TAX SALES 75 .01

LAND SOLD FOR TAXES

Sale of tax certificates and tax deeded lands ;purchase of adjacent lands ,

Tax deeds to county.Agreements as to delinquent taxes . .Waste on land sold ; distress ; claim against county or

city .Waste on lands sold for taxes, penalty .Fees for deeds and certificates .Action to bar former owner .Action, where and how brought .Complaint .Defense, answerElection to i eceive deposit ; costs .Release .Deed as evidence. .Trial; defendant's interest .Separate trials .Effect of judgmentJudgment for defendant . .Unknown owners.Judgment a bar, when .Foreclosure of tax l iens by action in rem ,.Reassessment of taxes by order of court .Application of section 75Tax sales ,Tax sales ; actions to set aside .Ejectment as to public lands ; conditions..No ,jurisdiction ; issue of deed postponed ; deposit..Tax sales, certificates and deeds in Milwaukee city

and county.Consideration in sale of land for nonpayment of

taxes _Sale of tax delinquent real estate .Delinquent tax lands and taxes.

Redemption from tax sale .Redeeming lands of minors, incompetents ..Redemption receipt and entries. .Disposition of redemption money .Payment on lost certificates ..Redemption notices ; publication.Notice, how postedlMistake in notice _Compensation of printer ' ..Deed, notice of application for .Curative act,Deeds, execution of; rights under ; evidence.Correction of description by action . .Deed on lost certificate .Deed, by whom executed ; form .Execution of tax deeds by city ..New deeds in place of void ones.Foreclosure of certificates.Limitations on certificates and issue of deeds; life of

tax certificate liens ,Limitation on special certificates .Tax sales; void ; refund ; immaterial er' r 'ors. .Canceled deeds, certificates of county clerk.Limitation, claims under illegal deed or certificate .Lien of reassessed tax.Limitation .Limitation on former owner .Application of all limitations .Action ; condition precedent. .Actions of ejectment, when barred .Action ;. by original owner where deed void, when

barr ed ."Possession" defined .Taxation and sale of lands held by counties . .Sale of certificates by counties ,

752175 .22

'75 . . 2375 . 2475 .257526'75 . 2775 , 28'75 . . 285

'75 . 2975 . . .30

75,31'15 ..32'75 ...34

75697570

75.01 Redemption from tax sale. (1) Anyperson may, prior to the recording of a tax deedbased on a tax sale certificate issued on the saleof a parcel of land or of any interest therein fornonpayment of taxes, redeem the land describedin such tax sale certificate or any part thereof orinterest therein, whether the tax sale certificateto be redeemed wholly or` in part is a lien againstall the land or against an undivided interesttherein.: Such redemption shall be made bypaying to the county treasurer of the countywhere such land was sold, or the city treasurer inthe case of any land sold' for taxes by the citytreasurer of any city in this state, for the usee ofthe purchaser, heirs or assigns, the amount ofthe taxes for which such land or, interest thereinwas sold, or such portion thereof as the part or,interest redeemed shall amount to, in either casewith interest on the amount of said taxes at oneper, cent per month or fraction thereof fromJanuary 1 after the tax levy year, and alll othercharges authorized by law to be imposed on suchtax certificate subsequent to such sale . When soredeemed, prior to the recording of a tax deed,

such tax deed shall be void . When an applica-tion is made to the county treasurer, or any citytreasurer as hereinabove provided, to redeemfrom any tax sale any divided portion of any partor, portion of any lot or par cel of land which wassold for taxes, before making a receipt for theredemption applied fo r, said treasurer shall givenotice of such proposed redemption to any per-son other than the applicant having a recordedownership, mortgage, or land contract interestin such land, and to any purchaser of' a taxcertificate describing such land as shown by saidtreasurer's records, or may be affected by suchapplication and afford him or her a hearing.Such notice shall be given in the manner pro-vided in s . . 75 .. 1. 2 for the giving of notice ofapplication for tax deed, and the costs of givingsuch notice shall be paid by the person makingsuch application. The time for such hearingshall be fixed at not less than 10 days after , theservice of such notice has been completed .. Thecounty treasurer or such city treasurer shallthereafter determine the true proportion oftaxes chargeable to the part or portion sought tobe redeemed, and the amount so found shall be

1949

7501'75 . . 0.3

'75 . . 0475,05'15 . .06'75 . .07'75 ..0915 . 1075 11751275 1375. 1475,14575,. 15 .75. 16 .75 17` 75.. 1875 .19' 75 . 20

CHAPTER 75

75.. .35

75:. 3675. 365' 75 . . 37

' 75 . . 3 '7575 . 38' 75 . . .397540' 75 . . 41' 75 . . 4275 „4.3'75 .4475 .4575 4675 .4775 487$ ..4975 .50'75 .52'75 .52175 ..54:75 , 5575 . 61'75 . 62' 75 . 6 .3 :75 . 647567

7568

75 .03 Redeeming lands of minors , incom-petents. (1) The lands of minors or any inter-est they may have acquired in lands prior to or,after the sale of said lands sold for taxes may beredeemed at any time before such minors comeof age and during one year thereafter if' suchlands were not sold for- nonpayment of'taxes for5 or more consecutive years prior to or after suchacquisition, but no such redemption shall beconstrued as redeeming the interest of any otherperson in such lands . . And the lands of personsadjudged mentallyy incompetent so sold of anyinterest they may have in the same which theyacquired prior to such sale and which were notsold for nonpayment of taxes for 5 or moreconsecutive years prior to or after such acquisi-tion, may be redeemed at any time duringdisability and during one year thereafter, andsuch redemption shall, in all the cases mentionedin this section,, be made in the manner providedin s . 75 . .01 .. The heirs of'any such minor- who diesafter the minor's title to the lands shall accrueand before the expiration of the time when, if'theminor had lived, the minor might have redeemedthe lands, may also, if' minors, redeem the inter-est of the minor in the lands within the time inwhich the minor could, if living, have redeemedthe same; and if not minors they may redeemwithin one year from the time their title soaccrues and within the time in which the minorcould, if living, have redeemed the same ..

(2) The redemption of lands or, any interestin the lands of minors or persons adjudgedmentally incompetent, which they acquiredprior or subsequent to the date of sale of thelands and which lands were sold for nonpaymentof taxes for 5 or- more consecutive years, prior toor after such acquisition, shall be made in themanner provided in s, 75„01 .

(3) When the purchaser of'such lands at taxsale or the owner of tax certificates of such landsis the owner' and holder of delinquent tax certifi-cates issued upon tax sales for 5 or more years,and the time foi, issuance of a deed upon any ofsuch certificates has not expired, the owner andholder 'of such certificates may foreclose byaction under s, 75 .19 or a tax deed may be issuedto the owner as provided by this chapter and theowner may foreclose any right of redemption orinterest of any minor or person adjudged men-tally incompetent by separate action under, s .75.19, which the owner may also do if the taxdeed was issued prior to the effective date of thisamendment.. In such action the minor or, personadjudged mentally incompetent must appear byguardian ad litem as provided by law, and theguardian, if the person has one, shall be joined asa party defendant . . This subsection as amendedin 1945 is r'etr'oactive January 1, 1946 . The

the amount required for the redemption thereof '. .The provisions of this chapter relating to ie-demption, conveyance, rights of action, limita-tion and other proceedings shall apply to allswampp and overflowed lands which have been ormay be contracted for sale by any county board.The word " recording" as used in this subsectionmeans the presentation of the tax deed to thet•egister, of deeds for record and acceptancethereof.

(3) Nothing herein contained : shall be con-strued to entitle any holde r of a tax certificateagainst any land in Wisconsin to pay subsequenttaxes on such land before the date of sale of suchlands for any such tax; and in event such taxcertificate holder shall pay such subsequenttaxes he shall not be entitled to charge or recoverany sum as the principal of or ` interest on anyamount paid as taxes on any lands before suchlands have been sold for such taxes .. Providedthat when a county owns and holds a tax certifi-cate on any land, the county treasurer mayattach to such certificate subsequentt delinquenttaxes without publication and salee as other wiseprovided by law .

(4) Redemption of land sold f'or, taxes may bemade in partiall payments of not less than $20and in any multiple of $5 Each partial paymentshall be applied first in payment of all chargesauthorized by law, then the interest accrued tothe date of payment and the balance shall beapplied on the principal of the tax . The portionof such payment to be applied as principal shallbe ascertained by dividing the amount of thepayment by the sum of one plus a figure which isthe product of , 01 multiplied by the numbe r ofmonths of delinquency, counting any part of` amonth as a full month . Such amount of princi-pal shall be deducted from the amount offered inpayment and the remainder , thereof shall be theinterest accrued from January 1 next succeedingthe year of the tax levy on that portion of the taxwhich is offered to be paid . Interest on any newbalance of principal sum shall be figured fromthe January 1 next succeeding the year of the taxlevy,. No payment of any instalment shall bemade by the county treasurer to the holder ofany certificate unless such certificate is pro-duced and the instalment- payment indorsedthereon ,.

History: 1977 c. . 26. .Cross Reference: As to redemption period, see 74 . 46.Anowner is entitled to redeem part of a parcel of land sold

for taxes before the tax deed is recorded by filing with thecounty treasurer an application for proration of taxes contain-ing a legal description of the portion sought to be redeemed . .58 Atty .. Gen . .. 39

An interested person may redeem land sold for the nonpay-ment of ' taxes up until the time a tax deed conveying the sameis recorded . 74 '.46 and 75 14 (1) discussed.' 63 Atty . . Gen 592 .

75.01 TAX SALES 1950

of taxes, charges and interest, calculated to thelast dayy of redemption , due on each parcel,together with a notice that unless such lands areredeemed on or, beforee the day limited therefor,specifying the same, they will be conveyed to thepurchaser. The county treasurer, for- the pur-pose of such list, may condense such descriptionswhen such condensed description will reason-ably describe the premises.

(2) Before publishing such list such treasurershall carefully compare the same with his recordof lands on which the taxes have been returnedas delinquent and with suchh treasurer's list ofthe same lands in his book of sales, and if uponsuch examination there be found any omissionor, erroneous description in said list, such parcelof land in the description of which the omissionor, er ror shall occur shall not be advertised forredemption, but he shall cancel the certificate ofsale of said parcel and shall readvertise and sellthe same at the next ensuing sale of land forunpaid taxes; provided, however, that if thenumber of the description in the lists of lands tobe advertised for- redemption by the countytreasurer shall exceed, 3,000, he shall then let bycontract the publicatin of such list to the lowestbidder upon a notice, written or printed, to bedelivered to and left with the publisher or one ofthe publishers of each newspaper printed asaforesaid, at least 10 days prior to the time atwhich such contract shalll be let ; and any countytreasurer who shall wilfully refuse or neglect toperform any duty required by this section or whoshall keep back and not report any unredeemedlands for the purpose of evading its provisionsshall forfeitthe full amount of the penalty of hisofficial bond, one half' of which , when collected,shall be pa id to the person prosecuting thereforand . the residue into the treasury of the countyfor the use of the school fund ; provided further,that no county treasurer shall be liable to anypenalty for causing such publication to be madein a weekly newspaper published in such countyfor', the length of time hereinbefore named priorto the date'e of his,, notice, when by reason ofaccident or other cause more than one week hasintervened between the dates of the actual issueof such newspaper: to subscribers , ifsuch delayat any one time shall not have exceeded 3 days ;but every such newspaper, for the purpose of thissection shall be deemed to have been regularlypublished once in each week as hereinbeforeprovided..

