ANGIE DOW

PageCounty Treasurer

112 E. Main StreetPhone: 712-542-5322

P.O. Box 224FAX: 712-542-2243

Clarinda, IA 51632

NOTICE TO TAX SALE PURCHASERS

OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE ANNUAL TAX SALE OF JUNE 20, 2016, AND ADJOURNMENTS OR ASSIGNMENTS THEREOF

The 2016 Annual Tax Sale will be held by the Page County Treasurer in the Page Room, third floor of the Page County Courthouse on Monday, June 20, 2016. The Tax Sale will begin at 9:00a.m. and will continueuntil every parcel has been offered for sale. The CountyTreasurer will then adjourn the sale from day to day.

The following information is provided to assist in the purchase of delinquent taxes during the tax sale or in obtaining assignment of a tax sale certificate, either from a private certificate holder or from PageCounty:

  1. Registering for the Tax Sale

All prospective bidders must be registered withthe Page County Treasurer

by 4:30p.m., Thursday, June 16, 2016. A ‘Register of Bidders or Assignees’ Form must be completed for each bidder. A bidder may represent unlimited entities. You maydesignate an appointee to bid for you in your absence by completing an ‘Authorization to Represent Bidder’ Form, in addition to the ‘Register of Bidders or Assignees’ Form. For a bidder other than an individual, a copyof the Certificate of Existence must be filed with the Secretary of State or a copy of the Trade Name Certificate must be filed with the Page County Recorder.

The registration fee is $25 per registration for the 2016Annual Tax Sale, or

adjournments thereof, payable at the time of registration. The $25 registration fee is non-refundable.

A W-9 form must be completed, signed and returned to the Page County Treasurer’s Office with the registration form(s). This information is required to issue an accurate 1099-INT form with the appropriate social security number or tax payer identification number.

All bidders/buyers/assignees must be 18 years of age or older as of June 20, 2016. Bidder and authorized agents should be prepared to show proof of age and identity (i.e. driver’s license or identification card) upon entering the salesroom or anytime during the tax sale.

  1. Bidding at the Tax Sale

Parcels with delinquent taxes are offered for sale by sequence number as reflected in the official tax sale publication or the purchased delinquent list. The tax sale consists of three sessions. Regular real estate parcels and manufactured home parcels will be offered in the first session. Public bidder real estate parcels and public bidder manufactured home parcels will be offered in the second session. Public Nuisance parcels will be offered in the third session.It is the bidder’s responsibility to be prepared for the sale and to know the sequence number(s) within each district for the corresponding legal description(s) upon which she/he intends to bid.

Each parcel/item will be offered for sale to all bidders considered “active” by the Treasurer, beginning with a 100% undivided interest. (Note: “Active”bidder has properly registered and the bidder number is available for selection by the random selection process used by the treasurer, or treasurer’s designee.) After the Treasurer announces the next item to be sold, active bidders may bid downward a percentage of undivided interest. “Bid downs” will range in whole percentage points from 99% to 1%.

When the Treasurer determines there are no further bids and the bid is a tie, a bidder will be chosen by random selection process. The bidder selected at random must immediately accept the purchase of the parcel by announcing “sold” or refuse the parcel/item by announcing “pass”, in which case another bidder will be randomly selected. When there is not a tie bid, the sale will be awarded to the lone active bidder. A response of ‘sold’ to the Treasurer results in an obligation on the part of the bidder to pay for the certificate.

  1. Purchasing Tax Sale Certificates

Payment is required at the time of purchase or at the conclusion of the sale. The

amount collected will include all delinquent taxes, special assessments, interest, special assessment collection fees, rates or charges, publishing costs and a certificate fee for each certificate issued.

Payment must be in U.S. funds and in the form of a personal check, business check, money order or any form of guaranteed funds for the exact amount of the purchase. A separate payment is required for each buyer entity. Two-party checks will not be accepted. If a tax sale purchaser’s check does not clear his/her bank account, i.e., non-sufficient funds, account closed, etc., the buyer will have five (5) business days following notification from the Treasurer to repay with guaranteed funds, (cash, cashier’s check, or money order) a $20.00 service fee will be assessed for each check returned unpaid.

Please allow up to 10 working days to receive purchased certificate(s). This allows the Page County Treasurer’s staff time to complete posting of records, editing of certificates, and balancing the proceeds received from the tax sale. At the time certificates are mailed or picked up, reimbursement will be included for those parcels that have been redeemed from this sale, in lieu of the tax sale certificate of purchase being sent. It is the purchaser’s responsibility to verify that the tax sale certificates and redemption copies received are correct for the parcels purchased.

A Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase does not convey title to the purchaser. The titleholder of record or other interested party retains the right to redeem within a specified period of time, depending on the type of tax sale. If the sale remains unredeemed after the statutory period, the purchaser may begin action to obtain a tax sale deed (refer to Section 8: “90 Day Notice of Right of Redemption” Affidavit).

  1. Notification of Titleholder of Tax Sale

For each parcel on which taxes were sold, the county treasurer shall notify the

party(ies) in whose name the parcel was taxed, according to the treasurer’s records at the time of the sale, that the parcel was sold for delinquent taxes at the tax sale. The notice of sold taxes shall be sent by regular mail within fifteen (15) days from the date of the annual tax sale or any adjourned tax sale.

  1. Reimbursement of a Tax Sale Redemption

A redeemed tax sale will include the following:

a.The original tax sale amount, including the $20.00 certificate fee paid by

the purchaser at the sale.

  1. Interest in the amount of 2% per month, beginning with the month of sale, calculated against the amount for which the item was sold, including the amount paid for the certificate of purchase. Each fraction of a month is counted as a whole month.
  2. Subsequent tax payments paid and properly reported by the purchaser as an addition to the sale, with interest in the amount of 2% per month, beginning with the month the subsequent payment is posted to the county system to the month of redemption. Each fraction of a month will count as a whole month (refer to Section 6: Payment of Subsequent Taxes).
  3. The cost of serving the notice, including the cost of sending certified mail notices, and the cost of publication under section 447.10, if publication required, shall be add to the amount necessary to redeem. The cost of a record search, in accordance with Iowa Code Section 447.13, shall also be added to the amount necessary to redeem. The cost of the record search shall not exceed three hundred dollars.Costs not posted to the county system before redemption shall not be collected by the CountyTreasurer.

The Page County Treasurer requires a copy of the newspaper publisher’s invoice

and a statement from the certificate holder substantiating the reason service was made by publication prior to posting publication costs to the amount necessary to redeem to determine whether publication costs are valid. Fees for publication, if publication is required, shall not exceed the customary publication fees for official county publications.

By statute, (Iowa Code, 447.12), costs cannot be filed with the County Treasurer prior to the filing of the ’90 Day Notice of Right of Redemption’ affidavit with the County Treasurer.

The buyer is responsible for checking redemptions for which she/he holds

the certificate of purchase to inquire if redemption funds are available for payment.

Upon surrender of the tax sale certificate for a redeemed tax sale, the Treasurer will issue a check for the redemption amount, after allowing a reasonable amount of time for the taxpayer’s check to clear the bank. The reimbursement will not be processed before the first business day following the cashier-validated date of redemption, as shown on the county system. The buyer will receive a check directly or by mail with a copy of the redemption certificate reflecting the total amount of the redemption. We recommend buyers retain the redemption certificate copy for income tax purposes. If the original Certificate of Purchase has been lost or destroyed, a duplicate can be obtained from the Page County Treasurer’s Tax Department at a cost of $20.00. Please call 712-542-5322.

In the event you have been reimbursed and the taxpayer’s check does not clear the taxpayer’s bank account for any reason, you will be required to return the funds received to the Page County Treasurer. The Tax Sale Certificate of Purchase will be returned to you and the redemption canceled. The Tax Sale will be reinstated as of the original sale date with any subsequent calculated according to the law in effect at the time of the sale.

At the end of the calendar year, the CountyTreasurer will issue a 1099-INT form to buyers and to the Internal Revenue Service if the cumulative interest paid to the buyer during the calendar year is $600 or more. A buyer’s tax preparer may need this information when filing Federal and State Income Tax returns.

  1. Payment of Subsequent Taxes

A tax sale purchaser may pay subsequent delinquent taxes and special

assessments, including rates or charges, on the same parcel(s) on which she/he holds the tax sale certificate. The Treasurer’s Office is allowed to accept payments for subsequent delinquent tax and special assessments beginning one month and fourteen days following the date from which an installment becomes delinquent. Only items due in the current fiscal year or prior year may be paid on a “sub-list”. After sub-list payment(s) have been received and applied by the Treasurer’s Office, the Treasurer will not refund the payment if the tax sale certificate holder later decides that he/she did not want to pay a particular parcel. Special assessments, rates or charges due in future years cannot be paid until the fiscal year in which they become delinquent.

When remitting payment, a printout report or statement must accompany the check. A sub-list payment not properly identified as “sub-list” by the certificate holder at the time of payment will be treated as a voluntary payment and will be omitted from redemption calculations. To avoid this situation, please remit the requested documentation with your payment. Subsequent payments may be made online at

Recorded sub-list payments will accrue interest at the rate of 2% per month, beginning with the month of payment by the certificate holder to the month of redemption. Subsequent tax payments received on or after the last business day of the month may not be posted until the first business day of the next month and will accrue interest from the month the payment is posted to the county system.

