§11A-3-16. Subsequent tax payments by purchaser.
Any person who has paid any subsequent taxes, other than the
subsequent taxes paid on the date of the sale as provided for in section fourteen of this article, on lands for which he or she
holds the certificate of sale described in section fourteen or
fifteen of this article shall produce the certificate and copies of
paid tax receipts to the clerk of the county commission State
Auditor, who shall endorse the amount of the subsequent taxes and
the date of payment of the taxes in his or her records upon the
payment to the clerk State Auditor of a fee for the endorsement in
the amount of two dollars $10.
§11A-3-18. Limitations on tax certificates.
(a) No lien upon real property evidenced by a tax certificate
of sale issued by a sheriff on account of any delinquent property
taxes may remain a lien thereon for a period longer than eighteen
months after the original issuance thereof.
(b) All rights of a purchaser shall be deemed forfeited and
expired and no tax deed is to be issued on any tax sale evidenced
by a tax certificate of sale where the certificate has ceased to be
a lien pursuant to the provisions of this section and application
for the tax deed, pursuant to the provisions of section
twenty-seven of this article, is not pending at the time of the
expiration of the limitation period provided for in this section.
(c) Whenever a lien evidenced by a tax certificate of sale has
expired by reason of the provisions of this section, the county
clerk State Auditor shall immediately issue and record a
certificate of cancellation describing the real estate included in the certificate of purchase or tax certificate and giving the date
of cancellation and the clerk State Auditor shall also make proper
entries in his or her records. The clerk shall also present a
copy of every such certificate of cancellation to the sheriff who
shall enter the same in the sheriff's records and the certificate
and the record are prima facie evidence of the cancellation of the
certificate of sale and of the release of the lien of the
certificate on the lands therein described. Failure to record the
certificate of cancellation does not extend the lien evidenced by
the certificate of sale. The sheriff and county clerk State
Auditor are not entitled to any fees for the issuing of the
certificate of cancellation nor for the entries in their books made
under the provisions of this subsection.
§11A-3-19. What purchaser must do before the deed can be secured.
(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 State Auditor to prepare and serve the
notice as provided in sections twenty-one and twenty-two of this
article; (2) provide the clerk State Auditor 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 documentation
used in the preparation of the list of those to be served with the
notice to redeem; (3) deposit, or offer to deposit with the clerk
State Auditor 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 State Auditor. 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 State Auditor 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 State
Auditor, 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.
§11A-3-20. Refund to purchaser of payment made at sheriff's sale
where property is subject of an erroneous assessment
or is otherwise nonexistent.
If, by December 31 of the year following payment of the amount
bid at a sheriff's sale, the purchaser discovers that the lien
purchased at that sale is the subject of an erroneous assessment or
is otherwise nonexistent, the purchaser shall submit the abstract
or certificate of an attorney at law that the property is the
subject of an erroneous assessment or is otherwise nonexistent.
Upon receipt of the abstract or certificate, the sheriff shall
cause the moneys so paid to be refunded. Upon refund, the sheriff
shall inform the assessor and the State Auditor of the erroneous
assessment for the purpose of having the assessor correct the
error. For failure to meet this requirement, the purchaser shall
lose all benefits of his or her purchase.
§11A-3-21. Notice to redeem.
Whenever the provisions of section nineteen of this article have been complied with, the clerk of the county commission State
Auditor shall prepare a notice in form or effect as follows:
To ___________________________________.
You will take notice that _______________, the purchaser (or
_____________, the assignee, heir or devisee of _______________,
the purchaser) of the tax lien(s) on the following real estate,
__________________, (here describe the real estate for which the
tax lien(s) thereon were sold) located in ___________________,
(here name the city, town or village in which the real estate is
situated or, if not within a city, town or village, give the
district and a general description) which was returned delinquent
in the name of ________________, and for which the tax lien(s)
thereon was sold by the sheriff of ____________________ County at
the sale for delinquent taxes made on the _______________ day of
_____________, 19 20 ____, has requested that you be notified that
a deed for such real estate will be made to him or her on or after
April 1, 19 20 ____, as provided by law, unless before that day you
redeem such real estate. The amount you will have to pay to redeem
on the last day, March 31, will be as follows:
Amount equal to the taxes, interest, and charges due on the
date of sale, with interest to March 31, 19 20 ____
........$__________
Amount of subsequent years taxes paid on the property, since
the sale, with interest to March 31, 19 20 ____ ........ $___________
Amount paid for title examination and preparation of list of
those to be served, and for preparation and service of the notice
with interest from January 1, 19 20 (insert year) following the
sheriff's sale to March 31, 19 20 ____ ........ $__________
Amount paid for other statutory costs (describe)
_____________________ ........ $___________
Total ................. $_____________
You may redeem at any time before March 31, 2000
_______________, by paying the above total less any unearned
interest.
