Chap. 52.—An ACT to authorize the sale of lots purchased by the Cx
wealth for delinquent taxes and not redeemed within four years or |

Approved February 23, 1906.

Whereas it appears that at different periods, in many sections
‘ommonwealth, there has been more or less speculation in city an
ots, and the lots in projected cities and towns; and

Whereas it further appears that during such periods a large qu
f land has been subdivided into lots, and the lots sold, or offer
ale, at inflated prices; and

Whereas it further appears that in many cases such lots are now
le value, and that they have been practically abandoned by their «
and purchased by the Commonwealth for delinquent taxes, and that in
many cases they will not now sell for a sum sufficient to pay the amount
paid for them, together with such additional sums as would have accrued
from taxes, levies, and interest, if such real estate had not been so pur-
chased ; now, therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That during the
month of August, annually, the clerk of the circuit court of each county,
and the clerk of each corporation court, shall prepare a list of all town
and city lots within his county or corporation, and of all lots which are
a part of some plat or subdivision of land, made us provided by acts of
eighteen hundred and eighty-seven and eighteen hundred and eighty-
eight, chapter four hundred and eighty-six,:and acts amendatory thereof,
whether within the corporate limits of a town or city or not, which have
been purchased by the Commonwealth for delinquent taxes more than
four years prior to January first of the year in which such list is made,
and which have not been redeemed ; and said list shall show the person
in whose name the lot stood at the time of the purchase by the Common-
wealth, and the amount required to redeem each of said lots, including
amount of taxes due for the year in which such lot is sold, and the amount
due the State, county, and corporation, respectively, shall be stated in
separate columns. The amount required to redeem any such lot shall be
ascertained by charging against the same the amount paid therefor by the
Commonwealth (including the taxes due the county, district, town, or
city at the time of sale, if the amount bid by the Commonwealth was
not sufficient to cover same), and such additional sums as would have
accrued from taxes, levies, and interest if such real estate had not been
purchased by the Commonwealth, with interest on the amount for which
said sale was made, or on all amounts then due for taxes on said real
estate, 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, and the amounts due the
State, county (including town or district), and city shall be stated in
separate columns.

2. As soon as completed, which shall not be later than September first
of each year, the clerk shall deliver said list to the treasurer of his county
or corporation, and within thirty days after receiving said list the treas-
urer, if he be an officer of a city, shall post a printed copy thereof in at
least five public places in each ward of his city. If the treasurer be an
officer of a county, he shall post a copy at the front door of the court-
house of his county on the first dav of the circuit court occurring next
after receiving such list. and also a printed copy in at least five public
places in each magisterial district in said county. And the expense
thereof, as well as the printing and publication of said list, shall be paid
by such county, city or town. as the case may be. but shall be apportioned
among the delinquents according to the amounts due bv them, respectively,
as prescribed by section one of this act. and added to the respective
amounts so due. To each copy thus posted and published the treasurer
shall attach a notice that the real estate therein mentioned, or so much of
each parcel thereof as mav he necessary to satisfy the amount required to
redeem the same, including its proportion of the costs and charges as
aforesaid, will be sold at public auction on the first day of the corporation
or circuit court of the county or corporation occurring thirty days from
the first publication of such notice, between the hours of ten in the morn-
ing and four in the afternoon, in front of the courthouse of his county or
city, unless the amount required to redeem said lots, together with costs
and charges as aforesaid, shall have been previously paid to such treasurer.

3. If the amount required to redeem, including costs and charges as
aforesaid, be not previously paid, the treasurer shall proceed at the time
advertised to make sale of said lots, which shall be sold separately, at pub-
lie auction, for cash, to the highest bidder, and the sale may be adjourned
from day to day, and proceed, between the hours aforesaid, until com-

leted.
P The treasurer conducting the sale and his deputies shall not, directly
or indirectly, purchase any real estate sold. If he does, he shall forfeit
fifty dollars for each such purchase, and the same shall, moreover, be void.

4. The treasurer, on receiving from a purchaser the amount of his pur-
chase, shall give him a receipt for the same, in which he shall set forth
with reasonable certainty a description of the lot sold. in whose name it
was sold, the price paid, and the amount required to redeem the said lot
as aforesaid, for which receipt the purchaser shall pay the treasurer
twenty-five cents ; but all lots which stand in the name of one person pur-
chased by the same person on the same day shall be included in the
same receipt.

