It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows
SECTION 1. Sections 44-9-7, 44-9-12, 44-9-13, 44-9-15, and 44-9-18 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-9 entitled "Tax Sales" are hereby amended to read as follows:
{DEL44-9-7. Advertisement and sale of real estate. -- DEL}
{ADD 44-9-7. Advertisement taking or sale of real estate. -- ADD} The
collector may advertise {ADD and take, ADD} {DEL and DEL} {ADD or ADD} sell any real
estate liable for taxes in the manner directed.
44-9-12. Collector's deed -- Rights conveyed to purchaser -- Recording. -- The collector shall execute and deliver to the purchaser a deed of the land, stating the cause of sale, the price for which the land was sold, the places where the notices were posted, the name of the newspaper in which the advertisement of the sale was published, and the residence of the grantee. The deed shall convey the land to the purchaser, subject to the right of redemption. The title thus conveyed shall, until redemption or until the right of redemption is foreclosed, be held as security for the repayment of the purchase price, with all intervening costs, terms imposed for redemption, and charges, with interest thereon, and the premises conveyed, both before and after either redemption or foreclosure, shall also be subject to and have the benefit of all easements and restrictions lawfully existing in, upon, or over the land or appurtenant to the land. The deed shall not be valid unless recorded within sixty (60) days after the sale. If so recorded it shall be prima facie evidence of all facts essential to the validity of the title conveyed by the deed. Except as otherwise provided, no sale shall give to the purchaser any right to either the possession, or the rents, or profits of the land until the expiration of one year after the date of the sale, nor shall any sale obviate or transfer any responsibility of an owner of property to comply with any statute of this state or ordinance of any municipality governing the use, occupancy, or maintenance or conveyance of property until the right of redemption is foreclosed.
{ADD Upon the expiration of one year after the date of the sale, the tax title holder shall be jointly and severally liable with the owner for all responsibility and liability for the property and shall be responsible to comply with any statute of this state or ordinance of any municipality governing the use, occupancy, or maintenance or conveyance of the property even prior to the right of redemption being foreclosed. Nothing in this section shall be construed, however, to confer any liability upon a city or town which receives tax title as a result of any bids being made for the land offered for sale at an amount equal to the tax and charges. ADD}
44-9-13. Entry by collector not required -- Recording of tax sale list. -- No entry upon the land by the collector shall be deemed necessary, but the collector in all cases of sales of real estate shall deliver to the clerk's or recorder's office a list of those properties sold at tax sale which the clerk or recorder shall record or post in the land evidence records for their respective city or town within forty-eight (48) hours after the sale of real estate. The recorded or posted list shall include the assessed owner's name(s), the address of the property, and the assessor's plat and lot, and the recorded or posted list shall be conclusive evidence of the facts stated in the list.
{ADD No properties shall be sold at tax sale to any bidder who is delinquent in the paying of taxes or is an officer, more than ten percent (10%) shareholder or owner of a partnership or corporation or limited liability company that is delinquent in the paying of taxes on any property located within the city or town in which the tax sale is held, unless said bidder has agreed to a written payment plan approved by the collector and is current on any and all payments required by said plan. The collector may require a bidder or an authorized officer or partner thereof to execute an affidavit that the bidder is qualified under this provision. ADD}
44-9-15. Recital in deed to town. -- If the town becomes the purchaser, the deed to it, in addition to the statements required by section 44-9-12, shall set forth the fact that no sufficient bid was made at the sale {ADD or that the land was taken by the town ADD} and shall confer upon the town the rights and duties of an individual purchaser.
44-9-18. Management and sale of land purchased by town -- Assignment of tax title. -- Towns may make regulations for the possession, management, and sale of land purchased or taken for taxes not inconsistent with law or with the right of redemption. The treasurer of any town holding a tax title, upon payment to the town of a sum not less or more than the amount necessary for redemption, may assign and transfer the tax title to any person, and may execute and deliver on behalf of the town any instrument necessary therefor. The treasurer shall send notice of the intended assignment to the owner of record at the owner's last known address, by registered or certified mail, at least ten (10) days prior to the assignment, but failure to receive the notice shall not affect the validity of the assignment. The instrument of assignment shall be recorded within sixty (60) days from its date and if so recorded shall be prima facie evidence of all facts essential to its validity. Except as otherwise provided, all provisions of law applicable in cases where the original purchaser at a tax sale is another than the city or town shall thereafter apply in the case of an assignment, as if the assignee had been a purchaser for the original sum at the original sale and had paid to the town the subsequent taxes and charges included in the sum paid for the assignment (Forms 1 and 2).
