preparing 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, but the amount he shall be required to pay, excluding said interest, for such 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 incident thereto, 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 thereof, the person redeeming shall pay the clerk the sum of two hundred dollars plus interest thereon at the rate of one percent per month from the date of the 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 and a copy of the title examination. If the purchaser is not supplied with a copy of the title examination then the purchaser shall only be required to pay the clerk a sum equal to the additional statutory costs paid by the purchaser, excluding any amount for a title examination.
(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 to redeem the tax lien on all of such real estate when it belongs, in whole or in part, to some other person, shall have a lien on the interest of such other person for the amount paid to redeem such interest. He shall lose his right to the lien, however, unless within thirty days after payment he shall file with the clerk of the county commission his claim in writing against the owner of such interest, together with the receipt provided for in this section. The clerk shall docket the claim on the judgment lien docket in his office and properly index the same. Such lien may be enforced as other judgment liens are enforced.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that a person who redeems his or her property subsequent to the sheriff's tax sale is not required to pay for a title examination unless he or she is supplied with a copy of same.)