Cross Reference : As to redemption period, see 74 . 46 , .Sub. (1) requiring publication of redemption noticee prior

to expiration of time to redeem lands sold for taxes, is direc-tory only ; and failure to include in suchh publication the nameof the person to whom such taxes were assessed does not inval-idate a subsequent tax deed 63 Arty: Gen, 116

In publishing redemption noticess for tax delinquent landsunder . (1), county treasurer is nott authorized to omit the

postponement of'the effective date of the cetro-active provision is to afford an opportunity to allpersons having an interest in lands affected toredeem such lands from the lien of tax cectif'i-cates prior to such effective date .

Hi s tory : 1977 c. 83 .

75.04 Redemption receipt anel entries .Upon the redemption of any lands sold for taxesby payment to the county treasurer, such frea-surer, shall execute to the person so redeeming areceipt specifying therein, the name of the pur-chaser, the land redeemed and the amount of theredemption money paid on each parcel sepa-rately ; and such treasurer shall also enter on thesale list kept by him the name of the personredeeming, the sum paid therefor, and the timewhen paid; but the county treasurer shall not berequired to include in the same receipt of re-demption lands sold' in different years :

75 .05 Disposition of redemption money .All tax certificate redemption money shall, after'the expiration of six years from the date of suchredemption of the property, become a part of thegeneral fund and be disbursed as other moneysbelonging thereto . . The legal holder of any taxsale certificate which 'has been redeemed maythereafter, present the same to the county trea-surer who shall pay to such person the amountpaid upon such redemption„

75 .06 Payment on lost certificates. When-ever any person claiming to be the owner of anycertificate given by the county treasurer forlands sold fortaxes shall have lost the same, orthe same shall be wrongfully detained from himand the land therein described shall have beenredeemed,' he may exhibit to the county trea-surer evidence of such ownership, loss or deten-tion; and upon his making it satisfactorily ap-pear to such treasurer that he is, such owner andthat the same is lost or wrongfully detained, andexecuting to such treasurer a bond with suffi-cient sureties, to be approved by the treasurer,conditioned that he will refund such redemptionmoney, with eight per, pent interest thereon ifany other, pper-son shall thereafter show his rightthereto, such treasurerr shall,l pay such redemp-tion money to such person .

75 .07 Redemption notices ; publication .(9)` Each county treasurer shall, at least 6 andnot more than 10 months before the expirationof thee time limited for- redeeming lands soldd asaforesaid, cause to be published as a .class 2notice, under ch. 985, in the county in which thelandss are located, a list of all unredeemed lands,specifying each tract or, lot, the name of theperson to whom assessed, if any, and the amount

1951 TAX SALES 75.07

record in the offi ce of register of deeds of thecounty wherein the land is situated .. If such lotor tract be improved by a dwelling house, orbuilding used for business purposes, or a build-ing used for agricultural purposes, and in any ofsaidd cases, such building has been actually occu-pied for the purpose specified for 30 days imme-diately prior to the date of service of ' the notice ofapplication for tax deed, or if such lot or tract ofland has been occupied and cultivated for ag r i-cultural purposes for 30 days within the periodof 6 months immediately prior to the date ofservice of the notice of application - for the taxdeed, then notice of application for tax deedshall be served upon the occupant or one of theoccupants thereof. If the records of the office ofregister of deeds in the county where such land issituated show that such lot or tract of land isincumbered by an unsatisfied mo rtgage or , mort-gages; such notice of application for tax deedshall be served upon at least one of the mortga-gees in each such mortgage, or upon the lastassignee or one of the last assignees of each suchmortgage, if the assignment is recorded .

(2) Such notice shall state the name of theowner and holder of the tax sale certificate , andthe date thereof, the description of " the landsinvolved, the amount for which the lands weresold and that such amount will bear interest asprovided by law, and shall give notice that afterthe expiration of 3 months from the date ofservice of such notice a tax deed will be appliedfor. A notice of application forr a tax deed shallnot be served earlier than 88 days prior to theearliest date on which the holder of a tax certi fi-cate is: by its terms entitled to a deed . The ownerand holder of such tax sale certificate mayinclude in said notice all the certificates he holdsupon the same tract of land which are eligiblefor application for tax deed .

(3) Such notice of application for tax deedmay be served by the owner and holder of anytax sale certificate sold by any county treasurerorbyany city treasurer authorized by law to selllands for nonpayment of city taxes or , aassess-ments, or by any person acting forr such ownerand holder. : Such notice shall be servedd in themanner that service of a summons in a court ofrecord is made, or by registered mail , withreturn receipt of the addressee only demanded .In the event that such notice cannot be given byuse of either of the foregoing methods, the ownerand holder of said tax ' sale certificate or hisauthorized: agent shall make an affidavit settingforth the effort to make such service, the inabil-ity to do so, and shall file such affidavit with thecounty clerk as to county tax sale certificates , orin cities authorized by law to sell lands fornonpayment of city taxes or assessments with

75 .12 Deed, notice of application for . (1)No tax deed shall : be issued on any lot or tract ofland which has been or shall hereafter be sold forthe nonpayment of taxes, unless a written noticeof application for tax deed shall have beenserved upon the owner, or one of the owners of

75.07 TAX SALES

names of perso n s to whom s uc h property was l ast ass essed. 6 3A tty . Gen. . 118 .

75.09 Not ice, how posted. If no newspaperbe published in such county the county treasurershall also, at least 3 months previous to the timelimited for the redemption of any lands sold fortaxes, cause to be posted up copies of the list andnotice specified in s 75,07 in at least 4 publicplaces in his county, one of which copies shall beposted up in some conspicuous place in hisoffice .

75.10 Mistake In notice . Whenever, by mis-take or otherwise, such treasurer neglects orfails to include in his published list any suchtract or tracts of land or to publish such list inaccordance with the requirements of law, thesame may be published at any time within 2years after the expiration of 5 years as to taxcertificates whichh antedate 1945, 4 years and 6months for the 1945 tax certificates, 4 years forthe 1946 tax certificates, 3 years and 6 monthsfor the 1947 tax certificates, and thereafter 3years; such publication shall be made in thesame manner and for the same time as pre-scribed in the preceding sections, and such trea-surer shall specify in his notice accompanyingsuch published list when the time for makingredemption of such lands from such sale willexpire, which time shall not be less than 6-normore than 10 months from the expiration of thefull 2 weeks required for the aforesaid publica-tion and all deeds made upon such tracts of landafter the expiration of 5 years as to tax certifi-cates which antedate 1945, 4 years and 6 monthsfor, the 1945 tax certificates, 4 years for the 1946tax certificates, 3 years and 6 months for the1947 tax certificates, and thereafter . 3 years,shall after.r the expiration of such extended pe-riod of redemption, be as valid and effectual as ifsuch publication had been made at the timerequired in such "section .

75 .11 Compensation of printer. (1) Theprinter who publishes the list and notice of thetime when the redemption of land sold for thenonpayment of taxes will expire shall receivecompensation therefor the same as is providedfor legal notices under ch . 985, except that whenthe same is published under contract, as pro-vided by law, he shall receive the compensationfixed by such contract and no more .

1952 .

6 months after April 2, 1917, be alleged orraised in any action or proceeding attacking orquestioning the title of the person claiming aninterest in said land growing out of the certifi-cate of sale set forth in such notice or proof' . .

75 .14 Deeds , execution of; rights under;evidence.. (1) Ifany land sold for nonpaymentof taxes shall not be redeemed as aforesaid thecity or village treasurer or county clerk shall,after the expiration of the time prescribed bylaw for the redemption thereof', on presentationto him of"the certificate of such . sale and proof' ofservice of notice, execute in the name of the stateand of his city, village or county, as such officerthereof, under his hand and the seal of the city,village or county, to the purchaser, his heirs orassigns,-a .deed of the land so remaining unre-deemed, and shall acknowledge the same whichshall vest in the grantee an absolute estate in feesimple in such land subject, however, to allunpaidd taxes and charges which are a lienthereon and to recorded restrictions and re-demption as provided in this chapter; and suchdeed duly witnessed and acknowledged shall bepresumptive evidence of the regularity of all theproceedings, from the valuation of the land bythe assessor up to and including the execution ofthe deed, and mayy be recorded with the likeeffect as other conveyances of land,

(2) The county clerk shall not issue a deed ofany parcel of land until by carefully comparingthe advertised.d listt of the same for redemptionwith the treasurer's list of said lands in his bookof sales he shall find that the description of suchparcel of land so to be conveyed has been cor-rectly and fully published, in such advertised listof redemptions ; and if upon such examinationthe county clerk shall find any errorr or omissionin any such advertised description he shall enteropposite the description of said land in his bookof sales a statement of the fact of such error or'omission: If the description of said land in thebook of sales is in error, the county board shallcause such certificate to be canceled and directthe county treasurer to correct the descriptionthereof and resell the same at the next ensuingsale of lands for unpaid taxes . If the error oromission is in only the advertised list of redemp-tions, the county treasurer shall correct andreadvertise the same for redemption in the nextsuch publication and the period of redemptionshalll be extended thereby an additional year .

(3) Whenever an application for a tax deed ismade pursuant to law to the county clerk of anycounty having a population of five hundredthousand or more inhabitants, such county clerkbefore issuing any such tax deed conveying titleto the lands : or parts of lands described in such

75 .13 < Curative act. If a proper affidavit ofservice of notice of land sold for taxes or~ a properproof of nonoccupancy, in due form, as providedin section 75 .12, has heretofore been filed eitherwith the county clerk or with the county trea-surer, thee fact that such affidavit of service ofnotice or affidavit of nonoccupancy or suchproof has not been otherwise filed shall not, after'

1953

the city treasurer, as to such city tax sale certifi-cates. In such cases the notice shall be publishedby such owner and holder as a class 3 notice,under ch, 985, in the county wherein such landsare located . The affidavit of the owner andholder of the tax sale certificate as to inability tosecure service personally or, by registered mail,together with proof of publication of the notice,shall be deemed completed service of the noticeof application for tax deed .

(4) Before such tax deed shall be issued,proof of service, or the returned registered mailreceipt, or proof of publication of the notice ofapplication for tax deed shall be filed with theofficer authorized by law to issue the same, anda copy of such proof of service, returned regis-tered mail receipt, or proof of publication withevidence of the cost thereof shall be filed withthe county treasurer as to county tax sale certifi-cates and with such city treasurer as to city taxsale : certificates . Afterr such copies shall havebeen filed with the county treasurer or with suchtreasurer it shall be necessary to pay, in order toredeem such lot or tract of land, or any part orinterest therein, in addition to the redemptionvalue of the tax sale certificates, the sum of$1 .50 for each person served with such noticeplus the cost of publication of the notice, if any .If there is no occupant of such lands as hereinbe-fore defined, the applicant for tax deed shall filean affidavit to that effect with the officer au-thorized by law to issue the tax deed,

(5) The grantee in any tax deed, his heirs orassigns, or its successors or assigns, shall neverrecover or be entitled to receive fromm any countyor city of the first class the amount due on anytax sale certificate or certificates upon whichsuch deed is issued, or any part thereof, if suchdeed be set aside or declared void solely upon theground that the notice required by this sectionwas not duly served or that the proof of suchservice was insufficient, or that the affidavit asto nonoccupancy was not duly made or wasinsufficient.

