Court Opinion

ID: 9746320
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:12:10.880526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:12.158579
License: Public Domain

*248OPINION OF THE COURT
FLAHERTY, Justice.
We granted the petition for allowance of appeal of the City of Pittsburgh (hereinafter, “the city”) to determine whether the city improperly failed to give notice to appellee of its intent to demolish a building the city had sold to appellee in a tax sale fourteen months prior to the demolition.
The real property which is the subject of this dispute was a dwelling located at 5741 Pierce Street in the city. On September 12, 1977, the property was sold for taxes by the city treasurer to appellee. There was in effect, at that time, a period of one year after the sale for redemption by the record owner. There was no redemption, and the property was conveyed to appellee by Treasurer Deed dated and recorded October 27, 1978.1
Approximately one year prior to the sale, on September 7, 1976, employees of the city’s Bureau of Building Inspection examined the Pierce Street dwelling and found several violations of the city’s housing code. In May of 1978, several months after appellee bid for and paid the upset price on the property, the city again inspected the building. Upon finding building code violations, the inspectors condemned it. Notice of condemnation was sent by the bureau to the record owners whose identities were ascertained by inspection of records in the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds office. No notice was sent to appellee. Although there was testimony that a notice of condemnation was posted on the property in May, appellee testified he saw no such notice when he visited the property during the same *249month.2
The record owners, of course, took no action regarding the housing code violations, so the city solicited bids for demolition of the property on October 2, 1978. A bid was accepted on October 26, and demolition commenced sometime around November 18, 1978. A neighbor notified appellee of the demolition.
Curiously, the record shows that officials in the city’s Bureau of Building Inspection, who were responsible for condemnation and demolition, had ready access to the fact that the Pierce Street property was the subject of a sale for delinquent taxes, because the treasurer’s office customarily sends lists of properties sold at the treasurer’s sale to the bureau. The notice to the bureau is accompanied by a request for advice whether any liens or condemnation or demolition notices are pending against the property. Outstanding liens are then assessed against the purchaser, who is expected to remit payment within 60 days. Properties which have been condemned must be promptly repaired by the purchaser. Although the list does not contain the names of the purchasers, it does indicate which properties were sold, and, thus, which are about to be conveyed to new owners.
Appellee brought an action in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County for negligent demolition. Emphasizing the bureau’s easy access to the treasurer’s records showing properties sold for delinquent taxes, the trial court awarded appellee $10,780, plus delay damages of ten percent. Commonwealth Court affirmed, 93 Pa.Cmwlth. 563, 502 A.2d 747.
The question presented is whether the city followed procedures adequate to afford all those having an interest in the property an opportunity to protect that interest. The notice to owners required by the fire prevention laws con*250tained in the second class city code is set forth at 53 P.S. § 25094.3 The term “owner” as used in § 25094 is not specifically defined.
Appellee argues that as the successful bidder at the tax sale, he has an ownership interest, to wit equitable title, and, thus, he has a legally protected property interest which entitles him to actual notice from the city of condemnation and demolition. We agree.
The doctrine of equitable conversion arose out of the power of the chancellor to compel the performance which was intended by the parties. This power was grounded in the principle that equity treats as done those things that should be done, quod fieri debet facile praesumitur. It is precisely because of the equitable remedy of specific performance that fundamental real property rights are created in a purchaser of realty prior to delivery of the deed. Kerr v. Day, 14 Pa. 112 (1850). The principles applicable to sales of real property between private parties are equally applicable to sales for delinquent taxes. Once appellee’s successful bid was accepted, the parties, to wit the city and appellee-purchaser, intended that the sale should be perfected subject only to the record owner’s redemption as provided by law. Failing redemption by the record owner during the statutory period, the successful bidder could certainly compel conveyance by the city treasurer. Thus, the doctrine of equitable conversion is applicable to a sale for *251delinquent taxes and its operation conveys equitable title to the purchaser. Defeasible that title is; but, barring redemption by the record owner during the statutory period, the successful bidder at the tax sale is entitled to compel conveyance by treasurer deed, and thus, he is the equitable owner.
Our conclusion is buttressed by the city’s expectation that purchasers at tax sales make necessary repairs, thus discharging ownership responsibilities, in order to bring buildings into compliance with the housing code, supra at p. 3. There is also support for our conclusion in statutory recognition that a purchaser at a tax sale has an insurable interest, and may use the property to produce income.4 See also, City of Philadelphia v. King Kai Chin, 354 Pa.Super. 115, 119, 511 A.2d 214, 216 (1986) where Superior Court held that a redeeming owner may properly be required to pay expenses incurred by the purchaser to make the property habitable. In rejecting the record owner’s argument that the purchaser could only recover costs necessary to keep the property in the condition prevailing at the time of the tax sale, Superior Court noted that such a restriction would necessitate that dilapidated, uninhabitable buildings remain in that condition, and “ignore the interests of the parties, the municipality and the public.” Implicit in this holding by Superior Court is recognition that the purchaser at a tax sale does acquire an ownership interest in the premises, a principle we now affirm and proclaim as law.
In rejecting the applicability of equitable conversion to tax sales, Commonwealth Court relied upon this Court’s *252opinion in Gault’s Appeal, 33 Pa. 94 (1859). There the interest of the “legal” owner was defined as follows.
