Chap. 300.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 63 and 71 of an act
approved March 20, 1874, entitled an act providing a charter for the city
of Manchester, and the acts amendatory thereof, relating to the lien of
the city for taxes assessed on real estate and to the sale thereof for
non-payment of taxes.

Approved March 16, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
sixty-three and seventy-one of the act approved March twentieth, eigh-
teen hundred and seventy-four, providing a charter for the city of Man-
chester, and the acts amendatory thereof, relating to the lien of the city
for taxes assessed on real estate and to the sale thereof for the non-pay-
ment of such taxes, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§63. There shall be a lien on all real estate and on each and every
interest therein for life, in reversion, in remainder or otherwise, for city
taxes and assessments as assessed thereon from the commencement of the
year for which they are assessed. The city council may require real estate
in the city delinquent for the non-payment of city taxes and assessments
to be sold for said taxes and assessments, with interest thereon at the
rate of six per centum per annum, and such per centum as the council
may prescribe for penalties and charges. Such real estate shall be sold
and may be redeemed in the manner provided by the general law, except
in so far and in such particulars as the same may be varied by the pro-
visions of this charter.

§71. All real estate sold for delinquent taxes or assessments and
struck off to the city, as provided in section sixty-six, shall, as soon after
such sale as may be practicable, be returned by the collector or treasurer
making such sale in alphabetical lists to the city auditor, who shall enter
the same, whether the same has been previously sold or not, upon the
delinquent land books, which are now kept in the auditor’s office for the
purpose, and the lien for the taxes, assessments, interest, penalties and
charges shown in said delinquent land books shall remain upon the lands
referred to therein until paid or discharged in the manner provided by
law.

The city auditor may sell and convey any of the lands now or here-
after to be enlisted and shown as purchased by the city in said delinquent
land books in the same manner as is provided for the sale of lands pur-
chased by the Commonwealth for delinquent State taxes, the auditor
being authorized to perform all acts which the clerk of the court is au-
thorized to perform under the State laws providing for the purchase of
delinquent lands bought by the Commonwealth for State taxes.

In addition thereto, the council shall have the power at any time to
provide for the collection of such delinquent taxes by appropriate ordi-
nances for the purpose; and

Whereas, such delinquent land books as are hereinbefore provided for
have been kept in the city auditor’s office from the year eighteen hundred
and seventy-six to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, inclusive,
and the citv council has never designated the city auditor or any other
officer and directed a transfer of the title to the city of lands purchased
by the city for delinquent taxes and assessments in the manner provided
in section seventy-one of the city charter as it stood in the city charter:

Be it further enacted, That all of the said delinquent land books
which have been heretofore kept in the city auditor’s office, showing lands
sold for delinquent taxes and assessments and sold and struck off to the
city, be and they are hereby, declared valid, legal and binding in all re-
spects upon said city, and all persons interested therein and all property
affected thereby, and the lien for the taxes, assessments, interest, penal-
tis and charges in said books heretofore kept as aforesaid shall be and
remain validated, legal and binding in all respects upon the city and all
persons and lands referred to therein and affected thereby.

Tn case that any real estate struck off to the city, as hereinbefore pro-
vided, shall not be redeemed within the time specified, the city auditor
may, within sixty days after the expiration of two years from the sale,
cause to be recorded in the clerk’s office of the corporation or hustings
court for the citv of Manchester, a certificate of sale with his oath that
the same has not been redeemed, and thereupon the said corporation, or
its assignees, shall acquire an absolute title in fee to such real estate
and every interest therein for life, in reversion, in remainder ané other-
wise, subj ect to be defeated only by proof that the taxes for which said real
estate was sold were not properly chargeable thereon, or that the taxes
properly chargeable thereon had been paid at the time of the execution
»f such certificate. The said certificate shall be recorded in said clerk’s
»ffice in a record book known as “deed book recording conveyances to city
of land sold for delinquent taxes,” for recording which certificates the
slerk shall be entitled to a fee of ten cents, payable out of the city treas-
ary. The city council may impose penalties upon its officers for their
failure to comply with the requirements of this section.. The said cer-
tificate, or the record thereof, or a certified copy thereof, shall, in all
courts and other places, be evidence of the facts therein stated: provided,
however, that the failure to obtain or record such certificate shall not
invalidate the lien of the city for all taxes assessed against such real
estate, but the city may, at any time, elect to enforce its lien for taxes
in a court of equity, and release its right as purchaser or to become a
purchaser of such real estate.

2. This act shall be in force on and after the first day of July, nine-
teen hundred and ten.