Chap. 261.—An ACT for the annual sale of lands returned delinquent
after the year 1884.

Approved February 26, 1886.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be the duty of the clerk of each court in this common-
wealth, charged with the duty of examining and certifying to
the auditor of public accounts a list of real estate delinquent
for non-payment of taxes thereon, within thirty days, in each
year, after such list shall have been examined and certified, to
make a copy of such list, and deliver the same to the treasurer
of his county or corporation, and within sixty days after such
copy is received, or sooner if practicable, the treasurer shall
advertise all the real estate shown to be delinquent by the list,
such sale to be made in front of the courthouse of his county
or corporation, on the first day of the term of such court next
commencing, at least thirty days after such advertisements.
He shall prepare a notice as follows:

Delinquents, take notice. On the first day of the county or
corporation court next, at the courthouse door (here name the
county or town), I will offer for public sale all the real estate
belonging to delinquent tax-payers, a description of which real
estate can be seen in the county or corporation court clerk’s
office.

(Signed, )

County or city treasurer.

The notice shall be published once a week for four weeks in
some newspaper published in the county or city, and if none
be so published, then by handbills posted four weeks prior to
the day of sale, at five or more public places in the county, one
of which shall be posted at the courthouse door.

2. The sales shall be made in pursuance of the notice, and
continued from day to day during the continuance of the court,
or if the court adjourn before such” sales are completed, then
the sales of such tracts as remain unsold shall be adjourned
until the first day of the next term of the court, without further
notice or advertisement.

3. No tract, parcel or lot of land shail be sold for less than
the taxes, penalties, levies and costs due thereon; and if no
person, firm, company or corporation bid the amount of the
taxes, penalties, levies and costs, the treasurer shall bid the
same off in the name of the auditor of public accounts, for the
use of the state and county; said use to be for the amount of
taxes, penalties, costs and levies due the state and county re-
spectively.

4. In all cases of sale of any lot, tract or parcel of land of
said advertised property to any person, company or firm, on
the receipt of the amount due and chargeable on the property
so sold, the treasurer shall give the purchaser a certificate of
said purchase.

5. Within thirty days after the sales have been completed,
the treasurer shall report all of the sales to the county court
of his county, or corporation court of his city. The report
shall be in the following form:

I hereby report that, after giving the notice required by law,
on the day of , eighteen hundred and , I sold
the following described tracts or parcels of land, lying in the
county or corporation of , State of Virginia, to the
respective parties herein named, for taxes, penalties, costs and
levies due thereon respectively:
| By ke | Pode =Fi
Si) BB | 8 i eS | Ss 5 | wo
Name of persons charged: : oO os | os yr) “i Oo§8
with taxes. =” TO any | 23. #2 Os EY
BE (se: 22) 2 FE gf | 28
$2 | 85 Es | g8 | $8 | G2 gs
S) a i < :< | a 2 «
|
i | 1
:
! |
| | .
All of which is respectfully: submitted.
(Signed, ) —_ ——_
e County or city treasurer.

The court, if in session, if not in session then at its next term,

shall enter on record the fact of the return of the report of said
sales, and shall continue the matter until the next term for ex-
ception to be filed by any person affected by said report; and
if no cause be shown to the contrary, or in so far as the report
appears to be proper, and the sales to have been legally made,
the court shall confirm said sales, and make the same binding
upon the parties in interest, subject to the limitation and ex-
ceptions hereinafter prescribed; and writs of possession may in
all cases be granted to the said purchasers during term, or at
any time thereafter on demand, whether said purchaser shall
be a person, company, firm, or corporation, or the auditor of
the state.
-°6. No sale shall be invalid because the number of acres, or
the size or dimensions of the tract, lot or parcel of land, have
not been precisely named, or the amount of the valuation of
tax not precisely given; nor because the property has been as-
sessed and advertised in the name of a person who did not own
the same; nor because the same was assessed and advertised to
unknown owners; nor because a levy was not made; nor on
account of objection or informality, merely technical.

