Chap. 254.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 655 of chapter 28 of the
Code of Virginia of 1887, entitled when deed to be made to purchaser:
clerk to make it; what to contain; fee of clerk.

Approved March 16, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
six hundred and fifty-five of the Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven, entitled when deed to be made to purchaser; clerk to
make it; what to contain; fee of clerk, be amended and re-enacted so as
to read as follows:

§655. After the expiration of the said two years, the purchaser of
any real estate so sold and not redeemed, his heirs or assigns, shall obtain
from the clerk of the circuit court of the county or corporation court of
the city whose officer has sold such rea] estate, a deed conveving the
same, in which shall be set forth all the circumstances appearing in the
clerk’s office in relation to the sale; but in no case shall a deed he made
to any such purchaser of any such rea] estate until after such purchaser
has given to the person in whose name the real estate so sold stood at the
time of said sale, and the person or persons to whom said real estate so
sold has been conveyed of record subsequently to the time of said sale,
or, if any of said persons be dead, then to his or their personal represen-
tatives, heirs and devisees, and to the trustees, mortgagees and bene-
ficiaries as shown by the records in any deed of trust or mortgage on
said real estate, or their personal representatives, four months’ notice of
his said purchase: provided, that no notice may be given to any trustee,
mortgagee or beneficiary, in any deed of trust or mortgage which: has
been recorded, or the lien thereof renewed, more than twenty years prior to
the date of such sale; and the person entitled to redeem said real estate
shall have the right to redeem the same at any time before the expira-
tion of the said four months, although such time extended beyond the
two years first mentioned herein: provided further, that where said real
estate has been purchased at a tax sale, and no deed has been made to the
purchaser thereof, and the same has not been redeemed by the former
owner, the circuit or corporation court of the county or corporation in
which said Jand or any part thereof is situated, may, upon the applica-
tion of the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, unless it appear by satisfac-
tory proof that the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, have been deprived of
their right to a deed for said Jand, direct the clerk of the said court te
convey to said purchaser, his heirs or assigns, the said real estate by deed
with special warranty, upon satisfactory evidence that a period of twenty
years has elapsed since said tax sale, and that at the time of making saic
application for a deed the purchaser has been in adverse possession of
the said land for at least fifty vears east of the Alleghany mountains, o1
ten vears west of the Alleghany mountains, and the taxes due thereor
have been paid by said purchaser, his heirs or assigns. Said application
shall be by motion in writing, and the court may award any process or
summon any party to answer said motion it may deem proper, before
making said order, and the clerk, upon making said deed, shall report
the same to the court, which shall confirm the same. If the sale be of
part of a tract of land, the deed shall refer particularly to the plat and
certificate of survey returned according to section six hundred and fifty-
three, and to the order of the court thereupon; and if the sale be of an
entire tract of land, it shall refer to the report made according to the
preceding section and the order thereupon. If the sale be of a city or
town lot, or of an undivided interest in such lot, and a report be made
describing the same, and such report be ordered by the court to be re-
corded, the deed shall refer to such report. But when in the case of the
sale of a city or town lot, or of an undivided interest in such lot, there
is no such report, the clerk shall, nevertheless, execute a deed therefor to
the purchaser if he desires the same. .

For every deed executed under this section the clerk shall be en-
titled to one dollar, which the purchaser shall pay him on delivery of
the deed. This section shall apply as well to real estate heretofore sold
as to such real estate as may be hereafter sold for taxes or levies; and
im any case in which the chancery court of the city of Richmond has
ordered the plat and certificate of survey theretofore made of such real
estate in the said city to be recorded in conformity to section six hun-
dred and fifty-three, the clerk of the said chancery court shall execute
the deed to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns.