Opinion by
The Executor of the Estate of E. B. Provance (Provance) and the Executor of the Estate of I. C. Bell (Bell) each filed an appeal from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County which found title to acreage situated in Wharton Township, Payette County, to be lawfully and regularly vested in the Estate of Bell. We consider these appeals collectively and affirm the order of the court of common pleas.
The Executor of Bell brought an action to quiet title to the acreage, claiming that Bell acquired title to
The law is well settled that the existence of a Treasurer’s Deed establishes prima facie lawful title in the grantee by a rebuttable presumption of the regularity of the acts of public officials in accordance with .the duties of their offices and the applicable •laws. Albert v. Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., 431 Pa. 600, 246 A.2d 840 (1968); Curtis Building Co. v. Tunstall, 21 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 81, 343 A.2d 389 (1975).3 23 Therefore, a person challenging title obtained through a Treasurer’s Deed has the burden of proving a defect or irregularity in the proceedings which produced the deed. Clark v. Weinberg, 38 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 300, 393 A.2d 507 (1978).
In the absence of any evidence which renders doubtful or untrustworthy either the deed from' the County Commissioners or the testimony of Mrs. Mc-Luckey, we conclude that Bell is entitled, despite the unavailability of the Treasurer’s Deed, to the presumption that the public’ officials of Fayette County properly conducted the tax sale- to the County Commissioners. Therefore, title to the subject acreage vests in the Estate, of Bell since Bell is the successor in. title from the grantees of the County Commissioners;4
Order
And Now, June 8, 1981, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County, Docket No. 976 of 1978 G.D., dated January 18, 1980, is hereby affirmed.
1.
Act of May 21, 1913, P.L. 285, as amended, repealed by the Act of May 9, 1929, P.L. 1681.
2.
In pertinent part the Act states :
That return of taxes assessed by the authorities of any . . . towushtp, against seated lands, shall be made whenever personal property .cannot be found thereon sufficient to pay such taxes, tp the commissioners of the county. . . . Whenever any such taxes are not paid within two years after the date of the assessment, such seated lands shall be advertised and sold by the county treasurer, at the time and in the manner, and with the same conditions and effect, as unseated 'lands,
3.
This case was remanded to the court of common pleas which rendered a decision that was again appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Curtis Building Co. v. Tunstall, 36 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 233, 387 A.2d 1370 (1978).
4.
Since we hold that title vested in the Estate of Bell through deeds; from the County Treasurer and County Commissioners* we dispense with a discussion of whether Bell could have acquired' title-through adverse possession which was the alternate theory advanced on appeal.