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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 259
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 1914
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)
AN ACT CONCERNING NO TICE OF TAX DELINQUENCY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 12-141 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2020): 2
["Municipality"] Except as otherwise indicated in the context: (1) 3
"Municipality", wherever used in sections [12-142 to 12-170] 12-122 to 4
12-195h, inclusive, includes each town, consolidated town and city, 5
consolidated town and borough, city, borough, school district, fire 6
district, fire and sewer district, sewer district, lighting district and 7
improvement association and each municipal organization and taxing 8
district not previously mentioned; [. Except as otherwise indicated in the 9
context,] (2) "tax", wherever used in said sections, includes each 10
property tax and each installment and part thereof due to a 11
municipality, including any interest, penalties, fees and charges, 12
including collection fees of a collection agency, attorney's fees and those 13
fees and charges set forth in section 12-140; and (3) "tax collector", 14
"collector of taxes" and "collector", wherever used in sections 12-122 to 15
12-195h, inclusive, includes any assistant, agent, counsel or other person 16 Raised Bill No. 259
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authorized to perform the duties of such collector. 17
Sec. 2. Subsections (a) to (f), inclusive, of section 12-157 of the general 18
statutes are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 19
(Effective October 1, 2020): 20
(a) When a collector levies one or more tax warrants on real estate, he 21
or she shall prepare notices thereof, containing the name of the taxpayer, 22
a legal description of the real property or citation to an instrument in the 23
land records, an assessor's map or another publicly available document 24
identifying the real property's boundaries, the street address, if such real 25
property has one, the amount of the tax or taxes due, including any 26
interest and charges attributable to the property as of the last day of the 27
month immediately preceding the notice, a statement that additional 28
taxes, interest, fees and other charges authorized by law accruing after 29
the last day of the month immediately preceding the notice are owed in 30
addition to the amount indicated as due and owing in the notice, and 31
the date, time and place of sale. The collector shall post one notice on a 32
bulletin board in or near the collector's office in the town where such 33
real estate is situated, if any, or at some other exterior place near the 34
office of the town clerk, which is nearest thereto; one shall be filed in the 35
town clerk's office of such town and such town clerk shall record and 36
index the same as a part of the land records of such town, which 37
recording shall serve as constructive notice equivalent to a lis pendens 38
for all purposes, and one shall be sent by certified mail, return receipt 39
requested, to the taxpayer and each mortgage, lienholder and other 40
encumbrancer of record whose interest is choate and will be affected by 41
the sale. Such posting, filing and mailing shall be done not more than 42
twelve and not less than nine weeks before the time of sale and shall 43
constitute a legal levy of such warrant or warrants upon the real estate 44
referred to in the notice. Such collector shall also publish a similar notice 45
for three weeks, at least once each week, in a newspaper published in 46
such town, or in a newspaper published in the state having a general 47
circulation in such town. The first notice shall be published beginning 48
not more than twelve and not less than nine weeks before the time of 49
sale and the last shall be published not more than four weeks nor less 50 Raised Bill No. 259
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than two weeks before such sale. He shall also send by certified mail, 51
return receipt requested, to the delinquent taxpayer and to each 52
mortgagee, lienholder and other encumbrancer of record whose interest 53
in such property is choate and will be affected by such sale, a similar 54
notice which shall not be required to list information pertaining to 55
properties in which the person to whom the notice is directed has no 56
interest. The notice shall be sent at least twice, the first not more than 57
eight nor less than five weeks before such sale and the last not more than 58
four weeks nor less than two weeks before such sale. The notice shall be 59
addressed to his or her place of residence, if known to the collector; [,] 60
or to his or her estate or the fiduciary thereof if the collector knows him 61
or her to be deceased, in which case such mailing shall serve as 62
constructive notice to each of the delinquent taxpayer's heirs, devisees 63
and creditors whose interest in such property is inchoate regardless of 64
whether any application for administration of the decedent's estate has 65
been filed with the Probate Court having jurisdiction of such estate or 66
whether any action has been taken by such court on such application; or 67
to the address, or the agent of such person, to which such person has 68
requested that tax bills be sent. If there is no address of such person, or 69
if no such agent is given in the records of such town, the notice shall be 70
sent to the place where such person regularly conducts business or other 71
address as the collector believes will give notice of the levy and sale. If 72
a person is a corporation, limited partnership or other legal entity, the 73
notice may be sent to any person upon whom process may be served to 74
initiate a civil action against such corporation, limited partnership or 75
entity or to any other address that the collector believes will give notice 76
of the levy and sale. If no place of residence or business is known and 77
cannot be determined by the tax collector for any owner, taxpayer, 78
mortgagee, lienholder or other encumbrancer whose interest in the 79
property is choate and will be affected by the sale, in lieu of notice by 80
certified mail as provided in this subsection, the notice, together with 81
the list of mortgagees, lienholders, and other encumbrancers of record 82
whose interests in the property are choate and will be affected by such 83
sale, shall be published in a newspaper published in this state, having a 84
general circulation in the town in which such property is located at least 85 Raised Bill No. 259
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twice, the first not more than eight weeks nor less than five weeks before 86