(6) No tax deed shall be taken upon anynotice of application therefor after one yearfrom the last date of service of such notice.

(7) This section shall supersede all provisionsof law,, including the provisions of any citycharter, which are in conflict with it.

TAX SALES 75.14

this subsection shall not protect covenants creat-ing any debt or lien against or upon the property,or, that will require the grantee to expend moneyfor any purpose, except such as may require saidgrantee to keep the premises in sanitary orsightly condition, contribute to the cost of main-taining private roads, or to abate nuisances orundesirable conditions : Provided that while anycounty is the owner of lands so acquired it shallnot be required to expend any money to keep thepremises in sanitary or sightly condition or tocontribute to the cost of maintaining privateroads or to abate nuisances or undesirable condi-tions, but its successors in title shall be subjectthereto and to covenants and restrictions asprovided in this section . Any rights the former -owner, had to enforce the restrictions and cove-nants to which this subsection is applicableagainst the grantor and other, parties owningproperty subject to such restrictions and cove-nants except forfeitures, right of reentry, orrever~ter, shall likewise survive to the grantee insaid tax deed or deed upon foreclosure of taxcertificate, and to his or its heirs, successors anddassigns

Income -tax lien is extinguished by tax deed under 75 .14 orby judgment under 75 ..521 : 62 Atty .. Gen 234. .

75 .145 Correction of description by ac-tion. Any tax deed issued by a county or a city ofthe first class containing an incomplete, indefi-nite or incorrect real estate description, andwhich description follows that set forth in thetax certificate upon which such tax deed issued,may be corrected in an action brought in thecircuit court in the same manner as actions for -the reformation of:instruments . Such deed socorrected shall be valid as of the date of"the firstissue,

75 .15 Deed on lost certificate . Wheneverany certificate given by the county treasurer forlands sold for taxes shall be lost or wrongfullywithheld from the owner and such land shall nothave been redeemed the county board mayreceive evidence of such loss or wrongful deten-tion and on satisfactory proof' of the fact maycause a deed as aforesaid to be executed to suchperson as may appear to them to be the rightfulowner of such certificate of the lands describedtherein; but no such deed, if wrongfully or,improperly granted, shall be binding on thecounty in respect to any of its covenants, norshall it vest any right, title or interest in thegrantee or his assigns :.

75 .16 Deed, by whom executed ; form . Alldeeds of"lands sold for, the nonpayment of taxeshereafter executed shall be executed by theproper officer authorized by law to execute the

application shall require the applicant or appli-cants, excepting such county and any city au-thorized by law to sell its own delinquent taxesor assessments at public auction , to produce andsubmit proof, showing that all unredeemed de-linquent general or speciall tax certificates of atax levy year the same or, prior to the tax lev yyear of the tax certificate on which such appli-cant is applying for a tax deed upon taxes or,assessments theretofore assessed and leviedagainst such lands or parts of lands by any citylocated in such county and by law authorized tosell its own delinquent taxes or assessments atpublic auction, upon which the time limitationsof section 75.20 shall not have expired, havebeen purchased by and the tax certificates there-for, assigned to the applicant for such tax deed o rpurchased by and assigned to some other person .Whenever an application for a tax deed is madepursuant to law to the city treasurer of any citywithin such county authorized by law to selllands for the nonpayment of city taxes or assess-ments , such city treasurer before issuing anysuch tax deed conveying title to the lands orparts of lands described in such application shallrequire the applicant or applicants, exceptingsuch cityy or the county within which such city islocated, to produce and submit proof, ., showingthat all unredeemed delinquent generall or- spe-ciai state and county tax or county specialassessment tax sale certificates of a tax levy yearthe same or prior, to the tax levy year of the taxcertificate on which such applicant is applyingfor a tax deed upon taxes or assessments thereto-fore assessed and levied against such lands orparts of lands by said county, upon which thetime limitations of section 75 . 20 shall nothaveexpired, have been purchased by and the taxcertificates therefor assigned to the applicantfor, such tax deed or purchased by and assignedto some other' person

(4) ' Whenever a deed in the chain of titleshall contain valid and enforceable restrictionsand covenants running with the land, as herein-after defined and limited ; said restrictions andcovenants shall survive and be enforceable afterthe issuance of a tax deed or a deed uponforeclosure of tax certificate to the same extentthat they would be enforceable against a volun-tary grantee of the owner of the title immedi-ately prior, to the delivery of the tax deed, Thissubsection shall apply to the usual restrictionsand covenants limiting the use of property, thetype, character, and location of building, cove-nants againstt nuisances and what the formerparties deemed to be undesirable conditions, in,upon and about the property, covenants to con-tribute to the cost of maintaining private roads,and other similar restrictions and covenants; but

75.14 TAX SALES 1954

TAX SALES 75.19

75 .19 Foreclosure of certificates. Theholder of any taxx certificate may, in lieu oftaking a tax deed, at any time af'ter' 5 years as totax certificates which antedate 1945, 4 yearsand 6 months for, the 1945 tax certificates, 4years tot- the 1946 tax certificates, .3 years and 6

[L , S . ]A . B ..

(Here give official designation . . )

1955

same in the name of the state of Wisconsin, andof the proper county, city or village as thegrantor s therein, and shall be substantially inthe following or other equivalent form:To all to whom these presents shall come,greeting :

Whereas, . . . . (or assignee of . . . . ) has depos-ited in the office of the county clerk of thecounty of .. . .. , in the state of Wisconsin, a certifi-cate (or certificates) of the (here name theofficer making the sale) of' said county, wherebyit appears , as the fact is, that the followingdescribed piece (or pieces) or parcel (or par-cels) of land lying and being situated in thecounty of . . .. . , to wit : (Here describe the lands)was (or' were), for the nonpayment of taxes, soldby the (here name the officer makingg the sale)at public auction at . . . . , in the county of' . . , onthe . . ., day of . . . . , in the year of our Lord onethousand nine hundred and . : . , to the said,,,,. forthe sum of-: . . dollars and ., . cents, in the whole,which sum was the amount of taxes assessed anddue and unpaid on said tract (or several tracts)of land, together with the costs and charges ofsuch sale due therewith at the time of makingsuch sale, the whole of which sum of money hasbeen paid by the aforesaid purchaser (or pur-chasers) ; and whereas it further appears, as thefact is, that the owner (or owners) or claimant(or ' claimants) of said land has (or have) notredeemed from said sale the lands which weresold as aforesaid, and said lands are now unre-deemed from such sale, whereby said describedlands have become forfeited and the said pur-chaser, his (her or their) heirs or assigns is (orare) entitled to a conveyance thereof:

Now, therefore, know all by these presentsthat the county of . . . .. , in said state, and the stateof Wisconsin, in consideration of the said moneyaforesaid and the premises, and in conformity tolaw, have given and hereby do give, grant andconvey the tract (or several tracts) of landabove described, together with the heredita-ments and appurtenances, to the said . . . . . : and tohis (or her, or their) heirs and assigns, to theirsole use and benefit forever .

In testimony whereof, I, . ., , the (here desig-nate the officer) of the county of . . . . , haveexecuted this deed pursuant to and in virtue ofthe authority in me vested by the statutes of thestate of Wisconsin, and for and on behalf of saidstate and the county of . . . ., aforesaid, and havehereunto subscribed my name officially andaffixed the seal of" the said . . . (name it), at__ insaid county of . . . , this . . . . . . day of . . . , in the year ofour, Lord one thousand nine hundred and . . .

Done in presence of

History : 1975 c . 94 s 91 (8) .

75.17 Execution of tax deeds by c ity. Af-ter February 22, 1859, in every conveyance ofland f'or' nonpayment of taxes due to any cityunder the law authorizing it to assess and collecttaxes, the deed shall conform as near as may beto the form prescribed by section '75 . .16 ; shall beexecuted in the name of the state of Wisconsinand in the name of such city as grantor, and shallbe sealed with the corporate seal of the city . .

75 .18 New deeds in place of void ones .When any deed or instrument in writing in-tended to be a deed has been made for- thenonpayment of taxes no other deed shall beissued or made therefor, to any person exceptupon the following conditions: If' such taxesremain unpaid and such deed is void for non-compliance with s . 75 .12, or informal and insuf-ficient, and the grantee therein named, his heirsor assigns shall; within 3 years after the record-ing thereof and before any other deed upon asubsequent sale of the same land for the nonpay-ment of taxes has been issued..d to some otherperson, present such void, informal or' insuffi-cient deed or a certified copy of the recordthereof' together with sufficient proof' that he issuch grantee, heir or assignee, and that he hasnot conveyed such land, the proper county clerkor other' proper officer shall execute to suchgrantee, his heir or assignee another deed of'saidland which shall recite the fact of the issuing ofsuch void, informal or insufficient deed, with astatement of the volume and page whereinrecorded and that the taxes on account of thenonpayment of" which it was issued remain un-paid; and such deed duly acknowledged andrecorded shall be presumptive evidence of titleto the land therein described; but no new deedshall be issued until notice of the applicationtherefor is published as a class 3 notice, underch 985, in the county wherein the lands aresituated or until 30 days after personal service ofthe notice uponn all persons interested in thelands: The issuing of the, new deed shall notextend in favor of the grantee therein, or hisheirs or assignees thee limitation which wouldhave begun to run against him on the first deed ifit had not been void, informal or insufficient . .

months for the 1947 tax certificates, and there-after 3 year ' s from the date of the certificate,except that when razing costs incurred by anycity or village are included in the amount due for,taxes the period of redemption shall be one yearfrom date of certificate at the expiration ofwhich the county or its assigns shall be entitledto a deed, and before the holder would bedebarred from demanding a tax deed, foreclosethe certificate by action as in a case of a mort-gage upon real estate. The holder, of any taxcertificate may in any case involving the right ofredemption or interest of any minor or personadjudged mentally incompetent, after ' a tax deedhas been issued underr this chapter, foreclose theright of redemption or interest of the minor or,person adjudged mentally incompetent In suchan action the minor o r person adjudged ment allyincompetent must appear by guardian ad litem,and the general gua rdian , if the person has one,shall be ,joined as a partyy defendant. All the lawsand rules of pr actice relating to the foreclosureof mortgages, as to the persons necessary andpr ' oper' to be made parties, as to pleading andevidence, the judgment of foreclosure and sale,the right of the plantiff to be subrogated to thebenefits of all liens upon the p r emises necessar-ily satisfi ed by the plaintiff in order to save thelien of the certificate, the right of the defendantsor, any of them, ' to redeem the premises at anytime bef 'or'e sale, and as to costs and disburse-ments, including the necessary expenses for anabstract of title,, shall, so far as they are applica-ble, prevail in such actions . . When costs areallowed to the plaintiff, the costs , exclusive ofdisbursements, shall be discretionary with thecourt, but shall not exceed the amount of theface of the certificates embraced in the action,and the costs when allowed , shall be an addi-tional lien upon the property described in thecertificates . The defendant may in all caseswithin the time limited by law for answering thecomplaint, execute and deliver to the plaintiff orthe plaintiff's attorney a quitclaim deed of thelands described in the complaint, conveying allthe right, title and interest of the defendant atthe time of the commencement of the suit ormay, within such time, either after having deliv-ered the deed or without delivery, answer dis-claiming any title to the lands in question at thetime of the commencement of the suit, in eitherof which cases the plaintiff shall - not recover,costs personally against any defendant who quit-claims as aforesaid or who shall establish thedisclaimer ' upon the trial of the action . Theplaintiff in the action mayy include in one actionall the certificates the plaintiff holds upon thesame tract of land s The sale in such actions shallbe conducted, certificates made and filed, thereport made and confirmed and a deed executed

75.20 Limitations on certificates and i s-sueof deeds; life of tax certificate liens . (1)DEFINITIONS, Wherever used in this section :

(a) The words "tax certificate" or "tax cer-tificates" shall mean the tax sale certificatewhich is issued evidencing the sale of land fordelinquent taxes . . .

