2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 60 - Collection of Local Taxes › Section 62 - Land Taken or Sold for Taxes; Redemption

Section 62. Any person having an interest in land taken or sold for nonpayment of taxes, including those assessed under sections twelve, thirteen and fourteen of chapter fifty-nine, or his heirs or assigns, at any time prior to the filing of a petition for foreclosure under section sixty-five, if the land has been taken or purchased by the town and has not been assigned, may redeem the same by paying or tendering to the treasurer the amount of the tax title account of the land being redeemed, and interest at sixteen per cent upon the original sum for which the land was taken or sold, from the date of sale, and upon each sum certified in accordance with section sixty-one, from the date of certification, together with all charges lawfully added to the tax title account of such land subsequently to such taking or sale, or may redeem the same by paying or tendering to said treasurer installments on account of the tax title account, together with the full amount of interest, as aforesaid, to the date of payment of the amount of the tax title account or balance thereof remaining due at the time of such payment, and all charges lawfully added as aforesaid until the full amount of the tax title account, with interest as aforesaid and all such charges, is paid. Each such instalment shall be received, receipted for, and applied toward the redemption of the land so taken or purchased. The treasurer upon accepting any payment hereunder may extend the time during which proceedings for the foreclosure of all rights of redemption may not be instituted, for a period not exceeding 2 years beyond the time period provided by section 65. An extension granted hereunder shall be entered upon the tax title account, and a written statement thereof shall be given to the person who made the payment.
Any such person may so redeem by paying or tendering to a purchaser, other than the town, his legal representatives or assigns, or to the person to whom an assignment of a tax title has been made by the town, at any time prior to the filing of such petition for foreclosure, in the case of a purchaser the original sum and intervening taxes and costs paid by him and interest on the whole at said rate, or in the case of an assignee of a tax title from a town the amount stated in the instrument of assignment with additional interest on the principal amount at said rate from the date of said assignment. In each case he shall also pay or tender, for examination of title and a deed of release, not more than $3 in the aggregate, and in addition thereto the actual cost of recording the tax deed or evidence of taking and the instrument of assignment, if any. He may also redeem the land by paying or tendering to the treasurer the sum which he would be required to pay to the purchaser or to the assignee of a tax title, with $10 additional. When land is redeemed from a tax title held by a city or town, the city treasurer, or acting city treasurer, notwithstanding the provisions of the charter of his city, or the town treasurer, as the case may be, shall, in the name and on behalf of the city or town, execute, acknowledge and deliver an instrument, which need not be under seal, containing a reference to the record of the tax deed or instrument of taking sufficient to identify it and reciting that the city or town acknowledges satisfaction of the tax title account secured thereby. The instrument provided for herein shall specify the year for which, and the name of the person to whom, the tax for which the land was sold or taken was assessed, and shall also specify the land on which such tax was assessed. If a person other than the owner of the fee rightfully redeems, requesting that he be named in the instrument, the instrument shall include his name and, when duly recorded in the registry of deeds of the county or district where the land is situated, shall be notice to all persons of such payment. If the amount so paid for redemption is paid by a holder of a mortgage on the premises, the amount so paid may be added to the mortgage debt. Any person redeeming land from a tax title held by a city or town may, as a condition of redemption, be required by the city or town treasurer to pay to him the expense of recording the instrument of redemption; and, when such expense has been so paid, such treasurer shall be deemed to be authorized to record such instrument and shall forthwith cause the same to be filed for record in the proper registry of deeds. No person shall knowingly collect or attempt to collect for the redemption of any such land a sum of money greater than that authorized by this section.
If in the opinion of the treasurer, there has been a substantial or misleading error or irregularity in the amount of any item of water, sewer use or municipal light rates or charges, or interest thereon or costs relative thereto, included in a tax title account, or in connection with the proceedings with respect to any of them, he may accept in redemption the amount of the tax title account less the amount of such items, including interest thereon after their addition to any tax under applicable provisions of law. If in such case the tax title was held by the city or town, said treasurer shall make an entry in his books of the amount so deducted and of the reason for the deduction, which shall relieve him of further responsibility therefor. If the tax title was held by a person other than the city or town, the treasurer shall pay to such person the amount of the account without deduction and shall make a similar entry, which shall entitle him to credit for the excess so paid.
Nothing in this section nor in sections sixty-five to seventy-five, inclusive, shall be construed to prevent the title of a person or a city or town purchasing land at a sale under section seventy-nine or eighty from becoming absolute without any foreclosure proceedings under said sections sixty-five to seventy-five, inclusive.