When:

(a) a deed or other instrument conveying land,

(b) a plat of any townsite or addition thereto,

(c) a survey required pursuant to section 508.47,

(d) a condominium plat subject to chapter 515 or 515A or a declaration that contains such a plat, or

(e) a common interest community plat subject to chapter 515B or a declaration that contains such a plat,

is presented to the county auditor for transfer, the auditor shall ascertain from the records if there be taxes delinquent upon the land described therein, or if it has been sold for taxes. An assignment of a sheriff’s or referee’s certificate of sale, when the certificate of sale describes real estate, and certificates of redemption from mortgage or lien foreclosure sales, when the certificate of redemption encompasses real estate and is issued to a junior creditor, are considered instruments conveying land for the purposes of this section and section 272.121. If there are taxes delinquent, the auditor shall certify to the same; and upon payment of such taxes, or in case no taxes are delinquent, shall transfer the land upon the books of the auditor’s office, and note upon the instrument, over official signature, the words, “no delinquent taxes and transfer entered,” or, if the land described has been sold or assigned to an actual purchaser for taxes, the words “paid by sale of land described within;” and, unless such statement is made upon such instrument, the county recorder or the registrar of titles shall refuse to receive or record the same; provided, that sheriff’s or referees’ certificates of sale on execution or foreclosure of a lien or mortgage, certificates of redemption from mortgage or lien foreclosure sales issued to the redeeming mortgagor or lienee, deeds of distribution made by a personal representative in probate proceedings, transfer on death deeds under section 507.071, decrees and judgments, receivers receipts, patents, and copies of town or statutory city plats, in case the original plat filed in the office of the county recorder has been lost or destroyed, and the instruments releasing, removing and discharging reversionary and forfeiture provisions affecting title to land and instruments releasing, removing or discharging easement rights in land or building or other restrictions, may be recorded without such certificate; and, provided that instruments conveying land and, as appurtenant thereto an easement over adjacent tract or tracts of land, may be recorded without such certificate as to the land covered by such easement; and provided further, that any instrument granting an easement made in favor of any public utility or pipe line for conveying gas, liquids or solids in suspension, in the nature of a right-of-way over, along, across or under a tract of land may be recorded without such certificate as to the land covered by such easement. Documents governing homeowners associations of condominiums, townhouses, common interest ownership communities, and other planned unit developments may be recorded without the auditor’s certificate to the extent provided in section 515B.1-116(e).

A deed of distribution made by a personal representative in a probate proceeding, a decree, or a judgment that conveys land shall be presented to the county auditor, who shall transfer the land upon the books of the auditor’s office and note upon the instrument, over official signature, the words, “transfer entered”, and the instrument may then be recorded. A decree or judgment that affects title to land but does not convey land may be recorded without presentation to the auditor.

A violation of this section by the county recorder or the registrar of titles shall be a gross misdemeanor, and, in addition to the punishment therefor, the recorder or registrar shall be liable to the grantee of any instrument so recorded for the amount of any damages sustained.

When, as a condition to permitting the recording of deed or other instrument affecting the title to real estate previously forfeited to the state under the provisions of sections 281.16 to 281.25, county officials, after such real estate has been purchased or repurchased, have required the payment of taxes erroneously assumed to have accrued against such real estate after forfeiture and before the date of purchase or repurchase, the sum required to be so paid shall be refunded to the persons entitled thereto out of moneys in the funds in which the sum so paid was placed. Delinquent taxes are those taxes deemed delinquent under section 279.02.