(b) "County" shall include "city of'the firstclass" and "county treasurer" shall include"treasurer of a city of the first class" .

(2) TAX CERTIFICATES ; WHEN VOID .. Tax cer-tificates shall be void after 11 years followingDecember 31 of the year in which such certifi-cates were dated .

(9) COUNTY TREASURER 10 CANCEL ALL.

OUTLAWED rnxES. No deed shall be issued oraction commenced on any tax certificatewhatever af'ter' it shall, have become void byvirtue of the statute of limitations provided inthis section . . The interest in the land representedby such certificate shall terminate upon the lastdate upon which a deed could have been issue ddthereon, or an action could have been com-menced thereon if no summons and complaintwas served and filed prior to such date .. Thecounty treasurer shall cancel all tax certificateswhich have become void by limitation includingall tax certificates which became void by opera-tion of section 75 .,20, statutes of 1943, by May15, 1945, and shall make an entry in his recordof unredeemed tax sales evidencing such cancel-lation . As to tax certificates not in his possessionwhich have become void, the county treasurershall cancel the same on his record of unre-deemed tax sale ce r tificates and such cancella-tion on such record shall have the same force andeffect as though the cancellation had been madeupon such tax sale certificates .

(9a) CERTIFICATION OF CANCELLATION TOLOCAL TREASURER . Whenever' the county trea-surer shall cancel a tax certificate which hasbecome void by virtue of any statutes of limita-tion he shall within 30 days thereafter in writingcertify such cancellation to the proper town, cityor village treasurer who shall make entry thereofin his records. Such cancellation need not be socertified in cases where the county has settled infulll with. . the town,, city or village at tax settle-ment date..

(10 ) STAY BY INJUNCTION NOT PART OF LIM-ITATION. When the issuing of 'a deed on a taxcertificate or certificates or the commencementof an action thereon shall be stayed by in,junc-tion, the time of the continuance of such injunc-tion shall not be a part of the time hereinabove

75. 19 TAX SALES 1956

and delivered, in like manner and with like effectas in case of actions for foreclosure ofmortgages .His tory : 1977 c . 83, 174, 203, 272.

75 .21 Limitationn on special certificates.From and after 6 years from the date of anystreet' commissioner's certificate or comptrol-ler's certificate or, other special tax certificateissued or to be issued by the proper officer orofficers of any city, town or village in this state,and denoting a charge against any lot or parcelof land in such city, town or, village f'or, a specialtax or, assessment thereon, no action, either atlaw or in equity,, shall be maintained on suchcertificate, but certificates of sale of lands fornonpayment of such special taxes or assessmentsshall not be limited by section 75 .21 but theelimitations provided by section 75,20 shalll beapplicable thereto .

75 .22 Tax sales ; void ; refund; Immaterialerrors. If' after the salee or conveyance of anylands sold for the nonpayment of taxes andwithin the time hereinafter prescribed it shall bediscovered that the-sale or the certificate issuedthereon was invalid, the county board shallmake an order, briefly stating the reason there-for, directing that the money paid f'or, suchcertificate on the sale, and all subsequentcharges thereon, and all subsequent taxes paidon the lands described therein by thee purchaser'or, his assigns, be refunded with interest to suchpurchaser or his assigns, upon the delivery of'thecertificate or deed to be canceled ; and if' thecounty treasurer shall, in pursuance of suchorder, offer to the person entitled thereto hismoney as aforesaid, and he shall refuse to re-ceive the same and cancel the certificate or deed,he shall not be entitled to receive any interest onthe money so paid by him after the day of suchoffer and refusal; nor shall any recovery ever beotherwise had against the county on such deedor certificate. But no sale, certificate, of convey-ance shall be deemed invalid within the meaningof this section by reason of any mistake orirregularity in any of the tax proceedings notaffecting the groundwork of the tax ; nor shallany county be liable to pay or refund anymoneys by reason of any such mistake orirregularity .

75 .23 Canceled deeds , certificates ofcounty clerk . Whenever the county board shallorder the cancellation of any tax deed, thecounty clerk shall furnish to the owner of thelands described in such deed, upon requesttherefor, a certificate in writing, executed underhis hand and official seal, stating the fact of such

75 .25 Lien of reassessecd tax . (1) If' thecounty board, on making an order directing therefunding of money on account of the invalidityof any tax certificate or tax deed, shall besatisfied that the lands described in such certifi-cate or deed were justly taxable for such tax orsome portion thereof'; or, when the treasurershall have withheld- from sale any delinquentlands under the provisions of'section 74 .39, theyshall be satisfied that such lands were justlytaxable for such tax or some portion thereof,they shall fix the amount of such tax justlychargeable thereon on each parcel thereof; anddirect the same to be assessed in the next assess-ment of county taxes, with interest thereon atthe same rate that would- have applied had thetax been collected before the tax sale or re-deemed from the tax sale, from the time whensuch tax was due and payable to the end of thetax levy year in which such tax will be placed onthe tax roll as a reassessment ; and the countyclerk, in his next apportionment of county taxes,shall chargee the same as a special tax to thetown, city or village in which such lands aresituated, specifying the particular tract of landupon which the same are to be assessed and theamount chargeable to each parcel and the year

1957 '

limited in this section as the life of a taxcertificate ,

History: 1975 c 198Cross Reference: See 74 09 for authority of county trea-

surer to destroy duplicate receipts and stub books

TAX SALES 75.25

cancellation, the date thereof, the description ofthe lands as to which such deed is canceled, thedate of such deed, the date of the sale uponwhich such deed is based and the reason for suchcancellation . Such certif icate may be recordedin the office of the register of ' deeds of the countywhere thee lands therein described are located,and such record shall be prima facie evidence ofthe facts therein stated and of the cancellation ofthe tax deed therein mentioned as to the landstherein described

75 .24 Limitation , claimss under illegaldeed or certific ate. Every action brought orclaim presented against any county or othermunicipal corporation for the recovery of anysum of money on account of' any defective orvoid tax certificate or tax deed made or issued byany such county or municipality shall be com-menced or presented during the life of such taxcertificates on which such deed was issued inaccordance with the limitations as provided insection 75 ..20 ; and whenever an action relatingto the validity of a tax certificate or tax deedshall have been commenced within the timeabove limited and a final judgment shall not berendered in such action until after the expirationof the time so limited, in such case an action maybe commenced or claim presented on account ofsuch certificate or deed within one year afterfinal judgment declaring the same void . .

75 .28 Application of all l imitations. (1)The limitationn for bringing actions as providedin section 75„27 or any other limitation in favorof a tax deed or a tax certificate, except in caseof actual possession founded on a tax deed, shallnot apply where the taxes, for the nonpaymentof which the land was sold andd the tax deedexecuted,, were paid prior to thee sale, or wherethe land . was redeemed from the operation ofsuch sale as provided by law or where the landwas not liable to taxation; nor shall such limita-tion apply where a single tax deed only has beenissued and the original owner has, before theissuance of'such tax deed, paid all taxes leviedagainst the land for the 3 years ensuingg after theyear' for which the land was returned delinquentand sold, except as herein provided .

(2) The tax deed grantee or his assigns may,at anyy time after thee tax deed is issued andrecorded, serve a notice on the owner of recordof'the original title, stating that he holds a taxdeed on the land of such original owner andgiving a description of'the land so deeded and areference to the volume and page where suchdeed is recorded, which notice shall be served inthe same manner as a summons in a court ofrecord or by registered mail, addressed to suchowner of record and proof of which service shall

75.26 Limitation . (1) GRANIEE INDEED, Noaction shalll be maintainedd by the grantee or anyone claiming under' him to r ecover the possessionof any land or any interest therein which shallhave been conveyed by deed for' the nonpaymentof taxes unless 'such action shall be broughtwithin three, years next after the, date of theexecution of such deed; or if' such land de-manded shall be, when so conveyed, vacant andunoccupied and so remain, unless such action bebrought within three years next after the date ofthe r'ecor'ding of such deed, or unless suchgrantee or those claiming under himm shall havebeen in actual, not constructive, possession ofthe land so demanded for three successive yearsduring the five years next after the recording ofsuch deed ; provided, however, that if"the formerownerr takes possession of any such land at anytime within three monthss of the expiration ofthree years from the date of the execution ofsuch deed, then and in such case the grantee insuch tax deed or those claiming under him maybring and maintain an action to recover posses-sion of said land at any time within three monthsnext after the expiration of said three years.

75.25 TAX SALES

when the original tax was assessed, and certifythe same to the clerk of the proper town, city ofvillage; and the clerk receiving such certificateshall enter the same on the tax roll accordingly,The lien of any tax reassessed as provided in thissection shall attach to the land as of' the datewhen such tax as originally levied became a lienand shall continue and constitute the lien of anytax sale certifi cate issued upon the sale of suchlands for such reassessed tax . Such lien shall besuperior to the lien of any tax sale certificateissued upon the sale of such land dated after thedate of the lien of such reassessed tax but priorto the date of the tax sale certificate issued uponthe sale of such land for such reassessed tax ..

(2) Whenever the county board cancels adefective or void tax certificate or tax deed, orwhenever the county treasurer shall have with-held from sale any delinquent lands under theprovision of section 74,39, and such lands cannotbe justly taxed for the item in question, thecounty clerk shall charge the respective town,city of village wherein such lands are situated inhis next apportionment of county taxes with theamount of the refund if any occasioned by theinvalidity of such tax certificate or tax deed .When the tax certificate or tax deed so canceledis owned and held by the county or the treasurer,shall have withheld from sale any delinquentlands pursuant to section 74,39, such chargeshall be in the amount of the tax withoutinterest .

1958

(2) TAX DEED VOID , WHEN .. Whenever theoriginal owner, or any one claiming under him,of lands which have been conveyed by deed forthe nonpayment of taxes, shall continue to paythe taxes upon such lands, and shall pay thetaxes assessed against said lands continuouslyfor five year's next after the execution of such taxdeed, without actual notice of the existence ofsuch tax deed, said tax deed shall be void and ofno effect ..

75.27 L imitation on former owner . No ac-tion shall be maintained by the fbimer owner' orany person claiming under him to recover thepossession of any land or any interest thereinwhich shall have been conveyed by deed for thenonpayment of taxes or to avoid such deedagainst any person claiming under such deedunless such action shall be brought within 3years next after' the recording of such deed, .Whenever any such action shall be commencedupon any tax deed heretofore or hereafter issuedafter the expiration of 3 years from the date ofthe recording of such deed, such deed, if exe-cuted substantially in the form prescribed bylaw f'or, the execution of tax deeds, shall beconclusive evidence of the existence and legalityof all proceedings from and including the assess-ment of the property for taxation up to andincluding the execution of such deed .

