FISCAL NOTE
FISCAL NOTE
2025 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
Senate Bill 835
By Senator Azinger
[Introduced March 20, 2025; referredto the Committee on Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11A-3-55 and §11A-4-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to decreasing the service period for notice of tax lien sales; and decreasing the statute of limitations for an action to set aside a deed.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
## Article 3. sale of tax liens and nonentered, escheated and waste and unappropriated lands.
(a) As soon as the Auditor has prepared the notice provided for in §11A-3-54 of this code, 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 §11A-3-52 of this code. Such notice shall be mailed and, if necessary, published at least 45 days prior to the first day a deed may be issued following the Auditor’s sale.
(b) 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, or other types of delivery service courier that provide a receipt. The notice shall be served on or before the 30th 15th day following the request for such notice.
(c) The notice shall be served upon persons not residing or found in the state by certified mail, return receipt requested, or in the manner provided for serving process commencing a civil action or other types of delivery service courier that provide a receipt. The notice shall be served on or before the 30 15 days following the request for the notice.
(d) If the address of a person 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 §59-3-1 et seq. of this code and the publication area for the publication shall be the county in which the real property is located. If service by publication is necessary, publication shall be commenced within 60 30 days following the request for the notice, and a copy of the notice shall, at the same time, be sent pursuant to subsection (b) or (c) of this section, to the last known address of the person to be served. The return of service of the 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 State Auditor in his or her office, together with any return receipts for notices sent by certified mail.
(e) In addition to the other notice requirements set forth in this section, if the real property subject to the tax lien was classified as Class II property at the time of the assessment, at the same time the Auditor issues the required notices by certified mail, the Auditor shall forward a copy of the notice sent to the delinquent taxpayer by first class mail, or in the manner provided for serving process commencing a civil action, addressed to "Occupant", to the physical mailing address for the subject property. The physical mailing address for the subject property shall be supplied by the purchaser of the property, pursuant to the provisions of §11A-3-52 of this code. Where the mail is not deliverable to an address at the physical location of the subject property, the copy of the notice shall be sent to any other mailing address that exists to which the notice would be delivered to an occupant of the subject property.
## Article 4. remedies relating to tax sales.
(a) If any person entitled to be notified under the provisions of §11A-3-55 of this code is not served with the notice as therein required, and does not have actual knowledge that such notice has been given to others in time to protect his or her interests by redeeming the property, he or she, his or her heirs and assigns may, before the expiration of two years one year following the delivery of the deed, institute a civil action to set aside the deed.
(b) Any person instituting a civil action pursuant to this section seeking to set aside a tax deed shall, as a condition precedent to the court allowing the action to proceed, tender to the clerk of the court in which the suit is pending the funds necessary to redeem the real estate. The court shall enter an order directing the clerk to accept the funds of the applicant, and deposit those funds into an account in the control of the clerk pending the conclusion of the proceeding.
(c) In any action brought by a tax sale purchaser or his or her grantee seeking to quiet the title pursuant to an Auditor’s sale, the previous owner and any person entitled to notice or right to redeem shall have the right to assert as a defense to the requested remedy the existence of both a failure of notice of the right to redeem and a failure of the applicant for the deed to have exercised reasonably diligent efforts to provide notice of his or her intention to acquire title to the real estate. It shall be a condition precedent to raising such a defense that he or she has the funds necessary to redeem the real estate should he or she prevail. Upon application by the person instituting such suit, the court shall enter an order directing the defendant to tender funds in the sufficient amount to the clerk for deposit into an account in the clerk’s control pending conclusion of the proceeding. Failure to tender the necessary funds within 30 days following the entry of the order requiring the deposit shall entitle the purchaser to a judgment in his or her favor.
(d) An answer filed by a purchaser or his or her grantee shall include the amount required for redemption, together with any taxes which have been paid on the property since delivery of the deed, with interest at the rate of 12 percent per annum.
(e) No title acquired pursuant to this article shall be set aside in the absence of a showing by clear and convincing evidence that the person who originally acquired such title failed to exercise reasonably diligent efforts to provide notice of his intention to acquire such title to the complaining party or his predecessors in title.
(f) Upon a preliminary finding by the court that the deed will be set aside pursuant to this section, such amounts on deposit with the clerk pursuant to this section shall be paid by the clerk to the sheriff within one month of the entry thereof and shall direct the sheriff to pay to the purchaser amounts pursuant to §11A-3-58 of this code. Upon a finding by the court that the deed will not be set aside and with the entry of a judgment dismissing the action with prejudice, the clerk shall return to the plaintiff or other appropriated person whose funds previously tendered, less any accrued costs assessed against such person such funds by the court.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to decrease the service period for notice of tax lien sales; and to decrease the statute of limitations for an action to set aside a deed.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.