2020 Georgia Code
Title 48 - Revenue and Taxation
Chapter 4 - Tax Sales
Article 3 - Redemption of Property Sold for Taxes
§ 48-4-43. Effect of Redemption
When property has been redeemed, the effect of the redemption shall be to put the title conveyed by the tax sale back into the defendant in fi. fa., subject to all liens existing at the time of the tax sale. If the redemption has been made by any creditor of the defendant or by any person having any interest in the property, the amount expended by the creditor or person interested shall constitute a first lien on the property and, if the quitclaim deed provided for in Code Section 48-4-44 is recorded as required by law, shall be repaid prior to any other claims upon the property.
(Ga. L. 1898, p. 85, § 3; Civil Code 1910, § 1170; Code 1933, § 92-8302; Code 1933, § 91A-431, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2.)
Law reviews.- For annual survey on local government law, see 69 Mercer L. Rev. 205 (2017). For annual survey on real property, see 69 Mercer L. Rev. 251 (2017).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
"Lien" construed.
- As used in this statute, "lien" comprehends also title under deeds for security of debt. Union Cent. Life Ins. Co. v. Bank of Tignall, 182 Ga. 233, 185 S.E. 108 (1936).
Applicability after statutory redemption period expired.
- Statute is equally applicable when property is redeemed after statutory period has expired. Union Cent. Life Ins. Co. v. Bank of Tignall, 182 Ga. 233, 185 S.E. 108 (1936); Caffey v. Parris, 186 Ga. 303, 197 S.E. 898 (1938).
Applicability of this section to property sold for federal taxes.
- Statute does not apply only to tax sales by the state or some subdivision thereof. While provisions of federal statutes control as to manner in which property may be redeemed after sale for federal taxes, once the redemption has become effective, the effect of the redemption as to other liens on the property is determined by state statutes. Lowe v. City of Atlanta, 221 Ga. 477, 145 S.E.2d 534 (1965).
Effect of redemption by cotenant on rights of other cotenants.
- If cotenant redeemed property by payment of redemption money to purchaser at tax sale, such redemption does not divest other cotenant of title to that cotenant's interest in the property. The effect of the redemption would be to restore title to the same owners who held title before the tax sale. Andrews v. Walden, 208 Ga. 340, 66 S.E.2d 801 (1951).
Failure to exercise right of redemption.
- Transferee by tax deeds of tax lien encumbered property, following a tax sale of the property, held fee simple title to the property unencumbered by any competing tax liens after notice and expiration of the redemption period. Nat'l Tax Funding, L.P. v. Harpagon Co., 277 Ga. 41, 586 S.E.2d 235 (2003).
Purchase by trustee in breach treated as redemption.
- When in consequence of a trustee's breach of duty an estate is sold for taxes, the trustee cannot, even after the expiration of the redemption period, acquire a title from the purchaser at the tax sale, good against the cestui que trust. In equity the reconveyance will be treated as a correction of the wrong, leaving the property impressed with the original trust. Bourquin v. Bourquin, 120 Ga. 115, 47 S.E. 639 (1904).
When a trustee allowed trust property to be sold for taxes, but purchased the property individually after the time for redemption had passed, the effect was a revesting of the interest of the cestui que trust, who was then entitled to redeem the land at a subsequent tax sale. Bourquin v. Bourquin, 120 Ga. 115, 47 S.E. 639 (1904).
Rescission of redeemer's foreclosure sale due to lack of actual notice to interested parties.
- In a judicial foreclosure sale held after a tax sale and redemption, the super lien holder's failure to give actual notice of the sale to the record owner and two lienholders justified the trial court's setting aside the sale under O.C.G.A. § 9-13-172; the disappointed buyer from that sale had no interest in the property and lacked standing to ask the court to confirm or set aside a second sale. Ga. Home Appraisers, Inc. v. Trintec Portfolio Servs., LLC, 349 Ga. App. 356, 825 S.E.2d 833 (2019).
Effect against sale purchaser with independent title.
- When land is redeemed no better title is acquired than the person redeeming had before, and if the purchaser at the tax sale has an independent title, it is not divested by the redemption. Elrod v. Owensboro Wagon Co., 128 Ga. 361, 57 S.E. 712 (1907). See also Morrison v. Whiteside, 116 Ga. 459, 42 S.E. 729 (1902).
Effect of sale and redemption on restrictions as to use of property.