5. Within thirty days after the sales have been completed, or at the
next term of the circuit or corporation court thereafter, the treasurer shall
report said sales, and shall state in his report, in separate columns, the
name of the said person charged with taxes on each lot, at the time of its
sale to the Commonwealth, the amount required to redeem each lot, giv-
ing the amount due the State, county (including district or town) or city
separately, the proportionate part of the costs of sale charged against each
lot. the name of the purchaser and the amount of his bid. In all cases
where no bid is received for a lot, it shall be reported not sold for want of
bidders, and such lots shall be included in the list to be made by the clerk
the next year, as required by section one of this act. Said report shall
have attached thereto the affidavit of the treasurer to the correctness
thereof. and that he and his deputies are in no way interested in the pur-
chase of any lot sold by him.

6. The court, if it find said list correct, or having corrected the same
where there is error, shal] confirm the report and order it to be recorded
and properly indexed in a book kept for the purpose, and to be known as
“lot sales by the Commonwealth.”

7. After the confirmation of the report of sales provided for in the pre-
ceding section, the purchaser may enter and hold possession of the real
estate purchased by him in accordance with the provisions of section six
hundred and forty-six of the Code.

8. The clerk of said court shall certify a copy of said report to the au-
ditor of public accounts within thirty days after the date of such confir-
mation.
Upon receiving the copy aforesaid, the auditor shall charge the treasurer
with whatever is due the Commonwealth on account of sales 80 made by
him, but if the sale of any lot should be for an amount insufficient to
pay in full the amount required to redeem the same as aforesaid, the pro-
ceeds of sale shall be applied pro rata to the amounts due the State,
county and corporation, respectively, after deducting therefrom the costs
of said sale, as shown by said report; and in such cases the auditor shall
charge said treasurer with such pro rata only of the proceeds of sale as
may be due the State. The amount charged against him as aforesaid,
less ten per centum commission, the treasurer shall pay into the treasury
of the State within sixty days from the confirmation of the sale. It shall
be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court of a county to lay a copy of
said report before the board of supervisors of the county, and the duty of
the clerk of the corporation court of a city to lay a like copy before the
council of such city, at the next meeting thereof, who shall charge the
treasurer with whatever is due on account of said sales as shown by said
report, and he and his sureties on his official bond shall be liable therefor.
and he shall likewise be liable for any amount realized from the sale of
any lot in excess of the amount required to redeem the same as herein-
before stated. At the time of furnishing the copies of said report, as pro-
vided by this section, the said clerk shall cause the lien of all taxes, levies,
and assessments upon the lots sold, as shown by said report, to be marked
satisfied upon the lists of delinquent lands, although the amount realized
from the sale of said lots may have been insufficient to pay the amount
required to redeem the same, as provided by this act.

9. Any person aggrieved by reason of the confirmation of such sales.
or the treasurer, on his motion, where a mistake has been made, may
apply to the circuit court of the county or corporation court of the city of
the treasurer who made such sale at any time previous to the execution
of the deed hereinafter provided for, and upon showing that the taxes
and levies assessed upon such real estate are not for any cause justly
due, or that the said real estate is not liable for the same, such court may
set aside and annul such sale and exhonerate such real estate from such
taxes and levies, and order the restitution of the purchase money to the
purchaser, and make such order or orders as may be just and proper.
rhe treasurer (when such motion is not made by him), the purchaser,
and the Commonwealth’s attorney shall have at least five days’ notice of
the application, and the Commonwealth’s attorney shall be present and
defend the same.

10. At any time after four months and within one year from the con-
firmation of any report of sale as aforesaid, if the real estate so sold has
not been redeemed by paying the whole amount paid by said purchaser,
and any additional taxes, levies, costs, and charges as may have been paid
by him since the sale, the purchaser of any such real estate, his heirs or
assigns, shall obtain from the clerk of the circuit court of the county, or
the corporation court of the city, whose officer has sold such real estate, a
deed conveying the same, in which shall be set forth all the facts appear-
ing of record in the clerk’s office in relation to the sale. The deed shall
describe the lot with reference to the plat of subdivision of which it forms
a part, and according to which it was sold, or in such other way as will
definitely describe it, and such information as may be necessary for such
description, not appearing in his office, shall be furnished to the clerk
by the purchaser at his own cost.

