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.