- Whether or not a restriction of land to use as a park might ordinarily be extinguished by a valid sale of the land under a municipal execution for paving assessments, when the owner of the property at the time of sale under execution merely redeems the property, the effect of such redemption is to place title back into such owner, subject to the restriction. Caffey v. Parris, 186 Ga. 303, 197 S.E. 898 (1938).
No right to excess funds generated by tax sale.
- Trial court did not err in granting a tax commissioner summary judgment in a lienholder's action under O.C.G.A. § 15-13-3 to recover excess funds from a tax sale because at the time of the tax sale, at the time the tax commissioner notified the record owner of the property and record lienholders of the excess tax sale funds, and at the time the tax commissioner paid the excess tax sale funds to the record owner of the property, the lienholder had no recorded lien or interest in the property; after the tax commissioner fulfilled the obligation under O.C.G.A. § 48-4-5(a) to give notice to the record property owner and lienholders, the property owner submitted the only claim to the tax commissioner for the excess tax sale funds, and the lienholder failed to show that more was required of the tax commissioner before the funds were disbursed. Brina Bay Holdings, LLC v. Echols, 314 Ga. App. 242, 723 S.E.2d 533 (2012), overruled on other grounds, DLT List, Inc. v. M7ven Supportive Hous. & Dev. Group, 335 Ga. App. 318, 779 S.E.2d 436 (2015).
To the extent that Wester v. United Capital Finance of Atlanta, LLC, 282 Ga. App. 392, 638 S.E.2d 779 (2006), and United Capital Finance of Atlanta v. American Investment Assoc., 302 Ga. App. 400, 691 S.E.2d 272 (2010), held that the redeeming creditor at a tax sale had a first priority claim on the excess tax funds for the amount paid to redeem the property, those cases are overruled. DLT List, LLC v. M7VEN Supportive Hous. & Dev. Group, 335 Ga. App. 318, 779 S.E.2d 436 (2015).
Redeeming creditor of a tax-sale property does not have a priority lien against excess funds arising from that sale. DLT List, LLC v. M7VEN Supportive Hous. & Dev. Group, 301 Ga. 131, 800 S.E.2d 362 (2017).
In Wester v. United Capital Financial of Atlanta, LLC, 282 Ga. App. 392 (2006) and again in United Capital Financial of Atlanta v. American Investment Assoc., 302 Ga. App. 400 (2010), the Georgia Court of Appeals held that a creditor who redeems property following a tax sale has first priority to excess funds resulting from that tax sale, but properly overruled those decisions in DLT List, LLC. v. M7VEN Supportive Housing & Dev. Group, 335 Ga. App. 318 (2015) concluding that a redeeming creditor has no such priority. DLT List, LLC v. M7VEN Supportive Hous. & Dev. Group, 301 Ga. 131, 800 S.E.2d 362 (2017).
As to excess tax sale funds, a redeeming creditor can only make a claim for the funds in the amount of the pre-tax sale lien that gave the creditor the right to redeem. SunTrust Bank v. Cowan, 344 Ga. App. 604, 812 S.E.2d 13 (2018).
Order disbursing excess tax sale funds to the assignee of the redeemer was reversed because the assignee could not show justifiable or good faith reliance on case law that had been overturned and, therefore, had no vested rights to the excess funds or that the issue was moot because it had already spent the funds. SunTrust Bank v. Cowan, 344 Ga. App. 604, 812 S.E.2d 13 (2018).
Cited in Leathers v. McClain, 255 Ga. 378, 338 S.E.2d 666 (1986); Pearlman v. Sec. Bank & Trust Co., 261 Ga. App. 270, 582 S.E.2d 219 (2003).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 30 Am. Jur. 2d, Executions, § 460 et seq.
C.J.S.- 85 C.J.S., Taxation, § 1458 et seq.
ALR.
- Judgment as lien on judgment debtor's equity of redemption in land sold for taxes, 91 A.L.R. 647.
Deed from purchaser of tax title to former owner or lienor as a conveyance of a new title or a redemption, as regards rights or liens of third persons subordinate to tax lien, 106 A.L.R. 887.
Right and remedy of mortgagee who for protection of his security pays taxes on, or redeems from tax sale of, mortgaged property, 123 A.L.R. 1248.
Statutes providing for refund to purchaser at invalid tax sale as applicable where sale antedated the statute, 157 A.L.R. 399.
Rights and remedies of owner against holder of invalid tax title respecting rents and profits or use and occupation, 173 A.L.R. 1179.
Applicability of tax redemption statutes to separate mineral estates, 56 A.L.R.2d 621.
