§2236.  Claim of ownership of adjudicated property by political subdivision

A.  Whenever property or tax sale title to property is adjudicated to a political subdivision, the political subdivision may declare, by ordinance duly enacted, that the political subdivision intends to acquire a full ownership interest in the property.

B.  A copy of the ordinance shall be filed with the recorder of mortgages.  The recorder shall index the names of the tax debtor and the political subdivision as mortgagees.  A transfer, mortgage, lien, privilege, or other encumbrance filed after the filing of the ordinance shall not affect the property.  The recorder of mortgages or recorder of conveyances shall cancel, erase, terminate, or release the acts upon the request of the political subdivision.

C.(1)  Political subdivisions that intend to acquire full ownership in property as provided in this Section shall, within thirty days after the filing of the instrument and ordinance described in Subsection B of this Section, or as soon thereafter as practical, send a written notice regarding the acquisition to the tax sale parties whose interest the political subdivision intends to be terminated that the party has until the applicable time period set forth below to redeem the property or otherwise challenge in a court of competent jurisdiction the acquisition:

(a)  Sixty days after the date of the notice, if five years have elapsed from the filing of the tax sale certificate.

(b)  Six months after the date of the notice, if five years have not elapsed from the filing of the tax sale certificate.

(2)  If this notice is given after the expiration of the applicable redemptive period, this notice shall constitute a notice of sale.  The sending of this notice shall constitute service of the notice of sale under Article VII, Section 25 of the Constitution of Louisiana.  The notice required by this Section shall be sufficient, and it shall not be necessary to determine whether notice of the tax sale or any other notice was given.  The notice shall be sufficient if it is in the following form:

"This is an important legal notice.

Please read it carefully.  You will receive no further notice.

[Date]

[Name]

[Address]

[City], [ST]  [Zip]

RE:   Property:            [PropertyAddress]

[DescriptionofPropertyAbbr]

Parish of ________________________ , State of Louisiana

Tax sale title to the above described property has been adjudicated to [name of political subdivision] for failure to pay taxes.

[Name of political subdivision] now intends to acquire full ownership in the above described property.  You have been identified as a person who may have an interest in this property.

Your interest in the property will be terminated if you do not redeem the property by making all required payments to the tax collector listed below, or file a lawsuit within [60 days] [6 months] of the date of this notice.

[Tax collector name, address, and telephone number]"

D.(1)  The political subdivision shall cause to be published in the official journal of the political subdivision a notice that any tax sale party whose interest the political subdivision intends to be terminated has until the applicable time period set forth below to redeem the property or otherwise challenge in a court of competent jurisdiction the acquisition:

(a)  Sixty days, for property on which a tax sale certificate was filed over five years before the first publication.

(b)  Six months if the tax sale certificate was filed less than five years before the first publication of the notice provided in this Subsection.

(2)  The publication shall be sufficient if it is in the following form:

"NOTICE

[Names of Tax Sale Parties]

THIS NOTICE BY PUBLICATION IS NOTIFICATION THAT YOUR RIGHTS OR INTEREST IN THE FOLLOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY LOCATED IN _____________________, LOUISIANA MAY BE TERMINATED BY OPERATION OF LAW IF YOU DO NOT TAKE FURTHER ACTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW:

[Brief legal description of property]

Improvements thereon bear Municipal No. ______________________.

Tax sale title to the above described property has been adjudicated to [name of political subdivision] for failure to pay taxes.

[Name of political subdivision] now intends to acquire full ownership in the above described property.  You have been identified as a person who may have an interest in this property.

Your interest in the property will be terminated if you do not redeem the property by making all required payments to the tax collector listed below or file a lawsuit in accordance with law within [60 days] [6 months] of the date of the first publication of this notice, or the recording of an act transferring ownership, if later.

