Opinion ID: 2304797
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Tax Sale Statutes

Text: The tax sale statutes, D.C.Code §§ 47-1301 et seq. (1990 and Supp.1996), permit the District to sell tax-delinquent properties at public auction. If the record owner has received notice, as prescribed in the statute, that a sale is pending, and if the taxes remain unpaid, then the Collector of Taxes may sell the property at auction for a sum that meets or exceeds the amount of taxes, penalties, and other charges due on the property. In the absence of a sufficient bid, the Collector of Taxes will bid off the property and purchase it on behalf of the District. D.C.Code § 47-1303: 9 DCMR § 316.7 (1994). Neither the private purchaser nor the District may obtain immediate title to the property. Rather, a tax sale purchaser  private or public  acquires an inchoate interest in the property that will not ripen into title for two years following the tax sale. District of Columbia v. Mayhew, 601 A.2d 37, 40 (D.C.1991). In the interim, the record owner may redeem his interest by paying the aggregate amount of taxes, penalties, and costs due. D.C.Code § 47-1306. Upon the expiration of the statutory two-year period, the record owner loses his right to redeem the property. If the purchaser is a private party, he may then apply to the DFR for a tax deed. If the District purchases the property, on the other hand, it may dispose of it by selling it at a public or private sale, or in one of several other ways. [3] The McCullochs purchased the eleven properties at tax sales more than two years after the District had bid off those properties and purchased them for itself. They claim to have done so, consistent with Blacktree Farm, with the expectation that the District would issue tax deeds immediately following the sale. The District's failure to issue the deeds, according to the McCullochs, contravened the tax sale statutes and constituted negligence for which the District should be liable for damages. The District defends the result below on two separate theories. First, it argues that the McCullochs and the court in Blacktree Farm have misconstrued the tax sale statutes. According to the District, § 47-1304(a) contemplates a public sale of unredeemed and bid off properties, an event which is separate and apart from any of the regularly scheduled tax sales at which the McCullochs placed their bids. Second, the District claims that even assuming the correctness of the Blacktree Farm decision, the McCullochs were entitled only to a refund of their purchase money, together with the applicable statutory interest. We need not decide whether Blacktree Farm was correctly decided, for we agree with the District that even if it was, the McCullochs are not entitled to any relief beyond that granted to them by the trial court. [4]