Chap. 794.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 666 of the code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, in relation to sale of delinquent lands purchased
in the name of the auditor.

Approved March 6, 1900.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
six hundred and sixty-six of the code of Virginia, in relation to when
and how lands purchased in the name of the auditor and unredeemed
to be sold, as amended and re-enacted by act approved March fifth, eigh-
teen hundred and ninety-four, as further amended and re-enacted by an
act approved January twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six,
and as further amended and re-enacted by an act approved February
leventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, be amended and re-enacted
0 as to read as follows:

§ 666. When and how lands purchased in the name of the auditor and
unredeemed to be sold.—When real estate so purchased in the name of
che auditor is not redeemed by the previous owner, his heirs or assigns,
or some person having the right to charge the same with a debt, within
two years from the date of such purchase, any person desiring to pur-
chase it shall file an application with the clerk of the county or cor-
poration court wherein such real estate is situated for the purchase of
such real estate for the amount for which the sales to the commonwealth
was made, “and the taxes and county levies due the city, town, or county,
or district in which said land is situated,” together with such additional
3ums as would have accrued from taxes, levies, and interest if such real
estate had not been so purchased by the commonwealth, with interest
on the amount for which said sale was made, at the rate of six per
centum per annum, from the day of sale, and on the additional sums
from the fifteenth day of December in the year in which the same would
have accrued, in which application shall be set out the name of the
person in whose name the real estate stood at the date of the sale
thereof to the commonwealth and the person in whose name such real
estate stands at the date of such application on the commissioner’s
books of such county or corporation, in the event that it has been trans-
ferred contrary to the provisions of section four hundred and sixty-nine
of the code, as well as the owner or owners of such real estate as shown
by the deed books and will books of the clerk’s office of the court of the
county or corporation in which it is situated, “ or in the clerk’s office
of the chancery court of the city of Richmond, if the property is sit-
uated in the city of Richmond,” or if any of the said persons be dead,
then the name of his personal representative and heirs, and the name
of the trustees, mortgagees, and beneficiaries as shown by the records in
any deed of trust or mortgage on said real estate, or their personal
representative: provided, that the names of any persons may be omitted
which do not appear of record in the clerk’s office of the county or cor.
poration in which the land is situated, and if it be situated in the city
of Richmond which do not appear of record in the clerk’s office in the
chancery court of the said city: and provided further, that the name
of any trustee, mortgagee, or beneficiary in any deed of trust or mort.
gage which has been recorded more than twenty years prior to the date
of the application may be likewise omitted. At the time of filing saic
application he shall pay to the clerk at least ten per centum of the
amount of the proposed purchase price of the said land: provided, tha
this deposit, which shall be first for purchase price and then for costs
shall in no case be less than one dollar, and the clerk shall make out a
many copies of said application as there are names of persons therein
with one additional copy, or more if necessary, and shall at once delive
them to the sheriff or sergeant of the county or corporation in whic]
the land is situated, and the same shall be served on the parties namec
therein in the same manner that process to commence a suit is served
and similar return shall be made thereon by the officer serving the same
If any of the persons named in the said application do not reside in th
county or corporation in which the land is situated, but are known by th
clerk to reside in some other county or corporation in the state of Vir-
ginia, the clerk shall send copies of said application to the proper officer
of the county or corporation wherein they reside, to be executed upon
such person. Said return shall be made within sixty days after the
issuing of the copy of the application. If the same be returned not exe-
cuted on any party therein named, other copies may be made out and
served as hereinbefore provided. On affidavit that one or more of the
parties are non-residents of the state, or that diligence has been used
by, or on behalf of the applicant to ascertain in what county or corpora-
tion such persons are without effect, or that a copy of the application
has been twice delivered to the proper oflicer of the county or corporation
in which he resides without being executed, an order of publication
may be entered by the clerk against such parties. The order of pub-
lication shall not be a copy of the application, but shall be in the
following form—viz:

To ——————_—__—— You are hereby notified that a tract
(or lot) of land (if more than one state the number and describe the land

as it appears on the commissioner’s books) in —-——————— district,
—_—_—_—_—_—_—— county (if in a city or town name the city and ward), was
sold on the ———————— day of ——-————_ nineteen

for delinquent taxes, levies, interest, and costs to the commonwealth of
Virginia, and application for the purchase thereof has been filed in this
office, and it appearing from the records in this office that you are in-
terested in said land, you are further notified to appear in four months
from the date of this notice and do what may be necessary to protect
your interests.

Given under my hand this ———————— day of ———————— nine-
teen

Clerk,
—__—_—__—___—_———— court Virginia.

