2021 West Virginia Code
Chapter 11A. Collection and Enforcement of Property Taxes
Article 3. Sale of Tax Liens and Nonentered, Escheated and Waste and Unappropriated Lands
§11A-3-19. What Purchaser Must Do Before the Deed Can Be Secured
(a) At any time after August 31 of the year following the sheriff’s sale, and on or before October 31 of the same year, the purchaser, his or her heirs or assigns, in order to secure a deed for the real estate subject to the tax lien or liens purchased, shall:
(1) Prepare a list of those to be served with notice to redeem and request the State Auditor to prepare and serve the notice as provided in §11A-3-21 and §11A-3-22 of this code;
(2) When the real property subject to the tax lien is classified as Class II property, provide the State Auditor with the physical mailing address of the property that is subject to the tax lien or liens purchased;
(3) Provide the State Auditor with a list of any additional expenses incurred after January 1 of the year following the sheriff’s sale for the preparation of the list of those to be served with notice to redeem, including proof of the additional expenses in the form of receipts or other evidence of reasonable legal expenses incurred for the services of any attorney who has performed an examination of the title to the real estate and rendered written documentation used in the preparation of the list of those to be served with the notice to redeem;
(4) Deposit with the State Auditor a sum sufficient to cover the costs of preparing and serving the notice; and
(5) Present the purchaser’s certificate of sale, or order of the county commission where the certificate has been lost or wrongfully withheld from the owner, to the State Auditor.
If the purchaser fails to meet these requirements he or she shall lose all the benefits of his or her purchase.
(b) If the person requesting preparation and service of the notice is an assignee of the purchaser he or she shall, at the time of the request, file with the State Auditor a written assignment to him or her of the purchaser’s rights, executed, acknowledged, and certified in the manner required to make a valid deed.
(c) Whenever any certificate given by the sheriff for a tax lien on any land, or interest in the land sold for delinquent taxes, or any assignment of the lien is lost or wrongfully withheld from the rightful owner of the land and the land or interest has not been redeemed, the county commission may receive evidence of the loss or wrongful detention and, upon satisfactory proof of that fact, may cause a certificate of the proof and finding, properly attested by the State Auditor, to be delivered to the rightful claimant and a record of the certificate shall be duly made by the county clerk in the recorded proceedings of the commission.
