Senate Bill 2421

(COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE)

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AN EXPEDITED QUIET TITLE AND FORECLOSURE PROCEDURE FOR TAX‑-FORFEITED LANDS FOR MUNICIPALITIES; TO PROVIDE THAT SUCH PROCEDURES SHALL ONLY BE USED BY MUNICIPALITIES WITH THE NEED TO REHABILITATE ABANDONED, UNINHABITED OR BLIGHTED PROPERTY FOR PURPOSES OF ALLEVIATING BLIGHT AND PROMOTING COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The expedited quiet title and foreclosure procedures set forth in Sections 1 through 10 of this act apply only in a municipality which needs to rehabilitate abandoned, uninhabited or blighted property for purposes of alleviating blight and promoting community revitalization. The provisions of law regarding the acquisition of tax‑-delinquent properties do not apply to, restrict, or otherwise affect any cause of action or action brought by a municipality under this act and do not affect any limitation of action or extend the period of redemption for any abandoned tax sale properties within the corporate limits of the municipality.

SECTION 2. (1) The governing authority of a municipality may initiate an expedited quiet title and foreclosure action under this act against a parcel of tax sale property located within its municipal limits and purchased by the municipality. The municipality shall record, in the office of the chancery court in the county in which the property is located, a notice of its intention to file an expedited quiet title and foreclosure action. The notice shall include a legal description of the property, street address of the property if available, a statement that the property is subject to expedited quiet title and foreclosure proceedings under this act, and a statement that those proceedings may extinguish any legal interests in the property. As used in this section, interested parties shall mean the owner, his or her heirs or personal representatives, any mortgagee or purchaser of the subject property or any part thereof, and any party with an interest in the property, or in any part thereof, legal or equitable, in severalty or as tenant in common, including a judgment creditor or other creditor having a lien thereon, or any part thereof.

(2) The municipality shall make a good faith effort to identify the interested parties and the addresses at which they can be reached. The municipality shall be presumed to have made a good‑-faith effort to identify interested parties if it does all of the following:

(a) Erects a sign not less than four (4) feet by six (6) feet on the property and maintains it for a minimum of fifteen (15) days, which must read as follows:

"THIS PROPERTY WAS SOLD TO THE CITY OF __________ FOR UNPAID TAXES. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE OWNER OF THIS PROPERTY, PLEASE CALL ____________________."

(b) Examines the addresses that appear on the face of the recorded deeds, mortgages, and relevant instruments.

(c) Examines the records of the tax assessor to find the names and addresses of all parties who paid taxes in the five‑-year period before the date of the tax sale; however, the municipality is not required to search for parties who paid taxes more than ten (10) years before the year of the inquiry.

(d) If the interested party is an individual, the municipality shall examine voter registration lists, available municipal archives for records of deaths and the chancery court records of estates opened in the county in which the property is located.

(e) If the interested party is a business entity, the municipality shall search the records of the Secretary of State for the name and address of a registered agent.

SECTION 3. The municipality may file a single petition with the clerk of the chancery court for the county in which the subject property is located for an order to quiet title and expedite foreclosure to one or more parcels of property under this act. The petition shall identify each parcel by its tax parcel number and street address and shall be served on all interested parties identified in accordance with Section 2(2) of this act. No action filed pursuant to this act shall be subject to the payment of filing fees.

SECTION 4. Upon receipt of the petition under Section 3 of this act, the chancery court shall set the date, time, and place for a hearing to be held on the petition. The hearing shall occur within thirty (30) days of the filing of the petition and shall be a preferential case. The court, on the request of a party, may extend the thirty‑-day period for good cause shown.

SECTION 5. (1) Not less than fifteen (15) days before the date on which the hearing on the quiet title and foreclosure petition is scheduled, the municipality shall do both of the following:

(a) Send a notice of the hearing to the interested parties identified under Section 2(2) of this act or each parcel named in the petition by both certified mail, return receipt requested, and regular mail.

(b) Post conspicuously on each property named in the petition notice of the hearing, which includes the following statement: "THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO [NAME OF MUNICIPALITY] AND IS SUBJECT TO AN EXPEDITED QUIET TITLE AND FORECLOSURE ACTION. PERSONS WITH INFORMATION REGARDING THE PRIOR OWNER OF THE PROPERTY ARE REQUESTED TO CONTACT [NAME OF MUNICIPALITY]."

(2) Notices provided to the interested parties under this section shall include all of the following:

(a) The date on which the municipality recorded in chancery court its notice of the pending expedited quiet title and foreclosure action under Section 2(1) of this act.

