9-511.02. Utility user fees; lien enforcement; procedures; payment responsibility; definition

A. A city or town may file a lien on property for the nonpayment of utility user fees for services provided to the property if the payment of the fees is delinquent for more than ninety days.

B. Before filing the lien, the city or town shall provide written notice to the owner of the property. The notice shall be given at least thirty days before filing the lien and shall include an opportunity for a hearing with a designated city or town official. The notice shall be either personally served or mailed to the property owner, at the last known address by certified mail, or to the address to which the tax bill for the property was last mailed. If the owner does not reside on the property, the notice shall be sent to the last known address.

C. The unpaid utility user fees, from the date of recording in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the property is located, are a lien on the property until the fees are paid. The lien is subject and inferior to the lien for general taxes and to all prior recorded mortgages and encumbrances of record. A sale of the property to satisfy a lien obtained under this section shall be made on judgment of foreclosure and order of sale. A city or town may bring an action to enforce the lien in the superior court in the county in which the property is located at any time after the recording, but failure to enforce the lien by this action does not affect its validity. The recorded unpaid utility user fees are prima facie evidence of the truth of all matters recited in the recording and of the regularity of all proceedings before the recording.

D. Unpaid utility user fees pursuant to this section accrue interest at the rate prescribed by section 44-1201.

E. A prior assessment of unpaid utility user fees for the purposes provided in this section does not bar a subsequent assessment for these purposes and any number of liens on the same lot or tract of land may be enforced in the same action.

F. Subsection A of this section does not apply to residential property occupied by a lessee where the lessee is responsible for payment of the utility user fees. The city or town shall determine the status of leased residential property prior to filing the lien.

G. For residential property of four or fewer units, a city or town may not require payment of unpaid utility user fees by anyone other than the person who has contracted with the city or town to provide the service, who physically resides or resided at the property and who receives or received the service. The property owner, an immediate family member of the person who does not reside at the property or any other entity, at their sole discretion, may establish service in their name for utility service with a city or town and shall be responsible for payment.

H. For purposes of this section " utility user fees" means fees charged for the provision of sewer.