Given under my hand this _____ day of __________,19 20 ____.
_________________________________________
Clerk of the county commission
of ___________________ County,
State of West Virginia
The clerk State Auditor for his or her service in preparing
the notice shall receive a fee of five dollars $10 for the original
and one dollar $2 for each copy required. Any additional costs
which must be expended for publication, or service of the notice in
the manner provided for serving process commencing a civil action,
or for service of process by certified mail, shall be charged by
the clerk State Auditor. All costs provided by this section shall
be included as redemption costs and included in the notice described in this section.
§11A-3-22. Service of notice.
As soon as the clerk State Auditor has prepared the notice
provided for in section twenty-one of this article, he or she shall
cause it to be served upon all persons named on the list generated
by the purchaser pursuant to the provisions of section nineteen of
this article.
The notice shall be served upon all such persons residing or
found in the state in the manner provided for serving process
commencing a civil action or by certified mail, return receipt
requested. The notice shall be served on or before the thirtieth
day following the request for such notice.
If any person entitled to notice is a nonresident of this
state, whose address is known to the purchaser, he or she shall be
served at such address by certified mail, return receipt requested.
If the address of any person entitled to notice, whether a
resident or nonresident of this state, is unknown to the purchaser
and cannot be discovered by due diligence on the part of the
purchaser, 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 when personal service is required as set forth above, 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 to be 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 State Auditor in his or her office, together
with any return receipts for notices sent by certified mail.
§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 for the real estate. In order to
redeem, he or she shall pay to the clerk of the county commission
State Auditor the following amounts: (1) An amount equal to the
taxes, interest and charges due on the date of the sale, with
interest at the rate of one percent per month from the date of
sale; (2) all other taxes which have since been paid by the
purchaser, his or her heirs or assigns, with interest at the rate
of one percent per month from the date of payment; (3) any
additional expenses incurred from January 1 of the year following
the sheriff's sale to the date of redemption for the preparation of the list of those to be served with notice to redeem and any title
examination incident thereto written documentation used for the
preparation of the list, with interest at the rate of one percent
per month from the date of payment for reasonable legal expenses
incurred for the services of an attorney who has performed an
examination of the title to the real estate and rendered a written
opinion and certification thereon written documentation used for
the preparation of the list: Provided, That the amount he or she
the owner or other authorized person shall be required to pay,
excluding the interest, for the 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 performed shall not exceed two hundred dollars $300;
and (4) all additional statutory costs paid by the purchaser.
Where the clerk State Auditor has not received from the purchaser
satisfactory proof of the expenses incurred in preparing the notice
to redeem, and any examination of title written documentation used
for the preparation of the list of those to be served with notice
to redeem incident thereto, in the form of receipts or other
evidence of legal expenses incurred as provided in section nineteen
of this article, the person redeeming shall pay the clerk State
Auditor the sum of two hundred dollars $300 plus interest at the
rate of one percent per month from January 1 of the year following
the sheriff's 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 the written opinion or report used for the preparation of the
list of those to be served with notice to redeem required by
section nineteen of this article.
(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 or herself to redeem the tax lien on all of the real estate
when it belongs, in whole or in part, to some other person, shall
have a lien on the interest of that other person for the amount
paid to redeem the interest. He or she shall lose his or her right
to the lien, however, unless within thirty days after payment he or
she files with the clerk of the county commission his or her claim
in writing against the owner of the interest, together with the
receipt provided for in this section. The clerk shall docket the
claim on the judgment lien docket in his or her office and properly
index the claim. The lien may be enforced as other judgment liens
are enforced.
(c) The county clerk is authorized on behalf of the State
Auditor to accept the payment necessary to redeem any real estate
encumbered with a tax lien was purchased before a tax deed is
issued. Upon payment of the amount necessary to redeem, as provided by the State Auditor, the county clerk shall promptly
deliver to the State Auditor the redemption money paid and the name
and address of the person who redeemed the property. Upon
receiving payment from the county clerk the State Auditor shall
give the person redeeming the property a receipt for the payment
and, where applicable, a written report concerning the title of the
real estate.
§11A-3-24. Notice of redemption to purchaser; moneys received by
sheriff.
(a) Upon payment of the sum necessary to redeem, the clerk
State Auditor shall deliver to the sheriff the redemption money
paid and the name and address of the purchaser, his or her heirs
and assigns. The clerk shall also note the fact of redemption on
his or her record of delinquent lands.