{ADD Neither a city or town or any of its officers, agents or employees shall be liable or accountable to the owner or to any other person having an interest in such land for failure to collect rent or other income therefrom; and neither said city or town nor any of its officers, agents or employees shall be liable for injury or damage caused by the possession of land or to the person or property of any person. ADD}
SECTION 2. Chapter 44-9 of the General Laws entitled "Tax Sales" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following sections:
{ADD 44-9-8.1. Taking for taxes. -- ADD} {ADD Notwithstanding the provisions of section 44-9-8, upon a determination that the property is necessary for redevelopment, revitalization or municipal purposes by the redevelopment agency of a municipality or, if there is no redevelopment agency and the city or town council makes such a determination, then the municipality may take such land for the city or town.
If a tax on land is not paid within fourteen (14) days after demand therefore and remains unpaid at the date of taking, the collector may take such land for the town, first giving fourteen (14) days' notice of his intention to exercise such power of taking, which notice may be served in the manner required by law for the service of civil cases or may be published. Such notice shall contain a substantially accurate description of the lots or divisions of land to be sold, which shall be furnished to the collector by the assessors upon demand of the collector, the amount of tax assessed on each, and the names of all owners known to the collector. Such notice of the sale of the undivided real estate of a deceased person assessed to his heirs or devisees or assessed in general terms to his estate shall contain the names of all the heirs or devisees interested in such real estate, if the probate records of the county where the land lies disclose their identity. He shall also, fourteen (14) days before the taking, post a notice so conforming in two (2) or more convenient and public places.
Whenever the collector of taxes of a city or town shall have taken land therein he may, in the name and on behalf of said city or town, take immediate possession of such land and, until the tax title so acquired is redeemed, collect the rent and other income from such land, which rent and income, after the payment therefrom of all necessary expenses in the care, repair and management of such land, shall be applied on account of the taxes, assessments, rates, charges, interest and costs due said city or town on said land, with any balance remaining being paid to the person otherwise entitled thereto. Upon petition of any person having a right to redeem such tax title, the superior court for the county within which the land lies, if it adjudges justice and the circumstances so warrant, may, upon such terms as it shall deem equitable, enjoin a taking of possession under this section or command the surrender of a possession taken. A city or town must designate a detailed purpose and plan for any land it takes at a tax sale within one (1) year, or said land shall be offered at the next tax sale.
Neither said city or town nor any of its officers, agents or employees shall be liable or accountable to the owner or to any other person having an interest in such land for failure to collect rent or other income therefrom; and neither said city or town nor any of its officers, agents or employees shall be liable for injury or damage caused by the possession of land under the section to such land or to the person or property of any person. ADD}
{ADD 44-9-8.2. Deed of taking. -- ADD} {ADD The instrument of taking shall be under the hand and seal of the collector and shall contain a statement of the cause of taking, a substantially accurate description of each parcel of land taken, the name of the person to whom the same was assessed, the amount of the tax thereon, and the incidental expenses and costs to the date of taking. Such an instrument of taking shall not be valid unless recorded within sixty (60) days of the date of taking. If so recorded it shall be prima facie evidence of all facts essential to the validity of the title so taken. Title to the land so taken shall thereupon vest in the town, subject to the right of redemption. Such title shall, until redemption or until the right of redemption is foreclosed be held as security for the repayment of said taxes with all intervening costs, terms imposed for redemption and charges, with interest thereon, and the premises so taken, both before and after either redemption or foreclosure, shall also be subject to and have the benefit of all easements and restrictions lawfully existing in, upon or over said land or appurtenant thereto, and all covenants and agreements running with said premises either at law or in equity, when so taken. ADD}
{ADD 44-9-13.1. Tax title holders -- Filing required statements. -- ADD} {ADD Prior to receiving a deed, whoever has purchased a title to land under a sale for nonpayment of taxes or other assessment, shall file with the treasurer of the city or town and in the registry of deeds thereof a statement of his or her residence and place of business, with the street and number, if any. Such person, who is not a resident of the city or town where the tax sale is held, shall also appoint an agent residing within the state, authorized to release such land. He or she shall also file the statement above required in which he or she shall also state the name of such agent and his residence and place of business, with the street number, if any. Whenever a person holding tax title changes his residence or place of business or agent, he or she shall file a new certificate. Tender of payment to, and service of process upon, such agent shall be sufficient tender to, or service upon, the holder of such tax title. ADD}
