Amendment

Sec. 664. How and by whom real estate so purchased may be re- As Amended 1897-8, p. 513. deemed; if redeemed the fact to be certified to commissioner.-The Previous previous owner of any such real estate, his heirs or assigns, or any person 1889-90, p. 100. having the right to charge the same with a debt, may until further sale thereof redeem such real estate by paying to the clerk of the court of the county or corporation in which such real estate is situated the amount for which the sale was made, together with such additional sums as would have accrued from taxes and levies if the same had not been purchased by the commonwealth, with interest on the amount for which the sale was made at the rate of six per centum 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; the clerk shall endorse the fact of such payment on the delinquent land book opposite the entry of the tract or lots. When real estate is redeemed as provided in this section the clerk shall certify the fact to the commissioner of the revenue of the county or city wherein such real estate lies.

For making statement, calculating interest, and so forth, the said clerk shall be entitled to a fee of fifty cents, payable by the person redeeming his land.

The clerk shall annually, at the time he makes report to the auditor of public accounts of taxes collected by him (as now provided by law), report upon blanks to be furnished by the auditor the amounts received by him for redemption of delinquent lands, and shall pay the same into the public treasury at the time fixed by law for paying in other public money received by him.

For his services in receiving this money and paying it into the treasury he shall be entitled to a commission of five per centum.

Previous

Sec. 666. When and how lands purchased in the name of the auditor As Amended and unredeemed to be sold.-When real estate so purchased in the name 1897-8, p. 343. of the auditor is not redeemed by the previous owner, his heirs or assigns, Amendments 1893-4, p. 737. or some person having the right to charge the same with a debt, within 1895-6, p. 219. two years from the date of such purchase, any person desiring to purchase 88 Va. 259. 89 Va. 474. it shall file an application with the clerk of the county or corporation court 3 Va. L. R. 523. wherein such real estate is situated for the purchase of such real estate for the amount for which the sale to the commonwealth was made, together with such additional sums as would have accrued from taxes and 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 said application on the commissioner's books of such county or corporation in the event that it has been transferred contrary to the provisions of section four hundred and sixty-nine of the code, or if any of the said persons be dead then the name of his personal representative and the names of the trustees, mortgagees, and beneficiaries as shown by the record in any deed of trust or mortgage on said real estate or their personal representative: provided, the names of any persons may be omitted which do not appear of record in the clerk's office of the county or corporation 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 of the chancery court of said city: and provided, further, that the names of any trustee, mortgagee, or beneficiary in any deed of trust or mortgage which

has been recorded more than ten years prior to date of application may be likewise omitted. And the clerk shall, upon the order of the applicant, his attorney or agent, make out as many copies of said application as there are persons named therein, with one additional copy or more if necessary, and unless otherwise directed by the applicant, his attorney or agent, deliver them to the sheriff or sergeant of the county or corporation in which the land is situated, but may, upon direction of the applicant, his agent or attorney, deliver them to any other party. And the same may be served on the parties therein named in the same manner and by the same parties that a summons to commence a suit may be served and a similar return made thereon by the officer or party serving the same. Said return shall be made within sixty days after the issuing of the copy of the application. And if the same be returned not executed on any party therein named other copies may be made out and served as hereinbefore provided. On affidavit that one of the parties is a non-resident of the state, or that diligence has been used by or on behalf of the applicant to ascertain in what county or corporation he is without effect, or that a copy of the application has been twice delivered to the officer of the county or corporation in which he resides, or is more than ten days before the return day, and has been returned without being executed, an order of publication may be entered against such party by the clerk.