75 .285 Action; condition precedent. Noaction or proceeding shall be maintained by theformer owner or any person claiming under him,based upon the invalidity of any tax certificateor tax deed due to the failure of the countytreasurer heretofore or, hereafter' to publish' orpost any notice for the sale of delinquent taxeson land, unless within thirty days prior to thecommencement of such action, tender shall bemade to the owner of such tax certificate or taxdeed, of the amount of the taxes, charges andinterest due and the owner of such certificate ordeed shall fail to release or transfer same : If theowner, of any certificate or deed shall give noticein the manner prescribed in the preceding sec-tion and the original owner shall fail to redeemafter a period of sixty days by depositing withthe owner of such certificate or deed or thecounty treasurer, for the benefit of such taxcertificate or tax deed owner, the amount of'thetaxes with interest and charges together with thecosts of executing a release or transfer- of such

75.31 "Possession" defined. What shallconstitute a possession of lands within the mean-ing of sections 75 .26 to 75,30 and the extent ofsuch possession shall be governed by the rulesprescribed for determining an adverse posses-sion by a person claiming title founded upon awritten instrument

75 .32 Taxation and sale of lands held bycounties. Real property upon which the countyholds any certificate of tax sale shall continueliable to taxation and to sale for unpaid taxes,and the county shall be the exclusive purchaserat the sale but when a tax deed shall be issued tothe county': and it shall hold tax certificates ofsale unredeemed on the same property for twosuccessive years' subsequent to the date of thesale on which such deed shall issue, includingcertificates of sale made prior to the passage ofthese statutes, such property shall thereafter beexempt from taxation until the same is sold by

1959

be filed in the office of the county clerk of thecounty in which the lands are situated . If thepost-office address of the owner of record of theoriginal title is unknown, such tax deed grantee,or his assigns, may, upon filing in the office ofsuch county clerk his affidavit that he is unable,with due diligence, to make personal service ofsuch notice o r to ascertain the post-of 'f'ice ad -dress of such f 'ormer r owner, publish such noticeas a class 3 notice, under ch . 985, in the countywhere the land described in the tax deed islocated and proof of such publication shall befiled in the office of such county clerk.

(3) If such notice be served and filed or suchnotice published and proof of publication filedthirty dayss or more before the expiration ofthree ,years from the date of recording the taxdeed, the limitation provided by section 75 .27shall apply . If such notice is not so se rved andfiled, or published and proof filed, the limitationprovided by said section 75,27 shall be extendeduntil the expiration of thirty days from and afterthe day such notice is served and filedor pub-lished and proof filed . In anyy action brought bythe original owner to set aside such tax deedafter the service or, and filing of thenotice aforesaid, the original owner, in case heprevails, shall as a conditionn of relief pay to thetax deed claimant the sum of five dollars foreach description andd the costs of serving orpublishing the aforesaid notice, in addition to allother costs and charges now provided for bylaw .The provisions of law regulating ' costs: andcharges for the se r vice of a summons in a courtof record shall apply to and govern the amountthat may be charged for the service or publica-tion of such notice

TAX SALES 75.32

certificate or deed, then the limitation pre-scribed in section 7 shall apply and no actionof proceeding herein referred to shall bemaintained .

75 .29 Actions of ejectment , when barred.No action to quiet title, remove a cloud on title,to cancel, annul or set aside any tax deed, nor ofejectment, trespass,, waste or for other injuryy toland shall be brought as to lands purporting tobe conveyed by tax deed void on its face after theexpiration of three years from the time of therecording of suchh deed . Provided, that thelimitation herein declared shall not apply unlessthe original owner or those claiming under himshall have failed to pay or redeem all the taxeslevied upon such lands from the time of the levyof the tax for the nonpayment of`which the taxdeed was issued to the time of the recording ofthe tax deed, not unless the grantee in the taxdeed or those claiming under him shall have paidor redeemed all the taxes levied upon such landsfor', three successive years next after suchrecording .

75 .30 Action by original owner wheredeed void, when barred . No action shall bebrought by the original owner for the recover y oflands purporting to be conveyed for the nonpay-ment of taxes by a deed void on its face after theexpiration of five years from the date of therecording of' the tax deed, in cases where thegrantee in the tax deed shall have taken actualpossession of such land within two years of"ter,such recording and shall have actually and con-tinuously maintained such possession to the endof such period of five year's :

vendee to secure any unpaid balance of' thepurchase price. Such mortgage may be fore-closed in the same manner as any othe r mort-gage. The title to lands conveyed by landcontract shall remain in the municipality untilfully paid for and in the event of default in suchpayment the municipality may foreclose theland contract with costs and reasonable attorneyfees . When such land contract runs to a personor private corporation, the lands therein con-veyed shall be placed on the tax roll and besubject to taxation the same as though absolutetitle thereto was vested in the purchaser undersuch land contract . Such purchaser shall beliable to pay all taxes against such land and inthe event of failure to make such payment themunicipality may pay the same and add the sumso paid to the amount due on the land contract .

(b) The governing body of any municipalityauthorized by law to acquire tax certificatesmay, by ordinance prescribing the terms of sale,authorize its clerk or treasure r to sell and assignsuch certificates, and in its discretion may re-strict such sale or, assignment to persons havingan ownership interest in such lands or who own atax certificate of a prior year thereon . .

(c) Any conveyance by land contract or deedor satisfaction of mortgage shall be executed bythe clerkk of the municipality under his hand anddthe seal of such municipalit y .

(d) The governing body of any municipalitymay delegate its power to manage and sell taxdeeded lands to a committee constituted of suchpersonnel and in such manner and compensatedat such rate as such governing body may byordinance determine, provided that the compen-sation and mileage of countyy board membersserving on such committee shall be limited andrestricted as provided in section 59.06 (2) , orsuch governing body may delegate the power ofacquisition, management and sale of tax deededlands or any part of such power to such officerand departments of the municipality as suchgoverning body may by ordinance dete rmine .Such ordinance shall prescribee the policy to befollowed in the acquisition, management andsale of tax deeded land and shall prescribegenerally the powers and duties of such commit-tee, officers, departments , employes and agents.The governing body is authorized to engagelicensedd real estate brokers and salesmen toassist in selling such lands and pay a commissionfor such service and to advertise such sale insuch manner as it deems proper, Such governingbody may appropriate such sums of money asmay be necessary to carry out the provisions ofthis section .

(e) Any municipality acting either by itsgoverning body or by delegated authority asprovided in this section may sell and convey tax

75 .35 Sale of tax certificates and taxdeeded lands; purchase of adjacent lands .(1) DEFINITIONS. The following terms, wher-ever used or referred to in this section shall havethe following respective meanings, unless a dif-ferent meaning clearly appears from thecontext:

(a) "Municipality" means any county, town,city, village or other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation authorized by law topurchase tax certificates, take tax deeds orbecome the owner of tax deeded lands .

(b) "Tax deeded lands" means lands whichhave been acquired by a municipality throughenforcement of the collection of delinquent taxesby tax deed, foreclosure of tax certificate, deedin lieu of tax deed or, other means .

(2) POWER OF MUNICIPALITY TO SELL TAXCERTIFICATES AND TAX DEEDED LANDS. (a) Ex-cept as provided in s . 75 .69, any municipalityshall have the power to sell and convey its landsacquired in the enforcement of delinquent taxliens: in such manner and upon such terms as itsgoverning body may by ordinance or resolutiondetermine, including without restriction becauseof enumeration, sale by land contract, or byquitclaim or warranty deed with mortgage from

75.32 TAX SALES

the county . The county clerk shall annually,before February 1 , furnish to the assesso r s ofeach town a list of the lands in such town exemptunder this section .. Nothing in this section shallbe so construed as to apply to lands owned byminors or persons adjudged mentallyincompetent .

History : 1977 c. 29 s . 1647 (6) ; 1977 c 83, 203 . .

75 .34 Sale of certificates by counties. (1)The several county treasurers, when no order tothe contrary shall have been made by the countyboard, shall sell and transfer, by assignment,any tax certificates held by the county to anyperson offering to purchase the same for theamount for which the land described therein wassold, with interest thereon at the rate specified inthe certificates ; but every such sale shall includeall certificates in the hands of such treasurer onthe same lands .

(2) No county board shall, at any sessionthereof, sell, convey or transfer, or order ordirect the sale, conveyance or transfer of any taxcertificates owned or held by the county at lessthan the face value thereof unless the board haspreviously directed the county clerk to givenotice of their intention by publishing as a class3 notice, under ch . 985, in the county, and thenotice has been so given . Any and all sales,conveyances or transfers of such tax certificatesmade in violation of these provisions shall be nulland void .

1960

includes any taxx sale certificatee issued on any ofthe for egoing, except as provided in s . . 77,04 andch. 88

(c) "Municipally owned" means the benefi-cial interest in a tax belonging to any municipalgovernment, including town, city, village, met-ropolitan sewerage district or area, or county,which has the power to levy or ' compel thelevying of taxes, derived by returningg taxes forcredit following which such taxes have beencharged back by the county to the taxing dis-trict ; of where taxes are returned in trust by thetaxing district to the county for collection incases wherein the work of improvement waswholly or partly paid for by the municipality orperformed by its own labor ; or cases wherein themunicipality has an excess delinquency credit intaxroll of the particular year ; or, where themunicipality has an equity in the current taxroll; or where the taxes are owned by the county ..

(d) "Adversely owned taxes" are nonout-lawed taxes which are not municipally owned .

(2) WHEN AND HOW TAX DEED GIVEN .. Whenany lands upon which the county holds a taxcertificate shall not be redeemed as p rovided bylaw, the county clerk shall execute to the county,in his name of office, a deed therefor, witnessed,sealed and acknowledged, and in like form asdeeds to individuals; and such deeds shall havethe same force and effect as deeds executed bysuch clerk to individuals for ' lands sold for thenonpayment of taxes; but no such deed shall beissued until the county board shall, by resolu-tion, order the same.

(3) COUNTY LIABILITY ON TAX DEED LANDS .The county taking such tax deeds shall not berequired to pay anyy delinquent or outstandingtaxes on such land, the redemption value of anymunicipality owned outstanding tax sale cer tifi-cates, or interest or charges, until the land is soldby the county, or in the case of lands r egisteredas forest crop lands, until the forest c r op is takenoff, and if the sum realized on the sale of suchlands or from the severance of such forest crop isdistributed between the county and the munici-palities in accordance with this section thereshall be no further liability upon the county . .

(4) TREASURER'S STATEMENI . As of the datewhen the county takes a tax deed, the countytreasurer if demanded in, writingg by , a localmunicipality having an inerest in the taxes onthe land, shall prepare a statement for eachparcel of land described in such tax deed, show-ing the redemption amount of the tax certifi-cates or taxes which are a lien thereon andappear on his records :

(a) Of the tax sale certificate upon which thedeed was taken ;

deeded lands to the former ' owner' or, ownersthereof and such conve yance shall not operate torevive an y tax certificate lien o r any other lienwhatsoever which was cut off and rendered voidby the tax deed, foreclosure of taxx certificate,deed in lieu of tax deed, or other means by whichthe municipality acquired title to such land, norshall it revive the lien of any tax sale certificateor tax dated subsequently to the date on whichsuch municipality acquired its title . The provi-sions of this paragraph shall operate retroac-tively upon any such sale or conveyance at anytime heretofore made by any municipality . Theenactment into statute law of the provisions ofthis paragraph shall not be deemed an exp res-sion of legislative intentt that the prior commonlaw of this state was otherwise than as hereinprovided .