.7, All such sales shall be good and valid if the taxes, penal-
ties, costs and levies were actually due and unpaid, and the ad-
vertisement, sale, and certificate of sale to the county court,
were made as herein provided, and the confirmation of sale by
the court, vesting title in the purchaser, ora certified copy
thereof, or the deed of the clerk of county or corporation court,
which shall be executed and delivered to the purchaser after the
expiration of the time for the redemption, shall, in any suit for
the possession of land, be prima facie evidence of all these
facts, and of the validity and the regularity of the sale, but may
be overcome by proof that the land was not subject to taxation,
or that the taxes were paid before the sale, or that the land had
been redeemed. |

8. In each and every sale of land under this act, where a writ
of possession has been issued, it shall be the duty of the sheriff
to put the purchaser or purchasers thereof, his, her or their
agent or attorney, in possession of the same, with full power
and authority of use and occupation of the same, and the en-
joyment of all rents and profits arising therefrom, and the right
to sell, until a full and complete redemption of the same by the
owner or owners, his, her or their agent or attorney, has been
effected within the time prescribed: provided the purchaser of
such land shall not commit waste thereon during the period
within which the same may be redeemed.

9. .Whenever any land shall have been sold under the provi-
sions of this act, and the purchaser shall have paid the amount
of his bid and costs, the owner shall not be entitled to an ac-
tion of any kind for the possession of such land or lot upon the
ground of any irregularity of the sale of the same, until he
shall have paid or tendered to such purchaser the amount of
his bid, damages, interest and cost sand other taxes, if any
should have been paid,) as provided herein; and his declara-
tion or complaint shall allege such paymenf or tender, as the
case may be. ,

1o. Any person aggrieved by reason of the confirmation of
such sale and issuance of a writ of possession to the purchaser
thereof, may apply to the court of the county or corporation
wherein the treasurer qualified, who made such sale, at any
time previous to the execution of the deed, as hereinbefore pro-
vided, for relief; and upon showing that the taxes assessed
against him, for which his land has been sold, are not justly
due from any cause, or that his land is not liable for the same,
such court may set aside and annul such sale, and issue an order
of restitution of the purchase money to the purchaser, and ex-
onerate such real estate from said tax, and restore possession
to the owner, The treasurer, purchaser, and commonwealth’s
attorney, shall have at least five days’ notice of the application,
and the commonwealth’s attorney shall be present, and resist
the application.

11. The owner or owners of any real estate sold at said sale,
his, her, or their attorney or agent, or any person interested,
as having a right to charge such real estate, shall be entitled
and allowed to redeem the same, and recover possession thereof
at any time within two years after the day of sale, but at no
time thereafter; and to effect such redemption shall pay or
cause to be paid to the clerk of said court the amount of said
taxes, penalties, cost and levies, with interest on the same at the
rate of six per centum per annum, from the day of sale, on the
payment of which a judgment of redemption shall be entered
of record in the court; and if the purchaser thereof shall re-
fuse possession to said owner, a writ of possession shall issue,
and the sheriff shall place the party in possession, and the
court shall order the purchase money to be returned to the
purchaser.
12. When any real estate is sold for taxes at tax sale, or for
county levies, if the purchaser at such sale has paid other taxes,
costs and charges due on such real estate, in addition to those
for which such real estate was sold, any person having the right
to redeem such real estate, shall be required to pay or tender
to such purchaser the amount of all taxes, costs and charges
paid by him, together with six per centum per annum interest
on the whole amount thereof, in lawful money of the United
States; and in cases where purchased for the use of the com-
monwealth, such person shall likewise pay all taxes and interest
thereon accruing to date of redemption.

