Code of Alabama - Title 40: Revenue and Taxation - Section 40-10-187 - Tax lien certificate

Section 40-10-187 - Tax lien certificate.

(a) The tax collecting official shall make, execute, and deliver a tax lien certificate to each purchaser at a tax lien sale or auction or to each assignee thereafter and shall collect from the purchaser or assignee a fee of five dollars ($5) for each tax lien certificate. The tax lien certificate shall be in a form provided by the Department of Revenue and shall also include a certificate of redemption form as provided in Section 40-10-194.

(b) A tax lien certificate shall evidence the auction or sale or assignment to the holder of the tax lien certificate of the delinquent and unpaid taxes, penalties, interest, fees, and costs set forth therein and represented by the tax lien.

(c) A tax lien certificate shall bear the interest rate per annum as bid on by the purchaser at the tax lien auction or as agreed upon by the purchaser at the tax lien sale, until the tax lien certificate is redeemed as provided pursuant to Section 40-10-193.

(d) The tax lien certificate shall do all of the following:

(1) Describe the real property on which a tax lien is auctioned or sold as it is described in the tax lien auction list.

(2) Specify the date on which the tax lien was auctioned or sold to the original purchaser.

(3) Specify the year of assessment to which the tax lien relates and the amount for which the tax lien was auctioned or sold to the original purchaser.

(4) Recite the amount of all taxes, penalties, interest, fees, and costs due on the property, which relate to the year of assessment described in subdivision (3), as of the date specified in subdivision (2).

(5) Recite that the certificate bears interest at the rate per annum bid on by the purchaser at the tax lien auction or agreed upon at the tax lien sale on the amount described in subdivision (4) from the date specified in subdivision (2).

(e) The purchaser of a tax lien certificate may transfer and assign the certificate to any person, and the transferee of a tax lien certificate may subsequently transfer the certificate to any other person. The transferor of a tax lien certificate shall endorse the certificate and shall swear to the endorsement before a notary public or other officer empowered to administer oaths. The transferee shall present the endorsed tax lien certificate to the tax collecting official who prepared and executed the certificate, or his or her successor, who, for a fee of five dollars ($5), shall acknowledge the transfer on the certificate and shall make note of the transfer on the record of tax lien auctions and sales kept as provided in Section 40-10-188. An assignment and transfer as provided in this subsection shall vest in the assignee all the right and title of the original purchaser.

(f) A security interest in a tax lien certificate may be created and perfected in the manner provided for general intangibles under Title 7.

(g) Within 10 days of a completed tax lien auction or sale, the tax collecting official shall send notice to the property owner for whom the property was assessed informing the property owner that the tax lien has been auctioned or sold. The notice shall include the date of auction or sale and the name and address of the purchaser and shall be made by first class mail to the address listed in the assessment.

(Acts 1995, No. 95-408, p. 864, §9; Act 2018-577, §1.)

Last modified: May 3, 2021