We hold him to be an owner within the statute who is such when he offers to redeem. The sale left in the former owner an equity of redemption at the least, and that might be conveyed like any other estate, and the grantee took it with all the rights and capacities of the grantor. He is therefore the “owner” who holds the title at the moment of redemption.
Id., 33 Pa. at 98. This language is not inconsistent with our holding today. It merely recognizes that, until the period for redemption of the property expires, the record owner has “legal” title and his “equity of redemption” is an interest that may.be conveyed to a willing buyer. This interest in the original owner is in no way inconsistent with an equitable ownership interest in the tax sale purchaser, whose equitable interest may not be divested by governmental action without notice.
Having determined that appellee was entitled to notice prior to demolition of premises he purchased at the tax sale, the question then remaining is whether notice to appellee by posting was sufficient. We conclude that it was not.
In Gault’s Appeal, supra, Justice Woodward wrote for the Court:
The right of the government to authorize the seizure and sale of land without notice to the owner, was seriously doubted, and sometimes stoutly denied, in the early history of tax sales in Pennsylvania; and the only ground on which it can be maintained, is the absolute sovereignty of the state in the exercise of its taxing power.
But it is a severe exercise of power. To divest ownership, without personal notice, and without direct compensation, is the instance in which a constitutional government approaches most near to an unrestrained tyranny.
Id., 33 Pa. at 97-98. (Emphasis supplied.) More recently, in Tracy v. County of Chester Tax Claim Bureau, 507 Pa. *253288, 489 A.2d 1334 (1985), we held that where an owner’s identity was reasonably ascertainable, actual notice of a pending tax sale was required. “A government body is not required to make ‘extraordinary efforts’ to discover the identity and address of a person whose property interests are likely to be significantly affected by a tax sale, but only reasonable efforts.” Id., 507 Pa. at 296, 489 A.2d at 1338. Although the matter sub judice involves a condemnation notice and not a tax sale notice, both situations involve governmental taking of private property and the same safeguards apply. Thus, instantly the city was required to expend reasonable efforts to ascertain the identity of the purchaser of the Pierce Street property at the tax sale. This was not done.
The record demonstrates clearly that the office of the city treasurer maintained a list of all properties sold at tax sales and actually forwarded a list of properties sold to the Bureau of Building Inspection to ascertain whether any condemnation notices were already pending against the property. Having determined that there were no outstanding condemnation notices pending against the Pierce Street property on the date of the sale, the list of properties was filed somewhere in the bureau and promptly forgotten. No further inquiry was made by the bureau as the status of the property changed. The trial court aptly noted that “the reasons underlying housing code violations are often the same as those placing the property on the Treasurer’s Sale list; that is, lack of money to maintain the premises.” Slip, op. at 6. City officials may expect that properties with housing code violations might also be subject to sales for tax delinquencies, and that persons in addition to the owners indicated in the deed registry might have an ownership interest in dilapidated properties. Particularly in view of the fact that the list of properties sold at the yearly tax sales is routinely forwarded to the Bureau of Building Inspection, the information is readily accessible to that bureau. It is not unreasonable to expect the bureau to ascertain whether properties have been sold, and then to make contact with the city treasurer’s office to ascertain *254the identity of the purchaser at the tax sale. Failing this, the city is liable to purchasers at tax sales when properties sold by the city are demolished without actual notice to the purchaser.
As noted supra, the verdict for appellee included an award of delay damages under Pa.R.C.P. 238.5 The city argues that this award was illegal because it conflicts with Section 333 of the Act of October 5, 1980, P.L. 693, No. 142 which provides, in pertinent part:
Actions under Subchapter C of Chapter 85 (relating to actions against local parties) of Title 42 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes for claims against a local agency may be brought in and only in a county in which the local agency is located or in which the cause of action arose or where a transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose. No interest shall accrue in any such action prior to any entry of judgment.
*25542 Pa.C.S.A. § 7101 to § 8700 p. 412 (1982) (Emphasis supplied).6
We have already said that Pa.R.C.P. 238, providing for pre-judgment interest for delay, is procedural in nature, Laudenberger v. Port Auth. of Allegheny Cty., 496 Pa. 52, 436 A.2d 147 (1981), appeal dismissed, 456 U.S. 940, 102 5. Ct. 2002, 72 L.Ed.2d 462 (1982). This portion of Laudenberger remains viable, even after our recent re-evaluation of Laudenberger in Craig v. Magee Memorial Rehabilitation Center, 512 Pa. 60, 515 A.2d 1350 (1986). The power to promulgate procedural rules governing business in the courts rests exclusively in the judiciary, PA. CONST. Art. V, § 10(c). The same constitutional provision suspends the operation of statutes which are inconsistent with procedural rules promulgated by this Court. Thus, Section 333 cannot save the city from the requirement to pay delay damages under Rule 238, and we reject the argument that the city is immune from payment of delay damages.
In Craig, supra, we ruled that a fact finder must consider all pertinent facts respecting both parties’ responsibility for delay in assessing an award of delay damages, and we prescribed a manner of proceeding to determine the same. Our ruling was prospective, except in those cases pending on appeal where the issue has been preserved. As the city’s legal argument on the statute was not sufficient to preserve a challenge to the court’s imposition of delay damages on any other theory, there is no reason to remand for further proceedings on this question.
The order of Commonwealth Court is affirmed.
LARSEN, J., files a concurring opinion.
HUTCHINSON, J., files a concurring and dissenting opinion.
NIX, C.J., files a dissenting opinion.

