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