TIEXE&~~~FCNEY GENERAL
OF TEXAS
HonorableAlbert J. Hutson, Jr.
CountyAttoriiiy, TrinityCounty
Groveton,Texas
Dear Sir:
opinionHo. O-683
Re: Mayreal estate'besold by
sumria~wile for tilinquent
taxeswithoutforeclosuresuit?
We bag to acknowledgereceiptof your letterof April 20th from which
we quote the followingquestions:
%der the laws of our state,does a Tax Assessor-Collector
have the authorityto levy on and sell real estatefor
delinquenttaxeswithout the necessityof a suit in court?
"If the Tax Assessor-Collectorhas the authorityto levy on
ax&sell real estatefor delinquenttaxeswithout the
necessityof a suit, does a person employedby the commission-
er's court to collectdelinquenttaxes have this aut&ity?*
ArticleVIII, Section13 of the Constitutionof Texas, as amendedby
electionheld November8, 1932, reads as follows:
"Provisionshall be made by the first Legislatureforthespeedy
sale, without the necessity of a suit in Court, of a sufficient
portionof all lands and other propertyfor the taxes due
thereon,and every year thereafterfor the sale in like manner
of all lands and other pronerty n-jonwhich the
taxes have not been paid; a*tbe deed of conveyanceto the
purchaserfor all lands and other propertythus sold shall
be held to vest a good and perfecttitle in the purchaser
thereof,subjectto be impeachedonly for actualfraud;
provided,that the formerowner shall within two years from
date of the filing,for record of the Purchaser'sDeed
have the ri&t to redeem the land on the followingbasis:
"(1) Within the first year of the redemptionperiod upon the
paymentof the amount of money paid for the land, including
One ($1.00)DollarTax Deed RecordingFee and all taxes,
penalties,interestand costs paid plus not exceeding
twenty-five(2%) percentcftheaggregatetotal;
HonorableAlbert J. Hutsan,Jr. , May 4 1939 Page 2 O-~683
- ._ - ..-
"(2) Within the last year of the redemptionperiod upon,
the-paymentof the amount of money paid for the land,
includingOne ($1.00)DollarTax peed RecordingFee and all
taxes, penalties,interestand costs paid plus not exceedjng
fifty (H) percentof the aggregatetotal. (Sec.13,Art. 8,
adoptedelectionNov. 8, 1932.)"
This provisionauthorizesthe Legislatureto enact laws providingfor
summarysales of lands for delinquenttaxes;butthe constitutional
provisionis clearlynot self-executory.We have been unable to find
any statute,now effective,which authorizessummarysales of real
estate. In fact,Article732&k,R. C. S. (Acts 1929, 4lst. Lag.,
.pi 103, ch. 48,i 1) expresslyprohibitssuch sales.~This statutereads
as follows:
"That all sales of real estatenmde for the collectiom~of
delinquenttaxes due thereonshallbemsdeonlyafter the ~.
foreclosureo? tax lien s,ecuringsane has been,ha$?-in
a court
of competentjurisdictionin accordancewith existinglaws
governingthe foreclosureof tax liens in delinquenttax
suits.*
This statute,passed in 1929,would not be repealedby the 193.2,
Constitutional amendment. It has hot been repealedor amendedby
the legislature,and is thereforestill controllingIn the mattarof
sales or real propertyfordelinquenttaxes.
~. \
Pe accordinglyadviseyou that we agree with~~your':~~~~ghgB~o~~~~tk
neitherthe ~TaxAssessor-Collector nor any one Cl.&‘has~&~~~~~ or
authorityto levy on and sell real estate for delinquenttaxes except
after foreclosureof the tax lien by a court, as provided.byArticle
7328~1,R. C. S.
Yours.vbrytruly,
A!mmNExowERhLoFTEx4s
s/Walter R. Koch ~
m
Walter R. Koch,
. Assistant
URyr
APPROVED:
s/ Oerald~C.Mann
ATTORNEYGENERuoFTFm8