[Tax collector name, address, telephone number]"

E.  If the property is not redeemed within the time limit set forth in Subsection C of this Section, the ordinance shall become operative, and the political subdivision shall acquire full ownership of the property as provided in the ordinance, subject only to such rights as determined by a final judgment rendered in an action filed within the time limits set forth in Subsection C of this Section.  The political subdivision shall file a notice in the conveyance records indicating that the political subdivision has acquired full ownership of the property in compliance with this Section.  The notice shall be sufficient if it is in the following form:

"NOTICE

[Name of political subdivision] certifies that it has complied with the provisions of R.S. 47:2236 and that it has acquired full ownership in the following described property:

[Legal description of property]

[Name of political subdivision]

by _______________________

Name:_________________________

Title:__________________________"

F.  Contemporaneously with or subsequent to the filing of the notice, the political subdivision may file with the recorder of mortgages an affidavit indicating how the tax sale parties whose interest the political subdivision intends to be terminated were identified, how the address of each tax sale party was obtained, how the written notice was sent, the results of sending the written notice, and the dates of publication.  The affidavit may also contain a statement of the interest to which the political subdivision takes subject.  The recorder of mortgages shall index the affidavit only under the names of the political subdivision and the tax debtor, as mortgagors.  The affidavit shall be sufficient if it is in the following form:

This affidavit shall be indexed under each of the following names as mortgagor:

(a)  [Name of political subdivision]

(b)  [Name of tax debtor]

BE IT KNOWN, on the ______day of________________ [MONTH], __________ [YEAR]

BEFORE ME, the undersigned notary public, duly qualified in and for the state and parish aforesaid, and in the presence of the undersigned competent witness, PERSONALLY CAME AND APPEARED:

__________________________________ [Name of affiant], major domiciliary of the Parish of ___________________________, State of Louisiana ("affiant"), who, after being duly sworn, deposed and stated that on his personal knowledge:

1.  Affiant personally examined [name of abstract] [title certificate] [the public records] (the "abstract") affecting the following described immovable property located in the Parish of _______________________, State of Louisiana (the "property"):

[Legal description of property]

2.  A review of the abstract by the Affiant revealed the following persons or entities with an interest in the property, which such interest being listed beside the name:

3.  Affiant reviewed the documents listed in the abstract, the telephone book published by [name of telephone book publisher] for the Parish of __________________ dated for use until [date], or utilized all the resources under [list other examination resources, including Internet search engines, if any], and the search revealed the following last known addresses for the persons listed in Item 2 above:

4.  Affiant reviewed the records of the Louisiana Secretary of State and the secretary of state of the states set forth by the names of the entities listed below, and the search revealed the following addresses for the entities listed in Item 2 above:

5.  Affiant caused to be sent a written notice notifying the persons or entities listed in Item 2 above at the addresses listed in Items 3 and 4 above.  A sample of the form of the written notice is attached and satisfied R.S. 47:2236(C).

6.  The method and results of the notifications set forth in Item 5 above are listed by name and address as follows:

7.  Notification was also published in [journal of general circulation for the political subdivision] on [list dates] [and was posted on the property].  The form of the publications is attached and satisfied R.S. 47:2236(D).

8.  Pursuant to R.S. 47:2236(G), the following interests are cancelled, terminated, erased or released, as applicable, only insofar as they affect the property:

THUS DONE AND PASSED on the day, month and year set forth above, in the presence of the undersigned competent witness, who have signed their names with Affiant, and me, notary, after reading of the whole.

WITNESSES:

AFFIANT:

_____________________________

_____________________________

Printed Name:_________________

Printed Name: _________________

_____________________________

Printed Name: _________________

_____________________________________

NOTARY PUBLIC

Printed Name: ____________________

Notary/Bar Roll No.: _______________"

G.  The filing of the affidavit provided in this Section with the recorder of mortgages of the parish in which the property is located shall operate as a cancellation, termination, release, or erasure of record of all statutory impositions of all political subdivisions then due and owing, of all governmental liens, and of all interests, liens, mortgages, privileges, and other encumbrances recorded against the property sold and listed in the affidavit.

H.  Upon filing of the affidavit, the recorder of mortgages or the recorder of conveyances shall treat as canceled, terminated, released, or erased, all those liens, privileges, mortgages, or other encumbrances canceled, terminated, released, or erased under Subsection G of this Section, only insofar as they affect the property.

I.  The political subdivision shall be liable to and indemnify the recorder of mortgages, the recorder of conveyances, and any other person relying on the cancellation, termination, release, or erasure by affidavit for any damages that they may suffer as a consequence of such reliance if the recorded affidavit contains materially false or incorrect statements that cause the recorder to incorrectly cancel, terminate, release, or erase any interest as provided in the affidavit.  The recorder of mortgages and the recorder of conveyances shall not be liable for any damages resulting to any person or entity as a consequence of the cancellation, termination, release, or erasure of any interest in compliance with this Section.

Acts 2008, No. 819, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.