(3) PREFERENCE TO FORMER OWNER TO RE-PURCHASE . The governing body of any munici-pality may, at its option, by ordinance providethat in thee sale of tax deeded lands, the formerowner who lost his title through delinquent taxcollection enforcement procedure, or his heirs,may be given such preference in the right topurchase such lands as such ordinance shallprovide . . Such ordinance may provide that suchsale be exempt from any or all provisions ofsection 75 , 69 , Such ordinance shall not apply totax deeded lands which have been improved fo ror dedicated to a public use by such municipalitysubsequent to its acquisition thereof.

(4) PURCHASE OF ADJACENT LANDS , . A mu-nicipality may purchase lands adjacent to taxdeeded lands in cases where the governing boardof such municipality determines that suchpurchase will improve the salability of such taxdeeded lands or will create accesss to streets orhighways for lands lacking such access .

Cross Reference: See 59,07 (1) for power of county to di-rect county clerk to sell or contract for sale and conveyance ofland owned by county, whether acquired by tax deed orotherwise,

75.36 Tax deeds to county. (1) DEFINI-TIONS . As used in this section, thee followingwords or phrases shall have thee meaning hereingiven .

(a) "Taken by tax deed" or "takes tax deed "shall be understood to include the takingg of titleby the count y by a tax deed, or by means ofquitclaim deeds from former owners obtained inthe course of the county's effort to enforce thecollection of delinquent taxes, or the lien of taxsale certificates outstanding against such lands,or by a combination of such methods .

(b) "Taxes" includes general property taxes,metropolitan sewerage area or district taxes ,special improvement assessments, and any othercharge, any of which had resulted or may resultin the issuance of a tax sale certificate, and also

1961 TAX SALES 75 .36

(b) Of every other municipally owned taxsale certificate and tax constituting a `lienagainst such parcel of landd not outlawed bysections 75,20 and 75 .21 on the date of suchdeed ;

(c) Of' any other tax sale certificate or taxrepresenting adversely owned taxes not cut offby the county's tax deed . .

(5) LOCAL CLERK ENTITLED TO COPY.. Thecounty treasurer shall furnish a copy of' suchstatement to the clerk of such municipalityywithin 30 days after receipt of the demand :

(6) REDEMPT ION OF ADVERSE TAX LIENS . .The county may, at its option, at any time priorto sale by it of land acquired by it by tax deed,payy or redeem in whole or in part any nonout-lawed municipally or adversely owned taxes, thelien of which is dated the same or subsequent tothe date of the tax certificate upon which thecounty's tax deed was taken But the county atthe time such land is sold by it shall redeem alladversely owned taxes, the lien of which is notcut off by the tax deed, and which are notoutlawed at that time, unless such land is soldsubject to such adversely owned taxes .

(7) DEDUCrIONS FROM SALE PRICE .. Whenland acquired by the county by tax deed hasbeen sold by the county ; it may make the follow-ing deductions from the sale price in the order-. _named:

(a) The county's actual, expense for courtactions, sheriff's fees, abstracts, publicationfees, documentary revenue stamps and similaritems required in securing merchantable title to-lands taken by tax deed, provided that no chargeshall be made for the time of any county officeror employe except as specified in this paragraph .The county board may determine a fair andreasonable average cost per, real estate descrip-tion of such items in which case such averagecost shall be used in lieu of the exact amount ofthe foregoing items .

(b) All moneys paid in redemption of ad-versely or municipally owned taxes constitutingliens against said land of date equal or subse-quenf to the date of tax sale certificate uponwhich the county tax deed was taken .

(c) The amount of the sales commissionspaid to licensed real estate brokers for the sale ofthe land .

(8) DISTRIBU'TION O F NEI PROCEEDS. The netproceeds of the gross sale` price of the land, ifany, remaining after the deductions outlined insub. (7) (a), (b) and (c) have been taken, shallthen be prorated between the remaining nonout-lawed municipally owned taxes outstanding onthe date the tax deed was taken, includingg thetax certificate on which the tax deed was taken,and paid to the owners of such tax certificates

and taxes . . Such proration shall be in the ratiothat the net balance of the proceeds of the sale,after making the deductions authorized in sub .,(7), bears to the redemption value of suchoutstanding nonoutlawed municipally ownedtaxes on the date the tax deed was taken, pro-vided that in no case shall the payment to thelocal municipality exceed such redemption valueof its nonoutlawed outstanding taxes, exceptthat for taxes of 1942 and subsequent yearsreferred to in ss . 74 0 .3 (7) (d) and 74 .031 (12),(e) the payment shall not exceed the originalamount of such taxes .,

(9) MERGER; TRANSFER ; REINSTATEMENT .Whenn the lands are taken by tax deed :

(a) The liens of all nonoutlawed municipallyowned tax certificates and taxes shall merge inthe county's title ..

(b) The county treasurer shall cancel on hisrecords all taxes which are not municipallyowned as are prior in date to the date of the taxcertificate upon which tax deed was taken .. Thecounty shall transfer to its tax deed account allmunicipally owned taxes so merged in thecounty's title. Such merger, and transfer, shall beentered in the records of tax sales .

(c) If the county's title to the lands taken bytax deed is adjudged to be void while the title isheld by the county, the county shall reinstatesuch canceled or transferred taxes in full forceand effect the same as though never so canceledor transferred„

(d) The provisions of this subsection shall notrepeal or supersede the provisions of section75:67 .

(10) ACTIONS' TO BAR FORMER OWNER; PAR-TIES DEFENDANT„ It shall not be necessary forany county which has acquired lands by tax deedto include any municipality which has an owner-ship interest in any taxes or tax sale certificates,as party defendant in any action brought by suchcountyy to bar, former owners, pursuant to sec-tions 75.40 to 75.52, and no such municipalityshall be entitled to be made a party defendant insuch action .

(11) APPLICATION OF SEC TION. The forego-ing provisions shall not impair, any contractheretofore or hereafter entered into pursuant tothe provisions of section 75 .365, and shall applyto all settlements on and after October 9, 1947 inrespect to the sale of land by a county to whichthe tax deed .: was taken by the county withoutregard to the date upon which the tax deed wastaken by such county .

75.365 Agreements as to delinquenttaxes. (1) COUNTIES MAY ENTER, Written

75.36 TAX SALES 1962 .

agreements may be entered into and be opera-tive between a county and any town, city, vil-lage, metropolitan sewerage district or area,drainage district, or any other territory, area ordistrict for the benefit of which any taxes may belevied, therein, upon prio r authorization andapproval thereof by the governing bodiesthereof, providingg for the disposition of liabili-ties of the county to such municipality upon orarising out of the return to said county , ofdelinquent special assessments, delinquent gen-eral taxes, or both ;; the disposition of specialassessment tax sale certificates, general tax salecertificates, or both, of which the county may bethe holder or owner; the liabilities of the countyarising: by virtue of its acquiring any or all ofsuch tax certificates, andd the disposition of suchliabilities ; the taking of tax deeds by the countyor, any or all of such tax sales certificates ; theliabilities of' the county arising out of the takingof any of all of 'such tax deeds and the dispositionof such liabilities ; the disposition and distribu-tion of the proceeds of the sale of any or all ofsuch tax sale certifi cates, the sale of the landsupon which such tax deeds are so taken, or both;and the determination and disposition of anyand all liabilities of' the county in respect to anyof the foregoing .

(2) LIABILITY OF COUNTY LIMITED, Suchagreements may includee provisions that.t thecounty upon acting pursuant to such agreementand the provisions thereof ' shall not be account-able or liable for any amount greater than thatrealized by it upon the sale of any of suchcertificates or upon the sale of said lands towhich it takes tax deed thereunder or theamounts set forth in said agreement, and that inacting : pursuant to such agreement the countyshall not incur or, be subjected to any liability toanyone except as therein set forth and that if 'such county should by reason of acting there-under incur or be subjected to any other ordifferent liability to pay or account in respect tosuch delinquent special assessments, generaltaxes, or both, then such local : municipality willreimburse the county.y for suchh excess liabilityand indemnify it against any loss or damage thatthe county may sustain by reason of actingpursuant to such agreement; provided, that thecity, town or village entering into such agree-ment may make payment, settlement or com-promise of special assessment certificates orbonds to preclude or relieve the county frombeing subjected to liability thereon .

(3) SALE UNDER AGREEMENT . In the event of'such agreement the county may sell any of theland to which it takess tax deed pursuant thereto,and that the title conveyed by the county uponsuch sale shall be in fee simple and free and clear

75.37 Waste on land sold ; distress ; claimagainst county or city . (1) It shall be unlaw-ful for any person or corporation to cut, destroyor remove any logs, wood or timber or anybuildings, fixtures and other improvements as-sessed as real property from any land sold for thenonpayment of taxes while such taxes remainunpaid; and if any person shall cut, destroy orremove the samee from such lands during thetime aforesaid the county treasurer of thecounty or the city treasurer of'any city which isauthorized by law. to sell its own delinquenttaxes or assessments in which such lands are

" situated, in cases where the tax certificate is heldby the county or such city, shall issue a warrantunder his hand and seal to the sherif'f', givingtherein a description of such lands, the amountof such taxes, with interest and charges thereonthen remaining unpaid and the years for whichthee same are unpaid, commanding such sheriffforthwith to seize such logs, wood, timber, build-ings, fixtures .and improvements, or materialssalvaged therefrom, wherever the same may befound and to sell the same or a sufficient amountthereof to satisfy such taxes, with thee interestand charges thereon and the costs of" suchseizure and sale,

(2) The sheriff shall receive such warrantand execute the same as therein directed, as incase of levy and sale on execution, and makereturn thereof with his doings thereon to thecounty treasurer or such city treasurer, as the

1963 TAX SALES 75 .37

from alltax liens or claims arising out of delin-quent special assessments, delinquent generaltaxes, or' both, except delinquent special assess-ments, delinquentt or unpaid general taxes, orboth, returned to the county after such sale bythe county .. Such agreement may provide thatthe county mayy sell any land, to which it hastaken taxx deed thereunder, at private or publicsale .' The county or the local municipality inwhich the land is situated may purchase suchlandd when sold by the county pursuant to suchagreement .

