Iowa Code 558.5 – Contract for deed — presumption of abandonment
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1. When the record shows that a contract or bond for a deed was executed more than ten years earlier, the contract or bond shall be deemed abandoned by the vendee and void and the land shall be freed from any lien or defect on account of the contract or bond in any of the following situations:
a. The record does not indicate the contract or bond has been performed and more than ten years have elapsed since the contract or bond by its terms was to be performed.
b. A performance date for the contract or bond is not stated in the contract or bond or any extensions thereof and more than twenty years have elapsed from the date the contract or bond was executed.
Terms Used In Iowa Code 558.5
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
2. This section shall apply to a contract or bond described in this section if the contract or bond is not filed of record but is referred to in another instrument which is filed of record. The contract or bond shall be deemed abandoned by the vendee ten years from the date that the contract or bond is to be performed according to the recorded instrument. However, if the recorded instrument does not refer to a performance date for the contract or bond, the contract or bond shall be deemed abandoned twenty years after the date that the instrument containing the reference is recorded.
3. This section shall not apply to a vendee or a vendee’s successor in interest if the vendee or the vendee’s successor in interest is in possession of the property or has been continuously paying the total amount due, as defined in section 445.1, of the taxes levied against the property for the preceding five years.