MCA Chapter 45

in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-1 Duties of chancery clerk.

Redemption of land sold for taxes shall be made through the chancery clerks of the respective counties. Where the land was sold to the state, the clerk, out of the amount necessary to redeem, shall first pay to the officers entitled thereto the costs, fees and damages which are allowed those officers by law in cases of lands sold to individuals; second, he shall pay the state the amount of state taxes with the interest and additional charges thereon allowed by law to the state; and, third, he shall pay to the county the sums computed in like manner which belong to the county and the various taxing districts thereof. Where the land was sold to an individual, the clerk shall pay: First, to the state the amount of state taxes with the interest and additional charges thereon allowed by law, unless same has been paid previously by the tax purchaser or some other person; Second, to the county the sums computed in like manner which belong to the county and the various taxing districts thereof, unless same has been paid previously by the tax purchaser or some other person; Third, to the county the five percent (5%) damages on the amount of the taxes for which the land was sold; and Fourth, the balance to the purchaser. The clerk shall make his redemption settlements within twenty (20) days after the end of each month and shall make a complete report thereof to the board of supervisors. For a failure so to report or to pay over the sums to the parties entitled thereto as herein required, he shall be liable on his official bond to a penalty of one percent (1%) per month on the amount withheld. The chancery clerk shall also note each redemption on the public record of delinquent tax lands, on the day payment of taxes is made, with the date, name and the amount of redemption money paid.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-3 Persons who may redeem land.

The owner, or any persons for him with his consent, or any person interested in the land sold for taxes, may redeem the same, or any part of it, where it is separable by legal subdivisions of not less than forty (40) acres, or any undivided interest in it, at any time within two (2) years after the day of sale, by paying to the chancery clerk, regardless of the amount of the purchaser’s bid at the tax sale, the amount of all taxes for which the land was sold, with all costs incident to the sale, and five percent (5%) damages on the amount of taxes for which the land was sold, and interest on all such taxes and costs at the rate of one and one-half percent (1-1/2%) per month, or any fractional part thereof, from the date of such sale, and all costs that have accrued on the land since the sale, with interest thereon from the date such costs shall have accrued, at the rate of one and one-half percent (1-1/2%) per month, or any fractional part thereof; saving only to infants who have or may hereafter inherit or acquire land by will and persons of unsound mind whose land may be sold for taxes, the right to redeem the same within two (2) years after attaining full age or being restored to sanity, from the state or any purchaser thereof, on the terms herein prescribed, and on their paying the value of any permanent improvements on the land made after the expiration of two (2) years from the date of the sale of the lands for taxes. Upon such payment to the chancery clerk as hereinabove provided, he shall execute to the person redeeming the land a release of all claim or title of the state or purchaser to such land, which said release shall be attested by the seal of the chancery clerk and shall be entitled to be recorded without acknowledgment, as deeds are recorded. Said release when so executed and attested shall operate as a quitclaim on the part of the state or purchaser of any right or title under said tax sale.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-5 Deposit of redemption funds; disposition.

It shall be the duty of the chancery clerk of each county in the state to immediately deposit in the county depository of his county all sums of money paid to him by any person for the redemption of land sold for taxes in his county; all such funds are hereby declared to be public funds, and shall be secured by the county depository, as other public funds are required to be secured by law. The board of supervisors of each county shall provide the clerk with printed checks in the form of vouchers, with proper blanks, bound in book form with a sufficient blank margin to be used in drawing redemption funds out of the county depository; all such checks shall be numbered in numerical order, and it shall be the duty of the clerk to draw on such funds upon such checks as herein provided in payment of all amounts due the officers and purchasers out of said funds. He shall first pay the officers entitled to their costs, fees, and damages which are allowed to said officers by law; and he shall then pay to the purchasers at any such tax sale, the full amount due him as provided by law. It shall be the duty of the state auditor of public accounts to audit such account of each clerk, as other public funds are audited; and he shall include in said audit a special report to the board of supervisors of his county setting out in detail the amounts collected, and the disposition of such funds, and the balance on hand, and attest to the correctness thereof. If such clerk shall neglect, refuse or fail to deposit such funds received by him as herein provided, he shall be guilty of misfeasance in office, and in addition thereto shall be liable on his official bond to any person injured by his failure to deposit such funds in the county depository as herein provided.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-7 Mortgagee may redeem in part.

