447.8 Redemption after delivery of deed.

1. a. After the delivery of the treasurer’s deed, a person entitled to redeem a parcel sold at tax sale shall do so only by an equitable action in the district court of the county where the parcel is located. The action to redeem may be maintained only by a person who was entitled to redeem the parcel during the ninety-day redemption period in section 447.12, except that such a person may assign the person’s right of redemption or right to maintain the action to another person, or by a person entitled to redeem under section 447.7.

b. In order to establish the right to redeem, the person maintaining the action shall be required to prove to the court either that the person maintaining the action or a predecessor in interest was not properly served with notice in accordance with the requirements of sections 447.9 through 447.12, or that the person maintaining the action or a predecessor in interest acquired an interest in or possession of the parcel during the ninety-day redemption period in section 447.12. A person shall not be entitled to maintain such action by claiming that a different person was not properly served with notice of expiration of right of redemption, if the person seeking to maintain the action, or the person’s predecessor in interest, if applicable, was properly served with the notice. After the execution and delivery of the treasurer’s deed, a person may only redeem a parcel sold for delinquent taxes under this section or section 447.7.

2. The person maintaining the action shall name as defendants all persons claiming an interest in the parcel derived from the tax sale, as shown by the record.

3. If the court determines that notice was properly served, the court shall enter judgment holding that all rights of redemption are terminated and that the validity of the tax title or purported tax title is conclusively established as a matter of law.

4. If the court determines that notice was not properly served and that the person maintaining the action is entitled to redeem, the court shall so order. The order shall determine the rights, claims, and interests of all parties, including liens for taxes and claims for improvements made on or to the parcel by the person claiming under the tax title. The order shall establish the amount necessary to effect redemption. The redemption amount shall include the amount for redemption computed in accordance with section 447.1, including interest computed up to and including the date of payment of the total redemption amount to the clerk of court; the amount of all costs added to the redemption amount in accordance with section 447.13; and, in the event that the person claiming under the tax title has made improvements on or to the parcel after the treasurer’s deed was issued, an amount equal to the value of all such improvements. The order shall direct that the person maintaining the action shall pay to the clerk of court, within thirty days after the date of the order, the total redemption amount established in the order.

5. a. Upon timely receipt of the payment, the court shall enter judgment declaring the treasurer’s deed to be invalid and determining the resulting rights, claims, and interests of all parties to the action. In its judgment, the court shall direct the clerk of court to deliver the entire amount of the redemption payment to the person who previously claimed title under the treasurer’s deed.

b. If the person maintaining the action fails to timely deliver payment of the total redemption amount to the clerk of court, the court shall enter judgment holding that all rights of redemption are terminated and that the validity of the tax title or purported tax title is conclusively established as a matter of law. No subsequent action shall be brought to challenge the treasurer’s deed or to recover the parcel.

6. If an affidavit is filed pursuant to section 448.15 and if the time period for filing a claim under section 448.16 expires with no claims having been filed, all persons are thereafter barred and estopped from commencing an action under this section.

[C73, §893; C97, §1440; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §7278; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §447.8]

91 Acts, ch 191, §95; 2005 Acts, ch 34, §19, 26; 2011 Acts, ch 25, §143; 2018 Acts, ch 1039, §3

Referred to in §420.240, 448.6, 448.12, 448.16

Subsection 1 amended