(b) A legal description, tax parcel identification number, and the street address of the property, if available.

(d) The date, time and place for the hearing on the petition for expedited quiet title and foreclosure and a statement that the judgment of the court may result in title to the property vesting in the municipality.

(e) Notice that the judgment of the court in the quiet title and foreclosure hearing may extinguish any ownership interest in, liens against, right to redeem, or any claim whatsoever secured by the property.

(f) The name, address and telephone number of the municipality.

(g) A statement that persons with information regarding the owner or prior owner of any of the properties are requested to contact the municipality.

(h) That any party seeking to redeem the property will be required to pay all taxes, interest, penalties, and fees and any other charges due and substantially rehabilitate the property on or before the date of the scheduled hearing.

SECTION 6. (1) If the municipality is unable to identify the names and addresses of interested parties, or is unable to provide notice under Section 5 of this act, the municipality may conduct notice by publication. The municipality shall publish a notice once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property is located. If no newspaper is published in that county, publication shall be made in a newspaper of general circulation in an adjoining county. This publication shall substitute for notice under Section 5(1)(a) of this act. The published notice shall include the information listed in Section 5(2)(b) of this act.

(2) If the municipality discovers the name and address of an interested party following publication, it shall notify that party of the expedited quiet title and foreclosure action in accordance with Section 5(1)(a) of this act as soon as practicable, in which case notice shall be brought to the attention of the court which shall postpone the hearing for a period of time sufficient to give such notice to the newly discovered party.

SECTION 7. (1) Prior to the chancery court hearing on the expedited quiet title and foreclosure action, the municipality shall file with the clerk of the chancery court proof of notice to the interested parties by certified and regular mail and of the posting on the property under Section 5(2)(a) of this act, along with proof of notice by publication under Section 6 of this act, if applicable.

(2) An interested party who desires to contest the petition shall file written objections with the clerk of the chancery court and serve those objections on the municipality at least fourteen (14) days before the date of the hearing. The written objections must set forth the party's ability and intent to pay all taxes, interest, penalties, and fees and any other charges due on the property and to substantially rehabilitate the property on or before the date of the scheduled hearing.

(3) If the court denies the petition, the denial shall not preclude the municipality from filing another petition for expedited quiet title and foreclosure on that parcel. No injunction shall issue to stay an expedited quiet title and foreclosure action under this act.

SECTION 8. (1) If an interested party appears at the hearing and asserts a right to redeem the property, the party may redeem the property by paying all the taxes, interest, municipal liens, penalties, fees, and any other charges due, including the amount due to the Secretary of State had the property not been sold to the municipality. Additionally, the party must present evidence to the court that the property has been substantially rehabilitated.

(2) If an interested party appears and fails to redeem, or if no one appears, the chancery court shall enter judgment on the petition not more than five (5) days after the date the matter was heard.

(3) The judgment of the chancery court shall specify all of the following:

(a) The legal description, tax parcel identification number, and, if known, the street address of the property foreclosed.

(b) That fee simple title to property foreclosed by the judgment is vested absolutely in the municipality, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (e) of this subsection without any further rights of redemption.

(d) That the municipality has good and marketable fee simple title to the property.

(e) That all existing recorded and unrecorded interests in the property are extinguished, except for recorded easements or rights‑-of‑-way, private deed restrictions, plat restrictions, or restrictions or covenants imposed under the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality regulations or any other environmental law in effect in the state.

(f) That the municipality provided notice to all interested parties or that the municipality complied with the notice procedures in Section 5 of this act, which compliance shall create a rebuttable presumption that all interested parties received notice and an opportunity to be heard.

SECTION 9. A municipality or interested party, within five (5) days following the effective date of the judgment, may appeal the judgment of the chancery court to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Such appeal shall be preferential and shall be decided without oral argument within fourteen (14) days. Any party appealing from an order vesting title in the municipality, as a condition of the appeal, shall identify the parcel which is the subject of the appeal and, with respect to that parcel, post a bond in the amount due to redeem the property. The appeal shall stay the order of the chancery court only with respect to each parcel identified as the subject of the appeal. The order of the chancery court shall be affirmed absent a defect in the identification of the property or in the notice such that the notice deprived a party of the right to due process of law. The order shall not be reversed on the basis of merely technical noncompliance with this act.

SECTION 10. The municipality shall record the court's order in the chancery court following the five‑-day period after the entry of the chancery court's order if no appeal is filed or after a final judgment on appeal from the decision of the chancery court on the municipality's petition for an expedited quiet title and foreclosure action.

SECTION 11. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020, and shall stand repealed on June 30, 2020.