If there exist upon a portion of a tract of land sold for taxes a lien, either of a deed of trust or mortgage of any kind, the mortgagee or holder of the notes secured by such deed of trust, or any person interested in such real estate may redeem that portion of the land so sold in solido upon which portion such mortgagee or owner of notes secured by deed of trust holds such lien in the following manner, to-wit: Such mortgagee or owner of notes secured by a deed of trust or any person interested in such real estate may apply, in writing, to the chancery clerk of the county in which the land was sold, within the time provided by law, for redemption from the sale for taxes of such portion of the entire tract so sold in solido. Upon the application being filed with him, it shall be the duty of the chancery clerk to give ten (10) days’ notice, in writing, of such application, by registered mail, to the last known post-office address with return receipt requested, to the owner and to the purchaser at the tax sale, and to all persons holding mortgages or other liens of record on the land so sold in solido or any part thereof, which notice shall designate a time not less than ten (10) days from the mailing thereof when such clerk shall hear and perform the duties hereinafter provided for. The clerk shall enter on the record of such tax sale notations giving the date when such notices were mailed and the names and post-office addresses of persons to whom mailed. On the date named for such hearing, the chancery clerk shall make such investigation as he may deem necessary to ascertain the relative value which that portion of the land on which the lien of such mortgage or deed of trust is held by the applicant, or by any other person, bears to the value of the entire land sold in solido for taxes, and the chancery clerk shall apportion the taxes due upon such portion at the ratio which said portion, upon which the lien exists, bears to the entire value of the property sold in solido for taxes. Upon such apportionment, the mortgagee or holder of the deed of trust, or any person interested in such real estate, shall be entitled to redeem that part of the land by payment of the sum apportioned thereon to the chancery clerk, regardless of the amount of the purchaser’s bid at the tax sale, with its proportionate part, calculated as above provided, of all costs, damages and interest consequent upon the sale, and also all state and county taxes that have accrued upon that portion of said land since the sale, apportioned by the chancery clerk in the manner hereinabove provided, together with interest thereon, at the rate of one per centum per month, or any fractional part thereof, from the date such taxes shall have accrued.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-9 Effect of redemption of part.

The redemption mentioned in Section 27-45-7 shall operate to fully and effectually redeem that portion of the land from the operation of the tax sale from which such redemption is made and shall leave in full force and effect the tax sale as to the remainder of the land so sold for taxes, which remainder, or any part thereof, may thereafter, in the time provided by law, be redeemed by the owner or any person interested in such real estate by the payment of the balance due, or such part thereof calculated as above provided. In the event that there shall exist several trust deeds or mortgages upon the property so sold in solido, and redemption under one or more of such trust deeds shall operate so as to effect redemption of a portion of the lands in any one of the others, because of overlapping descriptions and leave unredeemed the remainder of the land covered by such other deeds of trust or mortgages, the chancery clerk shall likewise have power to apportion in the same manner as aforesaid the amount required to redeem the remainder of the land included in such trust deed, omitting the portion of the land in such trust deed which had been previously redeemed, in the manner as above provided. Upon redemption by one other than the owner of the land redeemed, it shall be the duty of the redeemer to immediately notify, in writing, by registered mail with return receipt requested, any and all persons holding prior lien or liens of deed of trust or mortgage shown by the records of deeds of trust of the county where the land is situated, of the redemption of such part or all of said land, addressed to the lienor or lienors at his or their last known post-office address, and to file a copy of such notice or notices with the chancery clerk of said county who shall make entry of the receipt of the copy of such notice or notices on the record of tax sales of his office where such record of the redemption is entered. If the redeemer shall fail to give the notice or notices as above provided for, then such redeemer shall not be entitled by subrogation, or otherwise, to obtain or be granted any prior equity upon the land so redeemed over any prior lienor or lienors on the land so redeemed, whether such equity by subrogation or otherwise existed or not. Upon redemption of land or any part thereof as above provided, the chancery clerk shall execute a release thereof from the tax sale with the same effect, and shall note the redemption on his tax sales record, as is provided for redemptions in the usual manner.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-11 Redemptions from municipal tax sales.