. We, are disappointed in the briefs of counsel as regards the tax sale procedure in effect at the time of the events in question. The only description of the procedures for conveyancing properties sold at tax sales contained in this record was provided by appellee's testimony that he has purchased approximately 50 homes at treasurer’s sales, 13 of them at the September 12, 1977 sale, and that deeds are generally received within 6-7 months of the sale.

. Appellee testified that it was his practice not to enter premises acquired at treasurer’s sales because he did “not want to stimulate anyone to redeem the property.” Nevertheless, he did periodically pass by the property and, in May of 1978, while the property was vacant, he entered the premises with an appraiser.

. § 25094 of the second class city code provides in pertinent part as follows:
All orders [respecting inspection of buildings regarding prevention of fire] herein provided or issued by the Department of Public Safety, and directed to the owner, shall be served by pasting a copy or copies in a conspicuous place on the building referred to in such order, and by prepaid mailing of a copy thereof, on the same day, to the owner or owners whose address is known or ascertained by the said department. If, after a reasonably diligent search, the address or addresses of the owner or owners cannot be ascertained, said orders shall, in addition to posting, be served upon the agent, or the tenant or tenants, or other responsible occupant of said building, if any. All orders directed to the occupant shall be served in the manner above provided, and, in addition thereto, by handing a copy thereof to the occupant of the premises.
53 P.S. § 25094.

. 53 P.S. § 7293 provides, inter alia:
(a) The owner of any property sold under a tax or municipal claim, or his assignees, or any party whose lien or estate has been discharged thereby, may, except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, redeem the same at any time within one year from the date of the acknowledgement of the sheriff’s deed therefor, upon payment of the amount bid at such sale ... the insurance upon the property, and other charges and necessary expenses of the property, actually paid, less rents or other income therefrom, and a sum equal to interest at the rate of ten per centum per annum thereon, from the time of each of such payments.

. Pa.R.C.P. 238 provides in relevant part as follows:
Rule 238. Award of Damages for Delay in an Action for Bodily Injury, Death or Property Damage
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (e), in an action seeking monetary relief for ... property damage, ... the court ... shall
(1) add to the amount of compensatory damages in the ... court's decision in a nonjury trial, damages for delay at ten (10) percent per annum, not compounded, which shall become part of the ... decision;
(2) compute the damages for delay from the date the plaintiff filed the initial complaint in the action or from a date one year after the accrual of the cause of action, whichever is later, up to the date of the ... decision.
(e) If a defendant at any time prior to trial makes a written offer of settlement in a specified sum with prompt cash payment to the plaintiff, and continues that offer in effect until commencement of trial, but the offer is not accepted and the plaintiff does not recover by ... decision, exclusive of damages for delay, more than 125 percent of the offer, the court ... shall not award damages for delay for the period after the date the offer was made.
(g) This rule shall not apply to
(1) eminent domain proceedings:
(2) pending actions in which damages for delay are allowable in the absence of this rule.

. The City of Philadelphia filed an amicus brief on this issue.