The director or the director’s designee, upon making a distraint pursuant to RCW 51.48.170 and 51.48.180, shall seize the property and shall make an inventory of the property distrained, a copy of which shall be mailed to the owner of such property or personally delivered to the owner, and shall specify the time and place when the property shall be sold. A notice specifying the property to be sold and the time and place of sale shall be posted in at least two public places in the county wherein the seizure has been made. The time of sale shall be not less than twenty days from the date of posting of such notices. The sale may be adjourned from time to time at the discretion of the director or the director’s designee, but not for a time to exceed in all sixty days. No sale shall take place if an appeal is pending. The sale shall be conducted by the director or the director’s designee who shall proceed to sell such property by parcel or by lot at a public auction, and who may set a minimum price to include the expenses of making a levy and of advertising the sale, and if the amount bid for such property at the sale is not equal to the minimum price so fixed, the director or the director’s designee may declare such property to be purchased by the department for such minimum price. In such event the delinquent account shall be credited with the amount for which the property has been sold. Property acquired by the department as herein prescribed may be sold by the director or the director’s designee at public or private sale, and the amount realized shall be placed in the state of Washington industrial insurance fund.

In all cases of sale, as aforesaid, the director or the director’s designee shall issue a bill of sale or a deed to the purchaser and the bill of sale or deed shall be prima facie evidence of the right of the director or the director’s designee to make such sale and conclusive evidence of the regularity of the proceeding in making the sale, and shall transfer to the purchaser all right, title, and interest of the delinquent employer in said property. The proceeds of any such sale, except in those cases wherein the property has been acquired by the department, shall be first applied by the director or the director’s designee in satisfaction of the delinquent account, and out of any sum received in excess of the amount of delinquent taxes, interest, and penalties the industrial insurance fund shall be reimbursed for the costs of distraint and sale. Any excess which shall thereafter remain in the hands of the director or the director’s designee shall be refunded to the delinquent employer. Sums so refundable to a delinquent employer may be subject to seizure or distraint in the hands of the director or the director’s designee by any other taxing authority of the state or its political subdivisions.