There shall be an annual sale of real property
within the city to satisfy tax liens thereon between the first and
15th days of July. Such a tax lien against a piece or parcel of real
property shall consist of unpaid taxes, assessments or installments
of assessments for local improvement, which on said day shall remain
unpaid for more than 60 days after the same shall have become due
and payable, together with the accrued fees penalties, percentage
and interest on such tax and assessment and the charge for advertising
the sale of such piece or parcel of property as hereinbefore provided.
The Treasurer shall publish once in each week
for four successive weeks prior to such sale in the official newspaper
a notice containing:
1.
The time and place of such sale.
2.
A description of each parcel of real property to be
sold, describing the same as far as practical by lot, block and section
number.
3.
The aggregate amount of the tax lien against each
piece or parcel of real property to be sold.
4.
The name of the owner of each piece or parcel of real
property to be sold, as the same appears on the tax rolls or local
assessment book.
5.
A statement that unless the amount of the tax lien
against the piece or parcel of real property included in such notice
be paid on or before the day specified for the sale, such real property
will be sold to satisfy the tax lien thereon.
Before the sale, the owner of any piece or parcel
of real property included in the notice of sale or his representative
or any person interested therein may avoid the sale thereof by paying
the amount of the tax lien to the Treasurer.
At the time and place fixed for the sale, the
Treasurer shall offer at public auction to the highest bidder each
piece or parcel of real property published on which the tax lien shall
not have been paid. No bid shall be accepted for the same less than
the aggregate amount of the tax lien. A purchaser on such sale shall
pay the amount of his bid to the Treasurer immediately after the piece
or parcel of real property is struck off to him. If he shall fail
to do so, the Treasurer shall forthwith offer the piece or parcel
of real property for sale again and proceed as though it had not been
struck off. Such sale shall be continued from time to time if necessary
until the real property advertised has been sold. If the Treasurer
shall be unable to attend and conduct the sale, the City Clerk may
conduct the sale.
If there is no bid of the amount due on any
piece or parcel of real property to be sold, the Treasurer shall bid
in the same for the city, and the city may acquire such real property,
and the Common Council shall have the care and control thereof and
may lease or sell and convey the same in the manner provided by this
Act for the lease or sale of real property or sell the same at an
arrears sale as herein provided.
As soon as practical, the Treasurer shall prepare
and execute, in duplicate, as to each piece or parcel of real property
sold a certificate of such sale containing a brief general description
of the location, boundary, estimated quantity thereof, date of sale,
name of purchaser, the sum paid therefor, the amount of the tax lien
thereon, the name of the person or persons against whom the items
of the tax lien were assessed and the name of the reputed owner thereof.
One of such duplicates shall be delivered to the purchaser, or, if
the piece or parcel was struck off to the city, it shall be retained
by the Treasurer. The Treasurer shall deliver the other duplicate
certificate to the County Clerk of Rensselaer County, who shall file
such certificate in his office and record the same in the book to
be kept for that purpose and shall index the certificate in the name
of the person to whom the piece or parcel was assessed in the name
of the reputed owner thereof and in the name of the purchaser in the
same book and in the same manner as deeds are required to be indexed.
The County Clerk shall be entitled to receive a fee of $0.50 for each
certificate so filed and recorded, which fee shall be paid by the
Treasurer and be part of the expenses of the sale of the piece or
parcel.
The proceeds of sale of each piece or parcel
of real property not sold to the city shall be applied by the Treasurer
to the payment of the tax lien for which it was sold, and, if there
is any surplus, the same shall remain in the custody of the Treasurer,
who shall keep a record thereof. The owner of the equity of the redemption
or any other person interested in such surplus may apply to any court
of competent jurisdiction for a further distribution of such surplus
in the same manner as in proceedings for the distribution of surplus
money in foreclosure actions. Any person making such application or
any heir sharing in the distribution of such moneys shall be deemed
to have waived all his right for the recovery of the value or the
possession of such real property or any part thereof.
