Request By:
Mr. Joseph T. Condit
City Solicitor
City of Covington
Covington, Kentucky 41101
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: William P. Sturm, Assistant Attorney General
Your letter of January 22, 1980 poses two questions concerning the procedure for the sale of delinquent tax claims in second class cities. As you point out in your letter, House Bill 702 of the 1978 General Assembly (1978 Ky. Acts, Ch. 398) repealed KRS 92.720 entitled Redemption of Real Property Sold for Taxes in Cities of Second Class, effective June 17, 1978. The same bill enacted KRS 92.678 entitled Enforcement of Certificates of Delinquency. The questions posed in your letter concern the effect of the amendments in House Bill 702 to the procedures for selling delinquent tax claims in second class cities. The specific questions asked are as follows:
1. Do the various amendments to these statutes in the 1978 Legislature mean that the city can no longer convey treasurer's deeds without a circuit court foreclosure procedure?
Answer: Under KRS 92.720 before the 1978 Amendments, the owner of property on which the delinquent tax claim had been sold could redeem his property anytime within two years. After the two year period, KRS 92.760 permitted the city treasurer to give a deed conveying fee simple title to the owner of the tax claim if it had not been redeemed within the two year period. After the 1978 amendments, KRS 92.760 provides that the owner of a tax claim which has not been redeemed in the time prescribed in KRS 92.678(4) may obtain a fee simple title from the treasurer. However, KRS 92.678(4) states that no deed shall be executed and delivered to the purchaser until thirty days have expired after a foreclosure sale.
KRS 92.678, subsequent to the 1978 amendments, provide the only method for enforcing a Certificate of Delinquency. Under that section, such a certificate may be enforced only by instituting an action in circuit court either to collect the amount of the certificate or to enforce the lien provided in KRS 92.650. The conclusion reached is that after June 17, 1978 the only method for enforeing a delinquent tax claim is set forth in KRS 92.678. Such enforcement must be accomplished by a circuit court action.
2. What are the rights of the purchasers of the delinquent bills in the 1974 and 1976 sales conducted by the City of Covington who followed the statutory procedures that were in effect up until June 17, 1978?
Answer: By repealing KRS 92.720 and enacting in its place KRS 92.678, House Bill 702 of the 1978 General Assembly effectively increased the period during which a delinquent tax claim may be redeemed by the owner of the property from two years to three years. The effect of the amendment was also to change the method by which the holder of the delinquent tax claim may enforce his claim. As stated above, a circuit court action is now necessary to enforce a Certificate of Delinquency. Therefore, persons holding Certificates of Delinquencies, or delinquent tax claims, who had not obtained a treasurer's deed before June 17, 1978, must follow the provisions of the new statutes which now give the owner of the property three years to redeem. It also appears that the treasurer of the city may not execute a deed under KRS 92.678(4) until thirty days have expired after a foreclosure sale under KRS 92.678.