It shall be published once a week for four successive weeks in a
newspaper published in such city or county, if there be one, to
be designated by the clerk, and if there be none, in such news-
paper as the clerk may direct, and shall be posted by the clerk
at the front door of the court-beuse of the county or corpora-
tion wherein the court is held on the first day of the next county
or corporation court after it is entered. If no person who has a
right to redeem the same at the time of the service of the copies, or of
the completion of the order of publication as aforesaid, appear within
four months after such copies have been so served or published, as the
case may be, and redeem said real estate by paying to the clerk of the
county or corporation court all the taxes, levies, interest, penalties and
costs therewith connected, as well as all fees and costs attending the
proceedings under this section, including a penalty equal to ten per
centum of the amount for which said real estate is proposed to be pur-
chased: provided, that such penalty be not less than two dollars nor
more than five dollars, which shall be paid to the applicant, together
with such an amount as the applicant had previously paid to the clerk
at the time of making such application, then the person who made
the application shall have a right to purchase the real estate within
five days from the expiration of the four months, as aforesaid, by pay-
ing to the clerk all remaining taxes, levies, interest, penalties, fees, and
costs, and by paying all city, town, and county taxes and levies remaining
unpaid, together with all interest and penalties, and if the applicant
does not, within said five days, exercise such right, then all amounts
deposited by him as provided in this act shall be forfeited to the com-
monwealth, and the rights of such applicant to such land shall cease,
and the right to redeem the same shall immediately accrue to all parties
entitled to redeem the same, and the right to file application for the
purchase of the same shall also accrue immediately to any one desiring
to purchase. 3
And the purchaser shall then, in order to complete his purchase, at
his expense have a report made to the county or corporation court of
the county or corporation in which the said real estate is situated, by
the surveyor of such county or the engineer of such city, or, where there
is no such surveyor or city engineer, “ or when such surveyor or engineer
refuses to act,” by some competent surveyor to be appointed by such
court for that purpose, specifying the mctes and bounds of said real
estate, the names of the owners of the adjoining tracts or lots, and giving
such further description of the said real estate as will identify the same.
But, in the discretion of the court, there need not be an additional
survey if a sufficient description of the said land can be obtained from
the records; which fact, and the order dispensing therewith, shall be en-
tered by such court upon its order book. And the county or corporation
court, unless it have some objection to such report, shall order the same
to be recorded. After such report shall have been recorded, or dis-
pensed with, as hereinbefore provided, the purchaser shall obtain from
the clerk of the county or corporation court of the county or corporation
in which the said real estate is situated, a deed conveying the same, in
which shall be set forth all the circumstances appearing in the clerk’s
office in relation to the sale, and reference shall be made in the said
deed to said report, or the order of the court dispensing therewith, as the
case may be. Every such deed shall be with covenants of special war-
ranty. In no case shall the commonwealth be liable for any costs in-
curred under any of the provisions of this act. For making off a copy of
an application under this section the clerks shall be entitled to a fee of
twenty cents; for every order of publication and posting, fifty cents; for
every deed executed, one dollar; and for every copy of application
served under this section by sheriff or other officer, he shall receive thirty
cents. All the foregoing fees may be required by the clerk or other
officer to be paid in advance, except the fee for the deed, which may
be paid upon the delivery of the deed, but the fee taxed for the order
of publication against the party redeeming the land shall be the amount
actually paid or contracted to be paid by the applicant, for the publication
of such order. If the clerk refuse to execute such deed the court of the
county or corporation wherein such real estate is situated mav compel
him to do so upon the petition of the purchaser. If no such deed be made
under this section within one year after the date of the application for
the purchase of the said real estate to the party entitled to the deed,
“ unless hindered by judicial proceedings,” the person or persons entitled
to redeem the same, as hereinbefore mentioned, his or their heirs or
856 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

assigns, may, after such year and before such deed is made, redeem the
said real estate by paying the purchaser the amount paid therefor by
him, including the costs, but not the penalty hereinbefore provided, with
such taxes and levies as he may have paid thereon since such purchase,
with interest at six per centum per annum upon such payments from the
date they were respectively made. “If no such deed be made under this
section, within two years after the date of the said application, to the
party entitled to the deed, his or their heirs or assigns, and if the said
real estate be not redeemed as herein provided, then the said application
shall be null and void, and all amounts paid by such applicant as pro-
vided in this act shall be forfeited to the commonwealth, and the rights
of such applicant to such lands shall cease, and the lands shall be open
to a new application as if none had been made.” The provisions of
section six hundred and sixty-one of the code of Virginia shall apply to
deeds made under authority of this section, and the provisions of sec-
tion six hundred and fifty-two shall apply to real estate sold under
authority of this section. Nothing herein contained shall be construed
as affecting the duties of the commissioner of revenue as prescribed by
section four hundred and sixty-nine. No application shall be made under
this section-to purchase any real estate if at the time of such application
suit is pending either to satisfy debts due creditors or for partition among
the parties interested, until after the land has been sold in said suit and the
court has failed to cause the taxes to be paid out of the purchase money.
If one application has been filed for the purchase of real estate, and copies
thereof issued, no second application shall be considered for the same
piece of land until the rights of the first applicant shall have expired.
Every applicant for the purchase of land under this section who does not
reside in the county or corporation wherein said land is situated shall,
in writing, designate some resident of said county or corporation as his
agent or attorney, upon whom all process against or notice to such appli-
cant shall be served, and service of any such notice or process upon such
agent or attorney shall have the same force and effect as if served upon
the applicant in person. Such writing shall be signed and acknowledged
by the applicant and delivered to the clerk of the court in whose office
any application under this section shall be filed, and shall be by him
recorded in a deed book of said office. “ Except that said writing shall
be recorded in the clerk’s office of the chancery court of the city of
Richmond, if application is made in said city.” Any person having the
right to redeem said land as hereinbefore mentioned, and who desires to
contest the right of the applicant to purchase such real estate, shall
give notice in writing to the applicant of his purpose to make such
contest. The notice shall name the term of the court, and the day of
the term on which he will make the motion to dismiss or quash the
application or otherwise resist said application. The notice shall be
executed upon the applicant, if a resident of the county or corporation
wherein such real estate is situated, or upon his agent or attorney here-
inbefore provided for, at least ten days before the return day thereof.
The county court of the county or the corporation court of the corpora-
tion wherein said real estate is situated shall hear and determine all
questions that may arise on submission of said motion and adjudicate the
same according to Jaw, and an appeal shall lie from the county or cor-
poration court to the circuit court and to the court of appeals in the
same manner as is now provided for appeals in civil cases.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.