The owner or any person interested in or having
a lien upon any piece or parcel of real property so sold may redeem
the same from such sale at any time within two years by paying to
the Treasurer for the use of the purchaser or successors in interest
or, if the premises shall have been previously redeemed by any person
other than the owner thereof, then for the use of such person the
sum mentioned in the certificate as having been paid for the premises,
with interest thereon at the rate of 12% per annum from the time of
the sale, together with any tax or assessment or part thereof upon
such parcel or other portion thereof that the purchaser or his successors
in interest or the person previously redeeming shall have paid between
the time of the sale and such redemption, with interest at the rate
of 12% per annum upon said tax or assessment from the time of the
payment thereof. The time until which such redemption may be made
shall not begin to run against an infant or incompetent person until
the termination of their disability. In case of the redemption of
any land sold to satisfy a tax lien as herein provided by the person
who was the owner thereof at the time of the sale or by the person
succeeding to his interest, the Treasurer shall give such owner or
person a receipt for the amount paid by him to effect such redemption
and on production thereof by such owner or person to the County Clerk;
such Clerk shall cancel such certificate of sale by the proper entry
at the foot of the record of such certificate in his office.
At least three months before the expiration
of the time for the final redemption of any piece or parcel of real
property so sold, the Treasurer shall commence publication of a notice
of such redemption from such sale, which shall show the year when
such sale took place and the last day for the redemption of the real
property not already redeemed by the owner thereof, without other
or further description, which notice shall be published at least once
a week for six successive weeks in the official newspaper. The publication
of such notice shall bar and preclude any or all persons, except the
purchaser or his heirs and assigns or the person finally redeeming
from claiming any interest or lien upon such real property or any
part thereof, in case such real property shall not be redeemed from
such sale as herein provided.
If any piece or parcel of real property shall
have been redeemed as herein provided, the Treasurer shall pay on
demand to the person entitled thereto the moneys received on such
redemption, or, if the city shall be at the time thereof the holder
of the certificate of sale, he shall place the amount received in
the general fund.
[Amended by L. 1917, c. 680; L.L. No. 3-1990]
If any piece or parcel of real property so sold
shall not be redeemed as herein provided, the Treasurer, immediately
after the expiration of the time for the final redemption, shall execute
and deliver to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns or to the city
or its assigns or to the person finally redeeming, as the case may
be, a conveyance of the real property so sold, which conveyance shall
vest in the grantee an estate in fee subject only to the lien of any
unpaid taxes or assessments thereon. All purchases made for the city
in any year shall be included in one conveyance. Every such conveyance
shall be executed by the Treasurer, the execution thereof proved or
acknowledged in the manner required by law for the proof or acknowledgment
of a deed to be recorded; any such conveyance shall be conclusive
evidence that the sale and subsequent proceedings were regular and
presumptive evidence that all the previous proceedings were regular
and in conformity to law; any such conveyance may be recorded in like
manner and with like effect as other conveyances of real property.
The City Treasurer executing such conveyances shall be entitled to
demand and receive from the grantee $5 for the benefit of the city
for preparing every such conveyance.
The grantee under such a conveyance or his assigns
or the city or its assigns, as the case may be, shall be entitled
to have possession of the granted lands from and after the execution
of such conveyance and may cause the occupants of such lands to be
removed therefrom and the possession thereof delivered to them in
the same manner and by the same proceeding and by and before the same
court and officer as in case of a tenant holding over after the expiration
of his term without the permission of his landlord.
The Treasurer shall keep in his office a book
arranged for the registry of all memoranda relating to matters governed
by this Title IX and shall keep all records of sales, redemptions,
notices, conveyances and other memoranda therein.
If any sale of real property to satisfy a tax
lien is adjudged invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the
amount of the purchase money with interest at the rate of 6% per annum
from the date of payment of the same shall be returned by the city
to the purchaser or his assigns, and the city shall not be subject
to any other or further liability, and the Common Council shall have
power and it shall be its duty to cause the same to be reassessed
in a proper manner.
No interest to be charged after expiration of
two years from time of any sale. No interest shall be charged or added
to any tax lien after the expiration of two years from the time of
such sale.
