75.26 Limitation.

(1) Grantee in deed.

(a) No action may be maintained by the grantee or anyone claiming under the grantee to recover the possession of any land or any interest in land which has been conveyed by deed for the nonpayment of taxes unless one of the following conditions is met:

1. The action is brought within 3 years next after the date of the execution of the deed.

2. The land demanded is, when conveyed, vacant and unoccupied and remains so, unless the action is brought within 3 years next after the date of the recording of the deed.

3. The grantee or those claiming under the grantee have been in actual, not constructive, possession of the land demanded for 3 successive years during the 5 years next after the recording of the deed.

(b) Notwithstanding par. (a), if the former owner takes possession of any land conveyed by deed for the nonpayment of taxes at any time within the 3 months after the expiration of 3 years from the date of the execution of the deed, the grantee in the tax deed or those claiming under the grantee may bring and maintain an action to recover possession of the land at any time within the 3 months after the expiration of 3 years from the date of the execution of the deed.

(2) Tax deed voided. If the original owner, or anyone claiming under the original owner, of lands that have been conveyed by deed for the nonpayment of taxes, pays the taxes assessed against the lands continuously for the 5 years after the execution of the tax deed, without actual notice of the existence of the tax deed, the tax deed is void.

History: 1991 a. 316; 1997 a. 253; 2017 a. 365 s. 111.