{ADD 44-9-18.2. Assignment to redevelopment agency. -- ADD} {ADD Notwithstanding the provisions of section 44-9-18, the treasurer may transfer and assign any or all tax titles held by a city or town for no monetary consideration to the redevelopment agency of said city or town. Such transfer shall not confer upon the redevelopment agency any greater rights or responsibilities than those granted to or imposed upon the city or town as the original holder of the tax title. The redevelopment agency shall hold any such tax title so transferred or assigned subject to any and all rights of redemption held by the owner of record and/or his or her successors and assigns in title. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the redevelopment agency shall also hold and be permitted to exercise any rights that the city or town previously held, including the right to petition for foreclosure of any rights of redemption. ADD}
{ADD 44-9-25.2. Foreclosure of the rights of redemption on account of constructive abandonment by a city or town. -- ADD} {ADD Notwithstanding the provisions of section 44-9-25 of this chapter, following a sale or taking of land for taxes, whenever the city or town holds the title thereby acquired, the city or town may at any time foreclose all rights of redemption thereunder upon a finding by the superior court of constructive abandonment.
If the inspector of buildings determines that said buildings are abandoned property he shall notify the record owner, and, if appropriate, the mortgagee or lessee, of his finding. Such notice shall include a statement that the inspection was conducted at the request of the local treasurer and that the failure of the record owner, or other interested party, to correct the conditions described in the notice within thirty (30) days of receipt or publication of the notice will result in proceedings to foreclose the record owner's right of redemption. Such notice may be served in the manner required by law for the service in civil cases or may be published. The inspector of buildings shall also, at the time of service or publication, post a copy of the notice in two (2) or more convenient public places.
If at the expiration of the thirty (30) day period, the inspector of buildings is of the opinion that action has not been initiated to correct the condition described in the notice, he shall forthwith notify the local treasurer in writing under penalties of perjury, that the buildings on the land have been found to be abandoned property. Such written notice shall include therein the facts and circumstances which formed the basis of his findings, and a copy of the notice served on the record owner, or if service was by publication, an account of the steps taken to locate the record owner and a copy of the published notice as well as information appearing in the records of the assessors and of the collector and tending to establish the validity of tax title on such land. If the treasurer is of the opinion that the facts and circumstances as found by the inspector of buildings are sufficient to establish that the buildings on the land so taken or purchased are abandoned property and that the facts essential to the validity of the tax title on such land have been adequately established, he shall make an affidavit of such finding which shall be recorded in the registry of deeds for the district wherein the land lies.
The treasurer shall incorporate in his affidavit the statements of the inspector of buildings and the treasurer, or such portions thereof as he finds pertinent, and when recorded, shall be prima facie evidence of such facts.
The treasurer shall make an affidavit and shall bring a petition in the superior court pursuant to section 45-9-25 for the foreclose of all rights of redemption of said land. The petition shall include a description of the land to which it applies, with its assessed valuation, the source of title giving reference to the place, book and page of record, and such other facts as may be necessary for the information of the court. A finding of constructive abandonment will be made in a situation where the owner of a property has manifested said constructive abandonment with some act or failure to act. In determining whether an owner has constructively abandoned a property, the court shall consider the following:
(a) whether or not the property is vacant;
(b) whether or not housing and building code violations have not been addressed;
(c) whether or not the grounds are maintained;
(d) whether or not the building's interior is sound;
(e) whether or not any vandalism or damage to the building has not been repaired;
(f) whether or not dumping regularly occurs on the property;
(g) whether or not the property is regularly maintained (i.e. grass, litter control, etc.); and
(h) the length of time any of the above conditions have existed.
Actions brought under this section to foreclose the right of redemption on account of constructive abandonment in the superior court shall be given precedence on the calendar and shall be heard not later than thirty (30) days from the initiation of such proceedings. ADD}
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