(b) Of the redemption money received by the sheriff pursuant
to this section, the sheriff shall deposit into the sale of tax
lien surplus fund provided by section ten of this article an amount
equal to the amount of taxes, interest and charges due on the date
of the sale, plus the interest at the rate of one percent per month
from the date of sale to the date of redemption, the amount of the
subsequent years taxes paid the day of or after the sheriff's sale,
plus interest at the rate of one percent per month thereon from the
date of payment to the date of redemption, the amount 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 and any examination of title performed
and certified pursuant to the provisions of section nineteen of
this article, plus interest at a rate of one percent per month from
the date of payment to the date of redemption. In cases where the
clerk State Auditor has not received from the purchaser
satisfactory proof of additional expenses incurred after January
1 of the year following the sheriff's sale as provided in section
twenty-three of this article, the sheriff shall deposit the money
received in the sale of tax lien surplus fund provided by section
ten of this article.
§11A-3-25. Distribution of surplus to purchaser.
(a) Where the land has been redeemed in the manner set forth
in section twenty-three of this article, and the clerk State
Auditor has delivered the redemption money to the sheriff pursuant
to section twenty-four of this article, the sheriff shall, upon
delivery receipt of the sum necessary to redeem, promptly notify
the purchaser, his or her heirs or assigns, by mail, of the fact of
the redemption and pay to the purchaser, his or her heirs or
assigns the following amounts: (1) From the sale of tax lien
surplus fund provided by section ten of this article: (A) The
surplus of money paid in excess of the amount of the taxes,
interest and charges due and paid by the purchaser to the sheriff
at the sale; and (B) the amount of taxes, interest and charges due paid by the purchaser on the date of the sale, plus the interest at
the rate of one percent per month from the date of sale to the date
of redemption; (2) all other taxes on the land which have since
been paid by the purchaser, his or her heirs or assigns, with
interest at the rate of one percent per month from the date of
payment to the date of redemption; (3) any additional reasonable
expenses that the purchaser may have been incurred from January 1
of the year following the sheriff's sale to the date of redemption
in preparing for preparation of the list of those to be served with
notice to redeem and any title examination performed written
documentation used for preparation of the list in accordance with
section nineteen of this article with interest at the rate of one
percent per month from the date of payment, but the amount which
shall be paid, excluding the interest, for the 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 shall not exceed two hundred dollars $300; and
(4) all additional statutory costs paid by the purchaser.
(b) (1) The notice shall include:
(A) A copy of the redemption certificate issued by the county
clerk State Auditor;
(B) An itemized statement of the redemption money to which the
purchaser is entitled pursuant to the provisions of this section;
and
(C) Where, at the time of the redemption, the clerk State
Auditor has not received from the purchaser satisfactory proof of
the expenses incurred in preparing the list of those to be served
with notice to redeem and any title examination performed written
documentation used for preparation of the list in accordance with
section nineteen of this article, the clerk State Auditor shall
also include instructions to the purchaser as to how these expenses
may be claimed.
(2) Subject to the limitations of this section, the purchaser
is entitled to recover any expenses incurred in preparing the list
of those to be served with notice to redeem and any title
examination incident thereto written documentation used for
preparation of the list from January 1 of the year following the
sheriff's sale to the date of the sale to the date of the
redemption.
(c) Where, pursuant to section twenty-three of this article,
the clerk State Auditor has not received from the purchaser
satisfactory proof of the expenses incurred in preparing the list
of those to be served with notice to redeem, and any title
examination incident thereto including written documentation used
for preparation of the list, in the form of receipts or other
evidence and therefore received from the purchaser as required by
that section and delivered to the sheriff the sum of two hundred
dollars plus interest at the rate of one percent per month from the first day of January of the year following the sheriff's sale to
the date of the sale to the date of redemption, and the sheriff has
not received from the purchaser satisfactory proof of the expenses
within thirty days from the date of notification by the State
Auditor, the sheriff shall refund the amount to the person
redeeming and the purchaser is barred from any claim. Where,
pursuant to that section, the clerk State Auditor has received from
the purchaser and therefore delivered to the sheriff the sum of two
hundred dollars $300 plus interest at the rate of one percent per
month from January 1 of the year following the sheriff's sale to
the date of the sale to the date of redemption, and the purchaser
provides the sheriff within thirty days from the date of
notification satisfactory proof of the expenses, and the amount of
the expenses is less than the amount paid by the person redeeming,
the sheriff shall refund the difference to the person redeeming.