11. If no such deed or order of the court be made as provided by this
act within one year from the confirmation of the report of sale as herein
provided, the former owner, his heirs or assigns, or any person having the
right to charge such lot with a debt, may, after such year and before such
deed or order is made, redeem said lot by paying the whole amount paid
by such purchaser, and any such additional taxes, levies, costs, and charges
as may have been paid by him since the sale, with interest at the rate of
six per centum per annum on the amount so paid, and should the pur-
chaser refuse to receive such amount, or not be found, or not reside in the
county or corporation, the same may be paid to the clerk of the circuit
court of the county or the clerk of the corporation court of the city.

12. When the purchaser of any real estate so sold, his heirs or assigns,
has obtained a deed therefor, and the same has been duly admitted to
record in the county or corporation in which such real estate lies, the right
or title to such estate shall stand vested in the grantee in such deed, as it
was vested in the party assessed with the taxes and levies thereon at the
commencement of the year for which the taxes or levies were assessed for
which it was sold, or any person claiming under such party, subject to be
defeated only by proof that the taxes or levies for which said real estate
was sold to the Commonwealth, were not properly chargeable thereon, or
that the taxes and levies properly chargeable on such real estate have
been paid.

13. Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to effect or divest
the title of a tenant in revision or remainder to any real estate which has
been returned delinquent and sold on account of the default of the tenant
for life in paying the taxes and levies assessed thereon.

14. In all cases where the amount realized from the sale of a Jot is in
excess of the amount required to redeem the same, as herein provided, the
treasurer shall enter such excess on his books to the credit of the party in
whose name the lot stood on the land books of his county or corporation
at the time of the sale to the Commonwealth, and forthwith deposit the
amount of said excess in some bank in which funds for the county or city
are deposited, to be known as “excess from lot sales,” and funds so de-
posited shall not be used by the county or city for any purpose whatever,
but paid over to the party or parties entitled thereto, upon satisfactory
evidence of such fact, if called for in five years after confirmation of
the report of sale.

At the expiration of his term of office the treasurer shall pay over and
transfer al] funds deposited as aforesaid to his successor, except that all
sums not called for within five years after report of sale, shall be paid
into the treasury of the State and become the property of the State.

15. For the services required of him by this act the clerk shall receive
the following fees: For making the report required by section one, the
sum of five cents for each lot, to be paid by the State; for making the
copy of said report to be furnished the board of supervisors of a county,
or the council of a city, the sum of five cents per lot, to be paid by the
county or city; for preparing, executing, and acknowledging a deed to the
purchaser of any lot or lots, the sum of one dollar, to be paid by the pur
thaser ; but all lots which stand in the name of one person, purchased b.
the same person on the same day may be included in the same deed.

16. And it is further provided that where such lot or lots are involve
n a chancery suit which has been brought by creditors or otherwise fo
he sale of such lot or lots, and a decree for the sale of such lot or lots ha
cen made, and a special commissioner appointed for the purpose, and tw
rears shall have elapsed after the entry of such decree for sale, then th:
ourt shall enter a decree requiring the former owner or some person wh«
1as a right to redeem such lots, or some party to the said chancery sui
nterested in the proceeds of the sale of said lots to pay up all past due
axes, interest, fees, and penalties thereon by the next term of the
ourt, after such decree is entered, and if this decree is not complied with
yy that time, then the court shall enter a peremptory order requiring the
pecial commissioner to execute forthwith the decree of sale by selling
uch property at public auction after such advertisement, as the court shal]
lirect, so far as it relates to the sale of such lot or lots, and the proceeds
hall be disposed of as provided by law.

17. The fee of the commissioner of the revenue for transferring any
ot or lots conveyed in the same deed under this act shall be fifty cents.

18. This act shall not apply to delinquent taxes and levies for the col-
ection of which proceedings are pending in any of the courts of the Com-
nonwealth not provided for by section sixteen of this act.