(a) Class 2 municipalities may initiate an expedited quiet title and foreclosure action under this chapter 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 judge of probate 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 chapter, and a statement that those proceedings may extinguish any legal interests in the property. As used herein, 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.

Terms Used In Alabama Code 11-70-2

  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • following: means next after. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • property: includes both real and personal property. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • year: means a calendar year; but, whenever the word "year" is used in reference to any appropriations for the payment of money out of the treasury, it shall mean fiscal year. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(b) 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:

(1) Erects a sign not less than four feet by six feet on the property and maintains it for a minimum of 30 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 _____________.

(2) Examines the addresses that appear on the face of the recorded deeds, mortgages, and relevant instruments.
(3) Examines the records of the tax assessor or revenue commissioner to find the names and addresses of all parties who paid taxes in the five-year period prior to the date of the tax sale; provided, however, that the municipality is not required to search for parties who paid taxes more than 20 years prior to the year of the inquiry.
(4) If the interested party is an individual, the municipality shall examine voter registration lists, available municipal archives for records of deaths, and the probate court records of estates opened in the county in which the property is located.
(5) 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.
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