2020 Georgia Code
Title 48 - Revenue and Taxation
Chapter 4 - Tax Sales
Article 3 - Redemption of Property Sold for Taxes
§ 48-4-44. Quitclaim Deed by Purchaser
- In all cases where property is redeemed, the purchaser at the tax sale shall make a quitclaim deed to the defendant in fi. fa., which deed shall recite:
- The name of the person who has paid the redemption money; and
- The capacity in which or the claim of right or interest pursuant to which the redemption money was paid.
- The recitals required by subsection (a) of this Code section shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts stated.
- If the quitclaim deed provided for in subsection (a) of this Code section is presented to the purchaser at the time such person accepts the amount payable for the redemption in the form of cash or a certified check, the purchaser shall, at that time, sign the quitclaim deed if a notary public and an unofficial witness are present to witness such signature.
- If no quitclaim deed is presented at the time of the redemption or if sufficient witnesses are not present, it shall be the responsibility of the purchaser to prepare and properly execute such quitclaim deed as is required by law within seven days from the date of the redemption.
- It shall be the responsibility of the purchaser once the quitclaim deed is properly executed as required in subsection (d) of this Code section to present such deed for recordation to the clerk of the court within ten days of the redemption. The quitclaim deed shall be presented for recordation in the county where the tax sale originally occurred. The purchaser shall pay all recording costs and return the recorded quitclaim deed to the redeemer.
(Ga. L. 1898, p. 85, § 5; Civil Code 1910, § 1172; Code 1933, § 92-8304; Code 1933, § 91A-433, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 2006, p. 770, § 6/SB 585.)
Editor's notes.- Ga. L. 2006, p. 770, § 8/SB 585, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "The provisions of this Act shall apply to all executions transferred on or after July 1, 2006. Executions transferred prior to July 1, 2006, shall not be affected by this Act."
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Section inapplicable to sale for drainage assessments.
- When land is sold under execution issued for an assessment to meet interest, principal, or costs of draining the land in a drainage district, the vendee will not be required to execute and deliver a quitclaim deed. Sigmon-Reinhardt Co. v. Atkins Nat'l Bank, 163 Ga. 136, 135 S.E. 720 (1926).
That purchaser does not yet have deed is no defense to demand for deed.
- It is no defense to a demand for a deed to answer that the purchaser has not yet had the selling officer make a deed to the purchaser. Elrod v. Owensboro Wagon Co., 128 Ga. 361, 57 S.E. 712 (1907).
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).
Cited in Leathers v. McClain, 255 Ga. 378, 338 S.E.2d 666 (1986); Selph v. Williams, 284 Ga. 349, 667 S.E.2d 40 (2008).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 30 Am. Jur. 2d, Executions, §§ 461, 462.
C.J.S.- 85 C.J.S., Taxation, § 1468 et seq.
ALR.
- Rights or interests covered by quitclaim deed, 44 A.L.R. 1266; 162 A.L.R. 556.
Statutes providing for refund to purchaser at invalid tax sale as applicable where sale antedated the statute, 157 A.L.R. 399.