(4) APPLICABILITY, This section shall becontrolling and operative in respect to delin-quent general property taxes and special assess-ments authorized by the proper governing bodyto be imposed against lands, whether heretoforeor hereafter retu r ned delinquent, and the provi-sions hereof shall be applicable to such assess-ments and taxes, the general statutes to thecontrary notwithstanding, but all provisions ofthe general statutes not in conflict herewith shallbe applicable, except that it does not repeal anyof" the provis ions of the general statutes noraffect the applicability thereof to situations notcovered herein .

case may be, within 60 days after the receipt ofthe same, and pay over all money collectedthereon to such treasurer; provided, however,that no certificates shall be sold by the countytreasurer or such city treasurer,' in cases wherewarrants have been issued, unless the partyapplying to purchase the same shall pay all costsand charges incurred in the issuing and execu-tion of'said warrant . In case the tax certificate isnot held by the county or such city the ownerther'eof' shall have a lien upon' any and all logs,wood, timber, buildings, fixtures and improve-ments assessed as real property, or materialssalvaged therefrom ; so cut, destroyed or re-moved from the lands to the amount of the taxcertificate held by him : against the same, to-gether with all interest and charges thereon thenremaining unpaid, and shall have the right toseize such logs, wood, timber, buildings ; fixturesand improvements, or materials salvaged there-from, wherever the same may be found and tosell the same, or a sufficient amount thereof tosatisfy such taxes, with interest and chargesthereon and the cost of seizure and sale, render-ing any surplus upon such sale to the owner ofthe lands .. No tax certificate holder, who shall socut, destroy or remove any logs, wood or timber,or any buildings, fixtures and other, ' improve-ments assessed as real property upon-any landsdescribed 'in his certificate shall have any claimagainst the county or such city under the provi-sions of section 75 .22 :

75.375 Waste on lands sold for taxes ,penalty. Any person who "shall wilfully, mali-ciously or wantonly injure, destroy or commitwaste upon any lands, tenements, or anythingappertaining thereto which have been sold forthe nonpayment of taxes while such taxes re-main unpaid or in cases where the tax certificateis the property of the county shall be punished bya' fine of not more than $500, or, by`impr son-ment in the county jail not more than 90 days ofby both such fine and imprisonment :

75 .38 Fees for deeds and certificates. Thecounty clerk shall collect as fees for every deedof land issued upon a tax sale, when such deedshall include lands in contiguous tracts not ex-ceeding one hundred `and sixty acres, seventy-five cents; and for every additional tract thereindescribed, five cents, to be paid by the person towhom such deed is issued, and the clerk issuingsuch deed shall include therein so many parcelsof land bid off', owned or redeemed by anyper-son as he may desire : . . .

75.39 Action to bar former owner. Thegrantee named in any deed made by a county

75 .42 Defense, answer . (1) The defendantsin such action may answer severally, or such ofthem as are jointly interested in any separateparcel or parcels of land described in the com-plaint may answer' jointly, either' to the whole

75.37 TAX SALES 1964

clerk or the treasurer of any incorporated city orvillage on the sale of lands for the nonpaymentof taxes as provided by law, his heirs, executors,administrators or assigns may, at any timewithin three years after the date of such convey-ance, commence an action against the per-son orpersons owning the lands described in suchconveyance at the time of making the sale uponwhich such conveyance was made, or any parcelthereof or interest therein, of against any personor persons claiming under such owner or owners,for the purpose of barring such former owner orowners and those claiming under them of allright, title, interest or claim in such lands ; but nosuch action shall be commenced on any suchdeed issued in lieu of a void, informal or insuffi-cient deed unless the same be commenced withinthree ,years after the date of such void, informalor insufficient deed ..

75 .40 Act ion , where and how brought .Such action must be brought in the circuit courtof the county in which the lands or, some parcelof them, the title of which is sought to be barredby such action, are situated ; and the plaintiff insuch action may include in his complaint all thelands' described in such conveyance, or anyseparate parcel, or as many separate parcelsthereof as he shall see fit ; and he shall makedefendants all persons who were the formerowners of the several parcels of land included inhis complaint or those claiming under them or,claiming any interest therein .

75 .41 Complaint. The plaintiff in such ac-tion shall set forth'in his complaint a descriptionof all the lands the title to which is sought to bebarred by such action ; that he claims title tosuch lands under a deed made by a county clerkor the treasurer- 'of` an incorporated city or vil-lage, and set forth therein a copy of such deed ;;he shall also set forth the name or names of theformer owner or, owners of the several tracts ofland described therein of the names of thepersons claiming under such owner or owners,specifying the persons claiming each separateparcel thereof, and the amount of all taxes paidby him, including redemptions ; and if' suchplaintiff have more than one such deed upon anyparcel of land mentioned in such complaint,upon which he might bring such action, he shallset forth in such complaint a copy of each suchdeed, but as a separate cause of action,

complaint or to any separate cause of actionstated therein, that the action thereon was notcommenced within the time limited by section75 .. 39; that the lands described in such com-plaint or some part or parts thereof to which thedefendant or defendants so answering claim titleor some interest therein were not liable to taxa-tion at the time the tax for the nonpayment ofwhich the land was sold and conveyed as speci-fi ed in the complaint was levied ; or that the taxfor the nonpaymentt of which said lands purportto be sold was in fact paid before such sale ; orthat the land was redeemed from such sale asprovided by law ; or that the title to said land hasbecome vested adversely to the plaintiff in theaction under and by virtue of another taxx deed ;or that the deed, a copy of " which is set forth inthe complaint, wass never executed by the officerwhose name is subscribed thereto ; or that thelands described in the complaint or some partthereof were improved, occupied or cultivated asdescribed in section 75,12 (1), and that nonotice was served upon the defendant or owneror occupant, as required by section 75 .. 12, and noother defense to such action shall be set up byany defendant or defendants unless the defend-ant or defendants settingg up the same shall, atthe time of filing the answe r, deposit with theclerk of the court in which such action is pend-ing, for the use of the plaintiff in such action, thesum f'or, which the parcel or parcels of land as towhichh they defend were sold, together withinterest thereon at the rate of 8 per cent perannum from the date of the certificate of ' sale fortaxes upon which such deed was issued ; and alsoall such sums as shall havee been paid by theeplaintiff for subsequent taxes on such parcel orparcels, with interest thereon from the time ofpayment at the rate of 8 per cent per annum tothe time of making such deposit ; and shall statein the answer the fact that such deposit has beenmade, and the amount thereof, and that suchdefendant - is ready to pay such portion of thecosts and disbursements in the action as shall beadjudged just and reasonable, in case the plain-tiff ' shall elect to receive such deposit and releaseto said defendant or defendants the parcel orparcels of land on account of which such depositis made ;, and any defendant or- defendants mak-ing the deposit and offer aforesaid may set up intheir' answer any other matter of defense whichwill avoid such deed ; but no answer merelyalleging the defendant's title, or denying' theeplaintiff's title to the lands described in suchcomplaint, or anyy part or parcel thereof, orwhich merely alleges that the deed to the plain-tiff is void shall be a sufficient answer ; but everyanswer' shallstate specifically the grounds onwhich the defendant or, defendants rely foravoiding the deed of the plaintiff '.

75 .45 Deed as evidence . In any actionmaintained under the provisions of this chapterthe production of 'a deed, a copy of which is set

1965 TAX SALES 75 :45

(2) The defendant may, in all cases withinthe time limited by law for answering the com-plaint, execute and deliver to the plaintiff ' or hisattorney a quitclaim deed of the lands describedin the complaint, conveying all the right, titleand interest of such defendant at the time of thecommencement of the suit; or may, within suchtime, either after having delivered such deed orwithout such delivery, answer disclaiming anytitle to the land in question at the time of thecommencement of the suit, in either of whichcases the plaintiff shall not recover , costs person-ally against any such defendant who quitclaimsas aforesaid or who shall establish such dis-claimer upon the trial of such action . In no caseshall costss be taxed as a personal claim againstany defendant for attorney's fees in . excess oftwenty-five dollars .

75 .43 Election to receive deposi t ; costs.The plaintiff' may, at any time within twentydays after' receiving an answer, showing that adeposit has been made by any defendant ordefendants as provided in s, 75 . .42, give notice tosuch defendant or defendants that he elects toreceive such deposit and that he will, at a timespecified in such notice, apply to the clerk of'thecircuit court, circuit judge or a court commis-sioner to adjust the costs and disbursementswhich said defendant or defendants ought topay, and that uponthe payment of the costs anddisbursements . so adjudged he will release tosuch defendant or defendants all right, title andclaim which he has to the parcel or parcels ofland on account of which such deposit is madeby virtue of any sale or deed made for thenonpayment of taxes ; and unless such costs arepaid within twenty days after the same shallhave been so adjusted the clerk of the courtshall, upon presentation to him of an affidavitshowing the nonpayment thereof', enter judg-ment therefor in favor of the plaintiff andagainst the defendant, which- shall be enforcedas other money judgments :

75 .44 Release. On the payment of the costsby such defendant or defendants or the collec-tion thereof the said plaintif'f' shall execute arelease to said defendant or defendants of allsuch right, title, interest or claim in said parcelor parcels of lands, duly acknowledging thesame, and deliver it to the said defendant ordefendants ; and thereupon said action shall bediscontinued as to the said parcel or parcels ofland so released .

75.527 Foreclosure of tax liens by actionIn- rem. (1) DEFINITIONS, Wherever used orreferred to in this section, unless a differentmeaning clearly appears from the context:

(a) "County" means one of the counties ofthe state of Wisconsin and includes any city ofthe state authorized by law to collect and sell itsown .taxes ..

(b) "Tax lien" means the lien or interestevidenced by any county owned or, held tax salecertificate upon which a tax deed may be appliedfor as provided by law .

(c) "Treasurer" means either the treasurerof such county or of such city .

(2) APPLICATION OF THIS SECTION., (a)Adoption of'method Notwithstanding the pro-visions of any other general, special or, local lawor charter provision of such city relating toforeclosure of tax sale certificates, taking of taxdeeds upon such tax sale certificates, andperfecting such tax deed title by bar formerowner action or quiet title action, or conveyancefrom former owners of any interest in said lands,the governing body of any county may elect toenforce the collection of tax liens, the taking oftax title in the name of such county to taxdelinquent lands and the perfecting of'such taxtitle in the county in the cases where thiss sectionapplies by means of the methods provided for inthis section,. Such election shall be evidenced byan ordinance to such effect in substantially thefollowing form :"ORDINANCE ELECTING TO PROCEEDUNDER SECTION 75,521 Wis . . Stats, INRELATION TO THE ENFORCEMENTOF COLLECTION OF TAX LIENS . .

The county board of'supervisors of the countyof ., , do ordain as follows:

75.47 Separate trials . The trial of any issueof fact or of law in such action joinedd with anydefendant or defendants claiming title to anddefending as to any separate parcel or, parcels ofland shall be had separately and a separatejudgment may be rendered on such issue . .

75 .4 Effect of judgment . If' a judgmentshall be rendered either for want of'an answer or,upon the trial of an issue of law or fact in favor ofthe plaintiff and against thee defendants claim-ing such lands or, against a defendant or defend-ants claiming any separate parcel or parcelsthereof, such judgment shall forever bar suchdefendants and all others claiming under them,after the filing of a notice of the pendency ofsuch action as provided by law, from all right,title or- interest in said lands or in such separateeparcel or parcels thereof'. :

75 .49 Judgment for defendant. Ifin anysuch action ,judgment be rendered in favor ofany defendant claiming any parcel or parcels ofsaid lands or interest therein, such judgmentshall adjudge that there be released to suchdefendant all the plaintiff's right, title or claim,at the time of the commencement of the action,by virtue of any sale or deed made for thenonpayment of"taxes to the land or interest as towhich such judgment is rendered, and that thedefendant recover- his costs and disbursements inthe action; and the money, if any, deposited bysuch defendant upon answering shall be appliedin payment of such costs, and the surplus of suchdeposit, if any, shall be paid to the plaintiff .

75 .50 Unknown owners. If the plaintiff insuch action cannot ascertain who are the proper .

