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Thursday, August 14, 2008, C-T

Every year in Livingston County, state law requires that a “Land Tax Sale” be held on the fourth Monday in August, in or near the county courthouse. Sale time is 10 a.m. In Livingston County, a property must be delinquent three years before it is offered at a back tax sale. Other Missouri counties offer after two years and some after one year. 

The sale is conducted like any other public auction. The starting bid is the combined amount of the unpaid tax, interest, penalty, advertising cost and any other cost related to the sale. If more than one person bids on the property, the property is sold to the highest bidder, and the cost would be the amount of the final bid. Non-residents of Missouri may not bid unless special arrangements have been made with the Collector prior to the sale. Buyers must be present to bid. Purchasers are recommended to research the property and physically locate the property prior to the sale. All bidders must be current on other property taxes. If you are the successful bidder you must pay the amount of your bid immediately after the completion of the sale.

If you are the successful bidder on the day of the sale, you will receive a “Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase.” This “Certificate” becomes a part of the permanent record in the Collector’s office and verifies that you were the successful bidder on the day of the sale. After a one-year waiting period you can present your “Certificate” to the County Collector in exchange for a “Collectors Deed.” Once the “Collector Deed” is properly recorded, you are the lawful owner of record.

The owner of record on the day of the sale has a one-year right to redeem the property. That is, any time during the next year following the day of the sale, the owner can come forward and pay to the collector all tax, interest, penalty, advertising cost and all related costs and will again become the full owner of record. This is called “Redeeming the property.” If the property is “Redeemed” the county Collector will collect the money from the original owner. The buyer of the property on the day of the sale will then receive all the money paid on the day of the sale plus interest (interest is paid only on the amount of unpaid tax & expense of the sale and is not paid on the surplus) from the county Collector. Once you receive the money your “Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase” becomes invalid and must be returned to the Collector at the time you receive your money back. You, the holder of the “Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase,” will be billed for the tax during the one-year redemption period.

Does a back tax sale clear the property of all other liens? No. The only lien that is cleared through the tax sale process is property tax. The property may also have other liens such as mortgage(s), income tax liens, judgments, levies, etc. The only sure way to find out is to do a lien search of the public record. If you are not familiar with public record searches, it would probably be best to hire someone who can conduct a complete search for you. Most title and abstract companies will charge a fee to provide this service. The cost of a lien search cannot be recovered from the Collector or the owner and the decision to do a lien search is entirely up to you.

If a property does have other liens, how do I get them removed from the record? You are required to do a lien search, at least, 90 days before the end of the one-year redemption period and before applying for a Collectors Deed. You must notify by certified mail and lien holder as well as the previous owner of your intent to apply for and record a Collectors Deed. If you do not receive back a response from and lien holder within the 90 day period they are forever barred from enforcing their lien against you and the property. The reason you must notify the previous owner is to provide a warning that the one-year redemption period is ending.

The list of properties to be offered at the sale is published in a newspaper that has countywide distribution, once a week for three consecutive weeks, with the last publication at least 15 days prior to the sale date. Property owners can remove their property from the sale list by paying any time prior to the scheduled hour of the sale. If you could possibly have a piece of property, with delinquent taxes three years back, please contact us as quickly as possible, as this could be sold on our upcoming "Land Tax Sale", Monday, August 25, 2008. Contact the Livingston County Collector, Deanna Kepner, at 660-646-8000 opt. 7 or stop by the Livingston County Courthouse.