The order of publication shall contain a copy of the application and require the parties therein named to appear within four months after due publication thereof and do what is necessary to protect their interest. It shall be published once a week for four successive weeks in such newspaper as the clerk may direct, and shall be posted by the clerk at the front door of the court-house of the county or corporation 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 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 served as aforesaid, or within four months after the completion of the order of publication when there is a publication, and redeem said real estate by paying to the clerk of the county or corporation court all of the taxes, penalties, and costs therewith connected, as well as all fees and costs attending the proceeding under this section, including a penalty of five dollars, which shall be paid to the applicant, 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 paying to the clerk all taxes, penalties, fees, and costs. And the said 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 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 by some competent surveyor to be appointed by such court for that purpose, specifying the metes and bounds of the said real estate, the names of the owners of the adjoining tracts or lots, and giving such further description of 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 said land can be obtained from the records, 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 the purchaser shall obtain from the clerk of the county or corporation court of the county or corporation in which 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 said deed to said report. In no case shall the commonwealth be liable for any costs incurred under any of the provisions of this act. For making off a copy of an application under this section the clerk shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five cents; for every order of publication and posting, one dollar; for every deed executed, one dollar, and for every copy of an application served under this section by a sheriff or other officer he shall receive thirty cents. All of the foregoing fees may be required by the clerk or other officer to be paid in advance except the fee for a deed, which may be paid upon delivery of the deed.

If the clerk refuse to execute such deed the court may compel him to do so upon the petition of the purchaser.

Every such deed shall be with covenants of special warranty. If no such deed be made under this chapter within one year after the date of the application for the purchase of the said real estate by the party entitled to the deed, the person entitled to redeem the same as herein before mentioned, his heirs or assigns, may after such year and before such deed is made redeem the said real estate by paying to the purchaser the amount paid therefor by him, including the costs, with such taxes and levies as he may have paid thereon since such purchase, with interest at ten per centum per annum upon such payments from the date they were respectively 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 section six hundred and fifty-two shall apply to real estate sold under authority of this section. In all cases where applications have been heretofore made to purchase real estate under section six hundred and sixty-six, as amended and re-enacted by the act approved January twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and in which the applications have not been perfected and the purchase made complete by the execution of a deed by the clerk as herein provided, the clerk of the said court to which such application was made shall at once make copies of such application and deliver them to the sheriff or sergeant, or to such other party as the application may direct, to be served in the same manner and upon the same persons as herein directed, and thereupon the same proceedings shall be had and the same time shall be given persons entitled to redeem such real estate and in the same manner as is herein before provided, except it shall not be necessary to make another survey of the tract or lot where one has been previously made under the provisions of said section six hundred and sixty-six as amended by the said act of January twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six; but in all cases where the applications have been so made and not so perfected prior to the passage of this act, persons having the right to redeem shall be allowed by the said clerk to redeem the said real estate in the manner herein provided within four months after such last-mentioned copies of application have been served upon all persons as required by this section or order of publication as to them completed; and in no case shall it be lawful for the said clerk to make a deed to the said real estate until the expiration of said four months: provided, that no application shall be made under this act to purchase any real estate if at the time of such application suit is pending in the courts of the county or corporation wherein such real estate is situated for the sale of the same 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: provided, also, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as in any way affecting the duties of the commissioner of the

1895-6, p. 655.

1889-90, p. 91

revenue as prescribed by section four hundred and sixty-nine. If one application has been made and copies thereof issued, no second application shall be considered for the same piece of land until the rights of the first applicant under his application has expired.

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NOTE. The operation of the section was by chapter 7 of acts 1897-'98 suspended for sixty days from December 15, 1897.

Sec. 666 a. Suspending time of redeeming lands sold for delinquent taxes and bought by the auditor in cases where proceedings in equity have been instituted by parties interested in such lands.-The operation of section six hundred and sixty-six of the code of Virginia, and all acts amendatory thereof, in so far as they authorize others than the owners thereof to buy and redeem lands heretofore sold for delinquent taxes and bought by the auditor in the name of the commonwealth, be and they are hereby suspended for one year from the date of this act in all cases where proceedings in equity are already instituted by any parties interested in such lands for the purpose of selling the lands and redeeming said lands by paying all taxes due, delinquent, and owing on the same; but this act shall not be operative in any case until the owner of the land involved in such suits or some other person shall notify the clerk of the court of the county or the clerk of the city or corporation in which the land is situated of the existence of the suit.