All rights and privileges and duties granted or imposed, in the preceding sections, upon lienors or any person interested in such land with reference to redemption from tax sales made for nonpayment of state and county taxes shall likewise apply and be applicable to like redemptions from municipal tax sales or municipal separate school district tax sales, and also to levee and drainage district tax sales. With reference to such redemptions, the written application for redemption shall be addressed to the municipal clerk, or to the like officer of the levee or drainage district, as the case may be, who shall be the official to perform the appropriate duties and to make the necessary investigation and apportionment of the sum necessary to redeem as to any interested lienor or any person interested in such land who shall have the right to make application to redeem, as herein set forth.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-13 Redemption of lands sold by mistake.

When anyone, designing and endeavoring to pay the taxes due on his own land, shall by mistake pay the taxes due on other land than his own, in consequence whereof his own land shall have been sold for taxes, such person may, within the two (2) years allowed for redemption, make affidavit of the facts, and if the taxes for which his land was sold, and the costs of such sale exceed the amount he had so paid, he shall pay the tax collector of the county the difference, and also all taxes subsequently accrued on such land and not before paid, and shall protect the state and county against any loss by reason of the mistake. He shall obtain the receipt in duplicate of such collector for what he shall pay him, which receipt it shall be the duty of the collector to give him, specifying particularly on what account such payment was made. Said receipts need not be from the book of receipts required to be kept. He shall deposit one (1) of said receipts with the chancery clerk, together with said affidavit setting forth the facts of such mistake; and thereupon it shall be the duty of the chancery clerk to release to such person the title of the state or individual purchaser to such land, and, where the land was sold to the state, to notify the auditor to make proper entry on the assessment roll in his office. The auditor and the chancery clerk shall charge the tax collector with the amount due on the transaction to the state and county, respectively, and the collector shall also make proper entry on the assessment roll in his office.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-15 Sale of land paid on by mistake.

Land on which said person had paid on by mistake, shall be sold for the taxes and costs, the payment of which, except for mistake, it had escaped, as follows: The chancery clerk shall notify the tax collector of his release of the land first sold and the collector shall immediately give notice in writing to the person in possession of the land paid on by mistake, if any, or to the owner or person claiming it, that at a meeting of the board of supervisors of the county, to be designated in such notice, he will apply for an order to sell said land because of the foregoing facts. At such meeting, the collector shall report the facts in writing to the board of supervisors, and that he has given notice as above required, and said board shall hear any objection to the proposed sale of such land, and unless there be some valid objection shall order it to be sold. Thereupon the collector shall advertise it as sales of land for taxes are required to be advertised, and shall sell it on some day when it is lawful to sell land under execution in his county, and shall proceed in all respects as required in making sales of land for taxes on the first Monday of April. He shall report the lists of lands so sold to the clerk of the chancery court in the same manner and within the same relative time as provided for sales of land for taxes at the usual time. He shall pay over to the proper officers the taxes collected from sales to individuals as in other cases.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-17 Release by clerk of title to certain lands.

If the owner, or any person interested in any land sold for taxes, shall at any time within two (2) years after the sale for taxes produce a receipt of the tax collector showing payment of the taxes, for which the land was sold, before the sale, and shall pay to the chancery clerk all subsequently accrued taxes, the said clerk shall release to the owner or person interested the title of the state or individual purchaser to such land. The land so released shall thereafter be dealt with as lands redeemed are required to be, and the tax collector, whose receipt was so produced, shall be charged with the taxes collected by him as in the case of other taxes.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-19 Record of state tax lands.

The tax collector shall keep a record of lands struck off to the state for taxes for his convenience in collecting taxes and making settlements with the state and county. The chancery clerk, when he releases such lands upon redemption, shall immediately notify the auditor and tax collector, giving name of person redeeming, date of redemption, and description of the land, and the auditor and collector, when they receive such notice, shall at once make entry thereof upon their records.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-21 Certification by clerk of lands not redeemed.