13. The said courts shall have power, upon the application
of the owner, his or her agent or attorney, upon satisfactory rea-
sons shown, to authorize the redemption of any piece or part ot
any tract or lot of land which was theretofore sold to the au-
ditor for state taxes and county levies due thereon, and when
the applicant is not the owner of the whole of the tract, or lot
so sold, the court may fix the value of the part so sought to be
redeemed, and a certified copy of said order shall be authority
for the action of the officer whose duty it shall be to receive the
taxes and levies due thereon; and any person paying the amount
of the taxes and levies due, according to the valuation thus fixed
and determined, shall be entitled to a certificate of redemption,
and shall hold the property so redeemed free from any lien of
the state or county for taxes or levies due on the remaining
portion of the lot or parcel of land.

14. The county or corporation court is authorized and em-
powered, upon application of the owner, his or her agent or
attorney, and for good reasons shown, to correct the assess-
ment, and to remit interest and penalties on any lot or tract, or
any portion of any lot or tract of land sold for state taxes and
county levies to the auditor for the use of state and county ;
and a copy of the order of the court, duly certified, shall be
furnished applicants, and the officer, whose duty it is to receive
such taxes, shall collect the same upon the valuations and terms
so fixed, and give receipt in full for taxes and levies due and
unpaid. The clerk of the county court shall be entitled to a
fee of seventy-five cents in each case, to be paid by the appli-
cant; and the clerk shall make a note of all partial redemptions
on the book in his office, showing the return of the sale of the
land by the treasurer.

15. Within thirty days after confirmation of a report of sales
of land, as hereinbefore provided, it shall be the duty of the
clerk of the court to certify a true copy of such report, as con-
firmed by the court, to the auditor of public accounts, for which
service such clerk shall be entitled to a fee of one dollar, to be
paid out of the treasury on the certificate of the court; and the
auditor shall, upon the receipt of such copy, charge the treas-
urer of the county or corporation with the amount of taxes
and interest which appears to have been paid him by purchasers
at the sale, less a commission of ten per centum, which amount
the treasurer shall pay into the treasury within sixty days there-
after; and it shall also be the duty of each clerk of a county
court, at the next meeting of the board of supervisors of his
county, to lay a copy of such report before such board, who
shall require such treasurer to pay over and account for the
amount of county levies and interest thereon, which such re-
port shows that he has collected, less a commission of ten per
centum.

16. Any infant, married woman, insane person, or person
imprisoned, whose real estate may have been so sold, may re-
deem the same by paying to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns,
within two years after the removal of the disability, the amount for
which the same was so sold; with the necessary charges incurred
by the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, in obtaining the title un-
der the sale; and such additional taxes on the estate as may
have been paid by the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, and in-
terest on the said items at the rate of six per centum per annum,
from the times the same may have been paid.

17. The auditor of public accounts on or before the first day:
of August, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, shall make a copy
of the list of real estate in each county or corporation returned
delinquent for the year eighteen hundred and eighty-four, which
have not been issued under the act approved March nineteenth,
eighteen hundred and eighty-four, entitled an act to provide for
the sale of lands delinquent for the taxes and county levies, and
the acts amendatory thereof, and send the same to the clerk of
each court from which said list originally came, and such clerk
shall, within thirty days after receiving such list, furnish a certi-
fied copy thereof to the treasurer of his county and corporation,
and such treasurer shall proceed to make sale of such real estate
in accordance with the provisions of this act.

18. The auditor shall issue his warrant on the treasury for
the fees of the treasurer, clerk and printer, on all sales of land
to the auditor for the state and county; said fees to be as fol-
lows, viz: printer’s fee of five dollars for printing notices,
treasurer’s and clerk’s fee, each fifty cents for each tract, par-
cel or lot of land.

19. The clerk shall pay over to the county or city treasurer
all moneys received by him on the redemption of lands which
have been purchased for the use of the state, within ten days
after collecting the same, and take and file receipts for same in
his office.

20. This act shall apyly to all lands returned delinquent
after the year eighteen hundred and eighty-four, and as to all
sales made under section seventeen of this act. All acts and
parts of acts inconsistent with this act, are hereby repealed.

21. This act shall be in force from its passage.