such sale and the last not more than four weeks nor less than two weeks 87
before such sale. 88
(b) The collector may, for any reason, adjourn such sale from time to 89
time by causing public notice of such adjournment and the time and 90
place of such adjourned sale to be given either by oral announcement or 91
posting of a written notice at the time and place designated for the sale 92
in the notices of such sale. If the adjourned date is set for a date more 93
than three days from the date of the original or rescheduled sale date, 94
the tax collector shall provide a postage prepaid written notice of the 95
new time and place of the sale to the delinquent taxpayer and each 96
mortgagee, lienholder and other encumbrancer of record whose interest 97
is choate and will be affected by the sale. 98
(c) At the time and place stated in such notices, or, if such sale is 99
adjourned, at the time and place specified at the time of adjournment as 100
aforesaid, such collector (1) may sell at public auction to the highest 101
bidder all of said real property, to pay the taxes with the interest, fees 102
and other charges allowed by law, including, but not limited to, those 103
charges set forth in section 12-140, or (2) may sell all of said real property 104
to his municipality if there has been no bidder or the amount bid is 105
insufficient to pay the amount due. 106
(d) The collector shall post, at the time and place of the sale, a written 107
notice stating the amount of all taxes, interest, fees and other charges 108
authorized by law with respect to each property to be sold. The tax 109
collector may publish or announce any rules for the orderly conduct of 110
the auction and the making of payment by successful bidders which are 111
not inconsistent with the requirements of law. The tax collector or the 112
municipality may retain the services of auctioneers, clerks and other 113
persons to assist the tax collector in the conduct of the sale and the cost 114
of such persons paid for their services shall be added to the taxes due 115
from the delinquent taxpayer. If more than one property is sold, the tax 116
collector shall apportion all shared costs equally among all the 117
properties. 118 Raised Bill No. 259
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(e) Within two weeks after such sale, the collector shall execute a deed 119
thereof to the purchaser or to the municipality conducting the sale and 120
shall lodge the same in the office of the town clerk of such town, where 121
it shall remain unrecorded six months from the date of such sale. 122
(f) Within sixty days after such sale, the collector shall cause to be 123
published in a newspaper having a daily general circulation in the town 124
in which the real property is located, and shall send by certified mail, 125
return receipt requested, to the delinquent taxpayer and each 126
mortgagee, lienholder and other encumbrancer of record whose interest 127
in such property is choate and is affected by such sale, a notice stating 128
the date of the sale, the name and address of the purchaser, the amount 129
the purchaser paid for the property and the date the redemption period 130
will expire. The notice shall include a statement that if redemption does 131
not take place by the date stated and in the manner provided by law, the 132
delinquent taxpayer, and all mortgagees, lienholders and other 133
encumbrancers who have received actual or constructive notice of such 134
sale as provided by law, that their respective titles, mortgages, liens, 135
restraints on alienation and other encumbrances in such property shall 136
be extinguished. After [such notice is published] the first notice 137
published in a newspaper, not more than twelve and not less than nine 138
weeks before the time of sale, in accordance with the provisions of 139
subsection (a) of this section, and not later than six months after the date 140
of the sale or within sixty days if the property was abandoned or meets 141
other conditions established by ordinance adopted by the legislative 142
body of the municipality, if the delinquent taxpayer, mortgagee, 143
lienholder or other encumbrancer whose interest in the property will be 144
affected by such sale, pays to the collector, the amount of taxes, interest 145
and charges which were due and owing at the time of the sale together 146
with interest on the total purchase price paid by the purchaser at the rate 147
of eighteen per cent per annum from the date of such sale plus any taxes 148
and debts owed to the municipality that were not recovered by the sale 149
and any additional charges under section 12-140, such deed, executed 150
pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, shall be delivered to the 151
collector by the town clerk for cancellation and the collector shall 152 Raised Bill No. 259
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provide a certificate of satisfaction to the person paying the money who, 153
if not the person whose primary duty it was to pay the tax or taxes, shall 154
have a claim against the person whose primary duty it was to pay such 155
tax or taxes for the amount so paid, and may add the same with the 156
equivalent precedence, rate of interest and priority as the tax paid over 157
other nongovernmental encumbrances but without precedence or 158
priority over any state or municipal tax lien or any tax that was not yet 159
due and payable when notice of the levy was first published to any claim 160
for which he has security upon the property sold, provided the 161
certificate of satisfaction is recorded on the land records but the interests 162
of other persons in the property shall not be affected. Within ten days of 163
receipt of such amounts in redemption of the levied property, the 164
collector shall notify the purchaser by certified mail, return receipt 165
requested, that the property has been redeemed and shall tender such 166
payment, together with the amount held pursuant to subparagraph (A) 167
of subdivision (1) of subsection (i) of this section, if any, to the purchaser. 168
If the purchase money and interest are not paid within such redemption 169
period, the deed shall be recorded and have full effect. 170
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2020 12-141
Sec. 2 October 1, 2020 12-157(a) to (f)
Statement of Purpose:
To (1) recognize, in certain situations, that other individuals perform tax
collection duties, (2) specify that certain actions shall serve as
constructive notice to certain individuals for purposes of tax
delinquency sales of real property, and (3) revise a certain provision to
account for instances in which the redemption by a delinquent taxpayer
of the real property at issue occurs prior to the delinquency sale of such
property.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]