Delaware General Assembly

CHAPTER 172 - NEW CASTLE - COLLECTION OF TAXES

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE COLLECTION OF TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS FOR THE CITY OF NEW CASTLE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of each branch thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. That in addition to all existing methods and authority for the collection of taxes or special assessments due to The Mayor and Council of New Castle, the following methods and authority are hereby established:

The Mayor and Council of New Castle may file, or cause to be filed, a Praecipe in the office of the Prothonotary of the Superior Court in and for New Castle County, which shall contain the name of the person against whom the taxes or assessments sought to be collected were assessed, and a copy of the bills showing the amount of taxes or assessments due and the property against which the assessment was laid; and the statement of the lot number or numbers of the particular section in which said property is located or the street number or numbers shall be sufficient identification and description of the said property. The Prothonotary shall make a record of same on the judgment records of said Superior Court against the property mentioned or described in said Praecipe. Thereafter upon a Praecipe for Monition filed in the office of said Prothonotary by The Mayor and Council of New Castle through any person authorized on its behalf to collect taxes or assessments due to The Mayor and Council of New Castle, a Monition shall be issued by the Prothonotary aforesaid to the Sheriff of New Castle County, which Monition shall briefly state the amount of the judgment for the taxes or assessments due and the years thereof, together with a brief description of the property upon which said taxes or assessments are a lien; and a description of such property by street and number or by lot number or numbers of the particular section in which said property is located shall be a sufficient description. Said Monition shall be in substantially the following form:

To all persons having or claiming to have any title, interest or lien upon the within described premises, take warning that unless the judgment for the taxes or assessments stated herein is paid within twenty days after the date hereof, or within such period of twenty days after the date hereof, or within such period of twenty days evidence of the payment of taxes herein claimed shall be filed in the office of the Prothonotary, which evidence shall be in the form of a receipted bill or duplicate thereof, bearing date prior to the filing of the lien in the office of the Prothonotary for New Castle County, The Mayor and Council of New Castle may proceed to sell the property herein mentioned or described for the purpose of collecting the judgment for the taxes or assessments herein stated.

Said Monition, or copy thereof, shall be posted by the Sheriff upon some prominent place or part of the property against which said judgment for the taxes or assessments is a lien. The Sheriff shall make due and proper return of his proceedings under said Monition to said Prothonotary within ten days after the posting of said copy of Monition as aforesaid. Alias or Pluries Monition may issue upon like Praecipe. The posting of said Monition shall constitute notice to the owner or owners and all persons having any interest in said property.

At any time after the expiration of twenty days following the return of the Sheriff upon such Montion, unless before the expiration of said twenty days the said judgment and costs on said judgment shall be paid or evidence of the payment of such taxes evidenced by a receipted tax bill or a duplicate thereof bearing date therefor prior to the filing of said lien for record in the office of the Prothonotary as aforesaid, upon Praecipe filed by The Mayor and Council of New Castle, through its attorney, or any other person authorized on its behalf to collect taxes or assessments due to The Mayor and Council of New Castle, a writ of Venditioni Exponas shall issue out of the office of the said Prothonotary directed to the Sheriff commanding the Sheriff to sell the property mentioned or described in said writ and make due return of his proceedings thereunder in the same manner as is now applicable with respect to similar writs of Venditioni Exponas issued out of the said Superior Court.

Said writ shall be substantially in the following form:

NEW CASTLE COUNTY

ss.

THE STATE OF DELAWARE

TO THE SHERIFF OF NEW CASTLE COUNTY,

GREETINGS;

WHEREAS, by a Monition issued out of the superior Court dated at Wilmington, the _____ day of _____ A. D. 19__, IT WAS COMMANDED, that you should post the said Monition or copy thereof upon the real estate therein mentioned and described, and make a return to the said Superior Court within ten days after said posting. That on the ____ day of ____ A. D.

19__, you returned that a copy of the said Monition was posted on the real estate therein mentioned and described on the ____ day of ____ A. D. 19__.

We therefore now command you to expose to public sale real estate mentioned and described in said Monition as follows:

and that you should cause to be made as well a certain debt of ______ Dollars ($____) lawful money of the United States, which to the said The Mayor and Council of New Castle, a municipal corporation of the State of Delaware, is due and owing, as also the sum of ______ Dollars ($____ ) lawful money as aforesaid, for its costs, which it has sustained by the detaining of that debt, whereof the said _______ was convicted as it appears of record and against which said property it is a lien;

And have you that money before the Judges of our Superior Court at Wilmington, on Monday the _____ day of ______ next, to render to the said The Mayor and Council of New Castle, a Municipal corporation as aforesaid, for its debt and costs as aforesaid, and this writ;

WITNESSETH, the Honorable _________ at Wilmington, the _____ day of ____ A. D. 194___.

___________________________

Prothonotary

Section 2. Upon the return of the proceedings under said writ of Venditioni Exponas, the Superior Court may inquire into the regularity of the proceedings thereunder, and either approve the sale or set it aside.

Section 3. Any real estate or interest therein sold under the provisions hereof shall vest in the purchaser all the right, title and interest of the person in whose name said property was assessed, and/or all right, title and interest of the person or persons who are the owner or owners thereof, and likewise freed, and discharged from any dower or courtesy or statutory right, in the nature of a dower or courtesy, whether absolute or inchoate, in or to said real estate, and from all equity of redemption and liens and encumbrances held by persons and corporations against said property.

Section 4. The owner of any such real estate sold under the provisions of this Act or his legal representatives may redeem the same at any time within one year from the day of the sale thereof, by paying to the purchaser or his legal representatives, successors or assigns, the amount of the purchase price and fifteen percent in addition thereto, together with all costs incurred in the cause; or if the purchaser or his legal representatives, successors or assigns shall refuse to receive the same, or do not reside or cannot be found within the town of New Castle, by paying said amount into said Court for the use of said purchaser, his legal representatives or assigns.

In the event that the owner of said property or his legal representatives shall fail to redeem said property as herein provided, the purchaser of said property or his legal representatives, successors or assigns may present a Petition to the Superior Court setting forth the appropriate facts in conformity with this Act and pray that the said Superior Court make an order directing the Sheriff, then in office, to execute, acknowledge and deliver a deed conveying the title to said property to the Petitioner; and thereupon the said Superior Court shall have power, after a hearing upon said Petition, to issue an order directing the Sheriff to execute, acknowledge and deliver a deed as prayed for in said Petition, and a description of said property by street and number or by lot number or numbers of the particular section in which said property is located, together with a description of said property by metes and bounds.

If the owner of any real estate sold under an order of sale or his legal representative shall redeem said real estate, he may prefer to said Superior Court a petition setting forth that fact and thereupon the said Superior Court, after hearing and determining the facts set forth in said petition, shall have power to cause to be entered upon the record of the Judgment, under which said real estate was sold, a memorandum that the real estate described in the proceedings upon which said Judgment was entered has been redeemed and thereafter the said owner shall hold such redeemed real estate subject to the same liens and the same order of priority as they existed at the time of the sale thereof, excepting so far as the said liens have been discharged or reduced by the application of the proceeds by the said Sheriff from the said sale.

Section 5. No Monition proceedings shall be brought under this Act unless the tax or assessment sought to be collected hereunder shall at the time of the filing of said Praecipe in the office of the Prothonotary be and constitute a lien upon the property against which the tax or assessment was assessed or laid. All taxes for town purposes which may hereafter be lawfully assessed on real estate in the town of New Castle shall constitute a prior lien thereon for a period of ten years from the first day of July succeeding the assessment of said taxes, but if the said real estate remains the property of the person to whom it is assessed, then the lien shall continue until the tax is collected, and may, with all incidental costs and expenses, be levied by sale thereof as hereinbefore provided. The said tax lien and costs and reasonable counsel fees for the collection thereof shall be fully paid and satisfied before any recognizance, mortgage, judgment, debt, obligation or responsibility which the real estate may become charged with or liable to. The Mayor and Council of New Castle shall have the authority to authorize any person or persons to make a bid or bids at the sale of any real estate under the provisions of this Act and in the event that such person or persons is the highest and best bidder or bidders therefor, the title thereto shall be taken in the name of The Mayor and Council of New Castle, a municipal corporation of the State of Delaware. The Mayor and Council of New Castle, by resolution duly adopted, is authorized and empowered to sell and convey any real estate purchased under the provisions of this Act.

Section 6. Wherever the Superior Court is mentioned in this Statute, the same shall be held to embrace the Judges or any Judge thereof, and any act required or authorized to be done under this Act may be done by the said Superior Court or any Judge thereof in vacation thereof, as well as in term time.

Section 7. The fees and cost to be taxed in all Monition proceedings under this Act, where not otherwise provided for, shall be as follows:

The following fees shall be charged by the Prothonotary:

Filing Praecipe $1.10

Issuing Monition and copy 2.75

Issuing Alias or Pluries Monition and copy 2.75

Writ of Venditioni Exponas 2.25

Filing any Petition in Superior Court under this Act 1.00

Costs of Paying money into Superior Court 1.00

Cost of paying money out of Superior Court

for each check drawn 1.00

The following fees shall be charged by the Sheriff:

Posting Monition or copy thereof $.75

Posting each Alias or Pluries Monition or copy thereof .75

All other charges not covered by this Act shall be the same as are now provided by law.

Approved April 18, 1945.