Virginia Code 58.1-3341: Liens for taxes delinquent twenty years or more released; lands purchased by Commonwealth; pending suits.
No lien upon real estate for taxes and levies due and payable to the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof which has been, or shall hereafter become, delinquent for twenty or more years shall be enforced in any proceeding at law or in equity and such lien shall be deemed to have expired and to be barred and cancelled after such time. For purposes of this section, taxes deferred pursuant to an ordinance enacted in conformity with Article 2 (§ 58.1-3210 et seq.) or Article 2.1 (§ 58.1-3219 et seq.) of Chapter 32 of this title shall not be considered “delinquent” during the pendency of any period of deferral, and the lien upon real property for taxes and levies shall remain valid for twenty years plus any period of deferral afforded pursuant to such ordinance.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 58.1-3341
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
The right, title and interest of the Commonwealth in and to all real estate sold for taxes and levies which have been, or hereafter become, delinquent for twenty or more years, when such real estate has been purchased by the Commonwealth and not resold, is hereby unconditionally released unto and vested by operation of law in the person or persons who owned the real estate at the time the Commonwealth so acquired title or persons claiming, or to claim, by, through or under them.
No clerk shall make a tax deed conveying to any person any real estate sold for delinquent taxes or levies which have been, or hereafter become, delinquent for twenty or more years.
Code 1950, § 58-767; 1962, c. 93; 1984, c. 675; 1994, c. 209.