  1. Assignment of a Tax Sale Certificate

The tax sale certificate of purchase is assignable by endorsement of the certificate,

payment by the assignee of a $100.00 assignment transaction fee, and forwarding the certificate to the CountyTreasurer for posting in the County system. An assignment is not considered valid until posted to the county system by the Treasurer. A certificate cannot be assigned to a person, other than a municipality, who has redemption rights. A tax sale certificate of purchase and/or a tax sale deed can be set aside if it is determined that the tax sale buyer or assignee was ineligible to purchase the tax sale certificate. The general rule is that a tax sale buyer or assignee should never have an interest or lien in the item offered for sale. A prospective bidder should consult with legal counsel or determine the right to become a tax sale certificate holder, either through bid or assignment. The assignor may not assign a certificate of purchase to more than one assignee/buyer number. Upon receipt of the $100.00 assignment transaction fee from the assignee, the Treasurer will make the necessary entries in the county system. The recorded assignment will vest in the assignee all the rights and title of the assignor; except, when a county-held certificate is assigned, the assignee has three years from the date the assignment is recorded by the Treasurer in the county system, instead of from the date of the tax sale, to qualify for a tax sale deed. Please contact the tax department at (712)542-5322 regarding the assignment of a certificate.

To obtain an assignment of a PageCounty held Tax Sale Certificate, contact the Tax Department of the Page County Treasurer’s Office. The terms and conditions set forth in this document apply both to certificates obtained through assignment and for certificates obtained directly through the tax sale.

When a buyer requests the Treasurer record a change, other than the mailing address and telephone number, it is considered an assignment and the $100.00 assignment transaction fee will be charged. This includes a change in the buyer’s name, buyer’s number, or federal identification number. Failure to provide the correct federal identification number or social security number will result in a charge of $100.00 for each certificate requiring correction.

  1. ’90 /Day Notice of Right of Redemption’ Affidavit

Service is completed when the certificate holder files the ‘90 Day Notice of Right

of Redemption’ Affidavit with the CountyTreasurer. A redemption will not be processed unless received by the Treasurer before the close of business on the ninetieth day from the date of completed service or as allowed by law.

(a)Regular Tax Sale:

The ’90 Day Notice of Right of Redemption’ Affidavit may be issued after one year and nine months from the date of sale.

(b)Public Bidder Sale:

The ’90 Day Notice of Right of Redemption’ Affidavit may be issued after nine months from the date of sale.

(c)Public Nuisance Sale:

The ’90 Day Notice of Right of Redemption’ Affidavit may be issued after three months from the date of sale.

Any certificate holder who serves said notice or a similarly worded notice before the expiration of this time period may be barred from future tax sales in Page County. It is Page County’s intent to afford all property owners with all of the rights and remedies of the Iowa statutes.

Upon receipt of the ’90 Day Notice of Right of Redemption Affidavit and all supporting documents, the Page County Treasurer or Treasurer’s Deputy will date stamp the documents. In addition, the time received and the date that the Tax Sale Deed will be issued will be noted on the face page of the affidavit.

If the certificate holder fails to file a ’90 Day Notice of Right of Redemption’ Affidavit within three years from the date of the tax sale, the CountyTreasurer will cancel the tax sale. In this instance, the tax sale buyer is not entitled to a refund.

  1. Tax Sale Deed

The tax sale certificate holder is required to return the certificate of purchase and

remit the appropriate deed issuance fee and recording fee to the CountyTreasurer within ninety calendar days after the redemption period expires. The Treasurer is required by statute to cancel the certificate of purchase for any tax sale certificate holder who fails to comply. If the certificate holder fails to complete action to obtain a tax sale deed within ninety calendar days after the redemption period expires and the CountyTreasurer cancels the tax sale, the tax sale buyer is not entitled to a refund.

The deed issuance fee is $25.00. The recording fee is variable and will be determined at the time a deed is requested. Upon receipt of the deed issuance and recording fees, the Treasurer will record the deed with the CountyRecorder prior to delivering the deed to the buyer. The Treasurer will not release a Tax Sale Deed to the certificate holder until it is properly recorded.

  1. Erroneous Tax Sale or Assignment

If it is determined that any item was erroneously sold, the certificate of purchase

will be canceled. The certificate holder will return the certificate of purchase and the Page County Treasurer will reimburse the principal amount of the investment. The Treasurer will not pay interest.

If it is determined that a county held certificate was erroneously assigned, the assignment will be canceled. The certificate holder will return the certificate of purchase, and the Page County Treasurer will reimburse the total amount paid for the assignment, interest from the assignment date to the date of cancellation of the assignment will not be paid.