On February 8, 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 296 on sale of tax delinquent real property authored by Sen. Koch.The billamends the definition of “substantial property interest of public record” to include ownership of any interest that has been severed from a tract of land. The bill requires a county auditor, in addition to sending a notice of the impending sale of a parcel of real property to the owner of the property, to also send a copy of the notice to any person with a substantial property interest of public record in the real property. The bill provides that the estate in real property vested in the grantee under a tax deed is subject to leases shown by public record if the tax deed conveys only an interest in machinery, a building, a structure, or other severed improvements located on, in, or above the land. The bill also provides that if a tax deed conveys only an interest in machinery, a building, a structure, or other severed improvements located on, in, or above the land, the rights of the landowner in the land, in a lease of the severed improvements, or in a memorandum of a lease of the severed improvements are not limited or abrogated by the tax deed.
The Indiana State Bar Association Probate, Trust, and Real Property section and the Indiana Bankers Association testified in support of the bill. SRI Tax and Accounting testified in opposition. The bill was held for amend and vote.
On February 15, 2023, the bill was amended by consent to:
- Define the term “severed interest”;
- Provide that the estate in fee simple vested in a grantee by a tax deed executed under the law on the sale of tax delinquent property is subject to a lease shown by public record if the tax deed conveys only a severed interest located in, on, under, or above the land; and
- Delete a section that would have changed the definition of “substantial property interest of public record” and a section that would have changed the duty of the county auditor to send notice to certain persons about an impending sale of tax delinquent property.
The amended bill passed 11-0.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/senate/296