Opinion ID: 2037340
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legal ownership of the property.

Text: Defendants' first contention is that the county, as purchaser of the property at tax sale and holder of the tax certificate, and not defendants, was the legal owner of the property at the time the city took action to abate the nuisance. Defendants therefore argue that they cannot be held liable for costs associated with abatement of the nuisance. This contention has no merit. This is because the law is well settled in Iowa that the purchaser at a tax sale, including the county when the sale is under the scavenger statute, obtains no title or right of possession to the property before the deed issues. Currington v. Black Hawk County, 184 N.W.2d 675, 676 (Iowa 1971). Thus, until a deed was issued by the county treasurer to the county, the county acquired no legal interest in the property. Id. Consequently, defendants, not the county, continued to be the legal owner of the property, with right of possession, even though the county held a certificate of purchase at tax sale concerning the property. The city was therefore correct in pursuing an action against defendants, as legal owners of the property, to recover costs it incurred in abating the nuisance on defendants' property. We also point out that defendants present no authority suggesting that the county had a duty to obtain the tax deed. In fact, other authorities support the contrary. See Iowa Code § 446.37 (stating that county treasurer's duty to cancel tax sale certificate if no action is taken by holder to obtain a tax deed within three years following tax sale does not apply to certificates of purchase at tax sale held by a county); Iowa Code § 448.1 (unnum. para. 1, added by 1997 Iowa Acts ch. 121, § 24) (county treasurer's duty to issue deed after period of redemption has expired does not apply to certificates held by a county); see also 1990 Op. Iowa Att'y Gen. 80 (concluding that a county has no statutory requirement to obtain a tax deed to property upon which it holds a certificate of purchase acquired from a scavenger tax sale). Moreover, even if a tax deed had been issued to the county, making the county the legal owner, Iowa Code section 364.12(4) states that a county acquiring property for delinquent taxes shall not be considered a property owner. Based on this language, the county would not be subject to an action by the city under section 364.12(4) to recover nuisance abatement costs on the subject property.