It shall be the duty of the chancery clerk, within thirty (30) days after the period of redemption has expired, to certify to the Secretary of State a list, on forms provided by the Secretary of State, of all lands struck off to the state for taxes, which have not been redeemed. The list shall show a description of the land, all costs, officer’s and printer’s fees, the tax for which it sold, segregated as to state, county, levee and drainage districts, and of all taxes due on the lands for the year in which it was struck off to the state, segregated as to state, county, levee and drainage districts, a total of two (2) years’ taxes listed separately (the taxes for which it sold and accrued taxes for one (1) year). If any chancery clerk shall fail or neglect to transmit such lists within the time specified, he shall be liable to the state on his official bond in the penalty of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) for each day that he is in default. The penalty to be collected by the Department of Revenue, or by the Attorney General, in a suit instituted for that purpose upon request of the Secretary of State; provided that the Secretary of State, if so requested by any chancery clerk before the expiration of ten (10) days and for good cause shown, may grant a reasonable extension of the time within which the clerk shall transmit his list. The Secretary of State may provide the forms described in subsection (1) of this section for certifying lands struck off to the state for taxes to the chancery clerk as an electronic record. The chancery clerk may certify the list of all lands struck off to the state by completing and submitting the form containing the electronic signature of the chancery clerk to the Secretary of State. An electronic record of the list submitted by the chancery clerk to the Secretary of State in the prescribed form and containing the electronic signature of the chancery clerk shall vest good title in the State of Mississippi to all lands listed in the form.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-23 Conveyances to purchasers at tax sales.

When the period of redemption has expired, the chancery clerk shall, on demand, execute deeds of conveyance to individuals purchasing lands at tax sales. Which conveyances shall be essentially in the following form to wit: “State of Mississippi, County of Be it known, that , tax collector of said county of , did, on the day of , A.D. , according to law, sell the following land, situated in said county and assessed to to wit: (here describe the land) for the taxes assessed thereon (or when sold for other taxes it should be so stated) for the year A.D. , when became the best bidder therefor, at and for the sum of dollars and cents; and the same not having been redeemed, I therefore sell and convey said land to the said Given under my hand, the day of , A. D. Chancery Clerk.” Click to view Such conveyance shall be attested by the seal of the office of the chancery clerk and shall be recordable when acknowledged as land deeds are recorded, and such conveyance shall vest in the purchaser a perfect title with the immediate right of possession to the land sold for taxes. No such conveyance shall be invalidated in any court except by proof that the land was not liable to sale for the taxes, or that the taxes for which the land was sold had been paid before sale, or that the sale had been made at the wrong time or place. If any part of the taxes for which the land was sold was illegal or not chargeable on it, but part was chargeable, that shall not affect the sale nor invalidate the conveyance, unless it appears that before sale the amount legally chargeable on the land was paid or tendered to the tax collector.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-25 Duplicate of conveyance or release lost or destroyed.

When any release upon redemption or conveyance of tax land made by the chancery clerk shall be lost or destroyed, upon application of the person injured, the chancery clerk may make a duplicate release or conveyance of the same land to the person to whom the first was made, which shall be in lieu of the former; and it shall be marked “duplicate,” and shall have the same effect.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-27 Rights of purchaser at tax sale; effect of lien; no right of action to challenge validity of tax sale; liability of county or municipal officers to purchasers.

The amount paid by the purchaser of land at any tax sale thereof for taxes, either state and county, levee or municipal, and interest on the amount paid by the purchaser at the rate of one and one-half percent (1-1/2%) per month, or any fractional part thereof, and all expenses of the sale and registration, thereof shall be a lien on the land in favor of the purchaser and the holder of the legal title under him, by descent or purchase, if the taxes for which the land was sold were due, although the sale was illegal on some other ground. The purchaser and the holder of the legal title under him by descent or purchase, may enforce the lien by bill in chancery, and may obtain a decree for the sale of the land in default of payment of the amount within some short time to be fixed by the decree. In all suits for the possession of land, the defendant holding by descent or purchase, mediately or immediately, from the purchaser at tax sale of the land in controversy, may set off against the complainant the above-described claim, which shall have the same effect and be dealt with in all respects as provided for improvements in a suit for the possession of land. But the term “suits for the possession of land,” as herein used, does not include an action of unlawful entry and detainer. No purchaser of land at any tax sale, nor holder of the legal title under him by descent or distribution, shall have any right of action to challenge the validity of the tax sale. No county or municipal officer shall be liable to any purchaser at a tax sale or any recipient of a tax deed for any error or inadvertent omission by such official during any tax sale.

Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-29 Lands sold by municipalities.

In cases of land and other property sold by municipal tax authorities for delinquent taxes, the same schedule of damages as provided herein shall apply.