Sec. 666 b. County and corporation courts to strike from the lists of lands purchased by the commonwealth at delinquent tax sales those tracts which were improperly on the land books or which cannot be located.-Whereas the auditor of public accounts, in his annual report for the fiscal year ending September thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, on the first page of his report, states that from information derived by him from the county and city treasurers of the state it was believed that the greater number of the tracts of land purchased by the commonwealth for delinquent taxes thereon from eighteen hundred and sixty-five to eighteen hundred and eightythree were improperly on the land books and could not be located; and whereas the said auditor, in his said report, suggests that the county and corporation courts shall be directed by statute to examine the lists of these lands so purchased by the commonwealth and strike from them all tracts of land which could not be located or which for any reason were improperly thereon; and whereas there is reason to believe that some of the tracts purchased by the commonwealth at sales of land delinquent for the taxes of eighteen hundred and eighty-four, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and eighteen hundred and eighty-eight were also improperly on the land books; therefore, for the purpose of carrying out the suggestions made in said report and correcting the lists of all delinquent lands sold since the year eighteen hundred and sixty-nine,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the judges of the county and corporation courts of the commonwealth of Virginia be and they are hereby authorized and directed to make a careful examination of the list of land purchased by the commonwealth at the sale of lands delinquent for the years eighteen hundred and sixty-five to eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and for the years eighteen hundred and eightyfour, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and eighteen hundred and eightyeight, and strike from them all tracts which cannot be located or which for any reason are improperly thereon; and where any tract so stricken

from the list of lands purchased by the commonwealth at the sale of delinquents for any given year was embraced in the list of lands returned delinquent for the taxes for the succeeding year and was not sold at the sale of delinquents of such latter year, for the reason that it had been previously purchased by the commonwealth, the court shall direct it to be stricken from the list of delinquents for said latter year.

2. That the commissioners of the revenue and the treasurers of each county and corporation be required to attend their respective county and corporation courts, when directed by the judges thereof, to give all the information within their reach or control until said lists are properly purged and corrected.

3. That the judges of the county and corporation courts be required to commence revising and correcting said lists at the March term of their respective courts, eighteen hundred and ninety, and continue the same from month to month until said lists are fully revised and corrected.

4. When said lists have been fully revised and corrected by the courts the respective clerks shall make off and send to the auditor of public accounts lists of the tracts stricken from each of said lists.

1893-4, p. 404.

Sec. 669. Fees of officers and printer; how paid.-The auditor shall As Amended issue his warrant on the treasury for the fees of the treasurer, clerk, and printer on all purchases in the name of the auditor for the benefit of the state and county, city, or town; said fees to be paid as follows: A reasonable fee, in the opinion of the auditor, to the printer for printing notices; treasurer's fee, twenty-five cents for each tract, pracel, or lot of land; and clerk's fee, five cents for each lot, tract, or parcel of land.

Sec. 674. Lands purchased in name of state unsold and unre- As Amended 1887-8, p. 16. deemed subject to this chapter.-Where lands have been offered for sale under the act of March nineteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, as amended by the act of February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, and purchased in the name of the commonwealth and are unsold and unredeemed when this code takes effect, such lands shall have applied to them and the rights of all persons interested therein shall be governed by the provisions of this chapter; and nothing contained in this chapter in conflict with any provision of the charter of any city shall be construed to repeal such provision.

CHAPTER XXIX.

OF THE RECEIPTS FOR WASTE LANDS, AND FOR FEES PAID IN THE LAND OFFICE.

Sec. 675. Price of waste land; register to issue grants therefor; As Amended when duplicates issued.-A person desiring to purchase any waste and 1887-8, p. 352. unappropriated land authorized by law to be sold shall pay into the treasury seventy-five cents for each acre of the same, and so in proportion for a greater or smaller quantity. The treasurer shall give to the purchaser a receipt for the money paid, specifying the purpose for which the payment is made. The receipt being delivered to the auditor of public accounts, he shall give to such persons a certificate thereof, stating the quantity of land he is entitled to, and thereupon the register of the land office shall issue a grant therefor. But this act shall not be construed as prohibiting the issue of duplicate warrants or grants where the originals have been lost or destroyed, but where it shall be made satisfactorily to appear to the proper officer that the party applying for such duplicate fully complied with the requirements of the law existing at the time the said originals were issued, and that the same have been lost or destroyed, he shall issue proper duplicates thereof.