75 .45 TAX SALES

forth in the complaint substantially in the formprescribed by law or a certified copy of therecord thereof, shall be presumptive evidence ofan absolute title in fee simple in the granteetherein named, his heirs or assigns in and to theland therein described

75.46 Trial ; defendant 's Interest . All issuesof fact and of law joined in any such action shallbe tried by the court unless the court shallotherwise direct or unless a party to an issue offact in any such action shall demand a trial byjury, in which case such issues shall be tried by.jury as other issues of fact ; and on the trial ofevery such action every defendant shall bedeemed to have a redeemable interest in all thelands described in the plaintiff's complaint inrespect to which any relief or, judgment is soughtagainst such defendant, unless it be otherwisealleged therein .

1966

persons to make defendants as to any tract orparcel of land described in his complaint he mayallege the fact in his complaint and they may beproceeded against as nonresident defendantsand shall be described in the proceedings asunknown owners .

75 .52 Judgment a bar , when. No such ac-tion shall be commenced by any person underthe provisions of this chapter after a judgmentshall have been rendered against him in anyaction founded on such tax deed commenced byhim or those under whom he claims for therecovery of the possession of the lands describedin such deed or any part thereof, nor after a;judgment shall have been rendered against himin an action brought by the former owner, torecover possession of the lands described in suchdeed or, aany part thereof .

Being Foreclosed by Proceeding in Rem 19 ., . . ,No .: . : . ." and shall bear the follow i ng caption:"STATE OF WISCONSINCIRCUIT COURT, . , . COUNrYIn the matter of the foreclosure of tax liensunder section 75 . . 521 Wisconsin Statutes by . . . .County, List bfTax Liens for 19, Number_,".

The list shall contain as to each parcel, thefollowing:

1 . A brieff description sufficient to identifyeachh parcel affected by such tax lien ., Thedescription shall state the lot, block and sectionnumber of any parcel upon any tract, the plat ormap of which is filed in the office of the registerof deeds of such county . . If the lands be unplat-ted an engineer's metes andd bounds descriptionshall be a sufficient description..

2. The name or names of the last owner orowners, and mortgagee or mortgagees of suchparcel as such ownership or mortgagee interestappears of reco rd in the office of the regis ter ofdeeds of the county wherein such parcel issituated, and the state of Wisconsin where it hasa determinedd but unpaid inheritance tax lien, afiled, nonoutlawed income tax warrant or, adocketed judgment, all in the county where suchparcel is situated .

3. A statement of the amount of the principalsum of each tax lien in the hands of the countytreasurer, together with the date from which andthe rate at which interest shalll be computed onsaid principal sum .

4 : A petition to the court for , judgment vestingtitle to each of said parcels of land in the county ,as of the date of entry of judgment and barringany and all claims whatsoever ' of the for'merowner or any person claiming through and underhim since the date of filing the list of tax liens inthee office of the clerk of the circuit court .

5 , The names of all municipalities, other thanthe municipal taxing district foreclosing, havingany right, title or interest in the land or in the taxliens or in the proceeds thereof .

(b) Such list of tax liens shall be verified bythe affidavit of the county treasu r er and shall beposted in his office. The filing of such list of' taxliens in the office of the clerk of the circuit courtshall constitute and have the same effect as thefiling and recording in the office of the registerof deeds of such county of a separate andindividual notice of the pendency of such pro-ceeding as to each parcel described in such list,and likewise, not withstanding any other' provi-sion of law, shall constitute the commencementof a special proceeding by the county againsteach parcel of real estate therein described andhave the same effect as the filing of an individualand separate petition or complaint by the county

From and after : . . (here insert dates) the . . .(here insert name of county) elects to adopt theprovisions of section 75 . 521 Wis . . Stats. for thepurpose of enforcing tax liens in such county inthe cases whe re the procedure provided by suchsection is applicable ."

Upon the adoption of such ordinance, theprovisions of this section shall be applicable tosuch county and the treasurer of such countyneed not, thereafter, proceed upon its tax salecertificates in cases where this section isapplicable in any of the other methods providedby chapter 75 or its charter provisions but maydo so at his option .,

(b) Rescission of electron to operate undersection 75.521 . Any county, after at least oneyear from the adoption of such o rdinance, mayrescind such election by an ordinance to sucheffect, which ordinance shall be adopted in thesame manner as the original ordinance . Uponthe adoption of a rescinding ordinance, theprovisions of' this section shall cease to be appli-cable to such county .

(c) Saying clause. Neither thee election toadopt the provisions of section ' 75 . . 521 nor theelectionn to rescind the same shall affect anyact ion or proceeding f'or, foreclosure of the taxlien commenced prior, to such election or rescis-sion and such action or proceeding ma y becontinued in thee same manner' as though suchelection or rescission had not been made..:

(d) Provisions ofin rein method supersede .Whenever- any county shall have adopted• thissection and is using the procedure herein pro-vided, the provisions of this section shall, withrespect to the particular tax liens being col-lected, supersede the provisions of all general,special or local laws relating to the collection oftax liens by such county in conflict therewith,provided that nothing contained in this subsec-tion nor, any use made of the procedure providedin this section shall prevent the use of otherprocedures provided- foi , in other sections of thestatutes in the collection of other tax liens at theoption of the county treasurer .

(3) COMMENCEMENT OF PROCEEDING TOFORECLOSE TAX LIEN. (a) Whenever any landhas been sold to the county f"or, delinquent taxesand 3 years have elapsed, or one year has elapsedwhen razing costs incurred by any city or villageare included in the amount due for taxes, sincethe date of' the tax sale certificate the treasurermay file in the office of the clerk of the circuitcourt of the county, one or more lists of parcelsof property affected by unpaid tax liens asshown on the delinquent tax rolls in the trea-surer's office . The parcels shall be numberedconsecutively. The list shall be known and desig-nated as the "List of Tax Liens - of . : . . .. County

1967 TAX SALES 75 .521

against each parcel of real estate therein de-scribed to enforce the payment of the tax liensagainst such property .

(c) A copy of the petition and so much of thelist of tax liens as shall include the description ofa particular parcel shall be mailed by registeredmail by the county treasurer, to the last knownpost-office address of each owner and mortga-gee of record and the state of Wisconsin in theinstances specified in subsection (3) (a) 2 , andto each municipality, other than the municipaltaxing district foreclosing, having any right, titleor interest in the land or in the tax liens or theproceeds thereof. An affidavit of the treasurersetting forth the names of the owners, mortga-gees, the state of Wisconsin in the proper caseand municipalitiess for whom a post-office ad-dress has been ascertained, giving such ad-dr,esses and stating that notice was mailedthereto, giving the datee thereof; and furtherstating that no present post-office address wasascertainable for- the other owners and mortga-gees, shall be filed and constitute full compli-ance with this paragraph .

(4) DUTY OF THE CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT .Each clerk of the circuit court with whom suchlist of tax liens is filed, shall index it by year andlist number, and alphabetically by the names ofthose set forth in the list, pursuant to sub .. (3)(a) 2, in a separate book kept for that purposeand such clerk shall be entitled to a fee of $3 f 'or,such receiving,, filing and indexing of each suchlist, in lieu of any other - fees to which he mightotherwisee be entitled for, such services . Thecircuit court of such county in which such delin-quent list is filed is hereby given jurisdiction ofthe proceeding authorized by this section .

(5) RIGHTS OF PERSONS HAVING AN INTER-EST IN PARCELS OF LAND AFFECTED BY TAXLIENS . Every person, including any municipaltaxing district other- than the one foreclosing,having any right, title or interest in, or lienn upon,any parcel described in such list may redeemsuch parcel by paying all of the sums mentionedin such list of tax liens together with interestthereon, or such portion thereof as is due for theinterest therein or part thereof owned by suchperson which amount shall be determined by thecounty treasurer' on application, before the expi-ration of the redemption period mentioned in thenotice published pursuant to sub. (6), or mayserve a verified answer uponn the county tcea-surer of suchh county , as provided in sub .. (7) .The caption of such answer shall contain areference to the number or numbers of theparcels concerned as shown by the treasurer'slist . Such answer must be servedd on said countytreasure r and filed in the office of the clerk ofthe circuit court within 30 days after the datementionedd in the notice published pursuant to

sub . . (6), as the last day for redemption . In theevent of the failure to redeem or answer by anyperson having the right to redeem or answerwithin the time herein limited, such person, andall persons claiming under and through him,from and after- the date of the filing of ' said list oftax liens with the clerk of the circuit court, shallbe forever barred and foreclosed of all his right,title and interest in and to the parcel described insuch list of tax liens and a judgment in foreclo-sure may be taken as herein provided . . Uponredemption as permitted by this section, thepe r son redeeming shall be entitledd to a certifi-cate evidencing such redemption from thecounty treasurer of such county, describing theproperty in the same manner as it is described insuch list of tax liens and the fact of such redemp-tion shall be noted upon the tax rolls in the officeof the county treasurer, who shall file a certifiedcopy of such redemption certificate with theclerk of the circuit court and upon such filing,such clerk shall note the wo r d "Redeemed" andthe date of such filing opposite the description of "said parcel on such list of tax liens . Suchnotation shall operate to cancel the notice ofpendency of proceeding with respect to suchparcel or such portion ther eof . The person soredeeming shall be entitled to add the amountpaid in redemption to the face amount of" anylien which he may have against said lands and tohave interest thereon until paid .

(6) PUBLIC NOTICE OF IN REM PROCEEDING .Upon the filing of such list in the office of theclerk of the circuit court, the county treasurerforthwith shall prepare a notice that such list oftax liens and petition has been so filed and acopy thereof posted in the office of said countytreasurer' . The treasurer shall cause such notice,together with the list of tax liens and petition, tobe published as a class 3 notice, under ch . 985 .Such notice shall be in substantially the follow-ing form :NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT OF

PROCEEDINGIN REM TO FORECLOSE TAX LIENS

BY. .,,,COUNTY(Here insert list of tax liens andd petition as

filedd in office of clerk of the circuit court .)TAKE NOTICE That all persons having or

claiming to have any right, title or, interest in orlien upon the real property described in the listof tax liens, No . . . . . . , on file in the office of theclerk of the circuit court of ... . . county, dated . . ..,and hervinabove set forth, : are hereby notifiedthat the filing of such list of tax liens in the officeof the clerk of the circuit court of , ., countyconstitutes the commencement b y said . . . .county of a special proceeding in the circuitcourtt for . . . . . county to foreclose the tax lienstherein described by foreclosure proceeding in

75.521 TAX SALES 1968

county treasurer of such county within 30 daysafter the date hereinabove mentioned, as the lastdate for redemption .

(8) DUTY OF THE COURT TO EN TER NDG-MENI IN DEFAULT CASES. In the event of thefailure to redeem or answer by any personhaving the rightt to redeem or answer as herein-above provided, such person and all personsclaiming under and through him, from and afterthe date of the filingg of the list of tax liens in theoffice of the clerk of the circuit court of thecounty, shall be forever barred and foreclosed ofall his right, title and interest and equity ofredemption in and to the parcel described insuch list of the tax liens, and upon filing of anaffidavit of such default or failure of redemptionby the county treasurer of'such county, the courtin which such list of tax liens is filed, shall renderfinal judgment ordering and adjudging that thecounty is vested with an estate in fee simpleabsolute in such lands, subject, however, to allunpaid taxes and charges which are subsequentto the latest dated valid tax lien appearing on thelist specified in subsection (3) (b) of this sec-tion and to recorded restrictions as provided bysection 75.14 (4) and all persons, both naturaland artificial, including the state of Wisconsin,infants, incompetents, absentees and nonresi-dents who may have had any right, title, interest,claim, lien or equity of redemption in such lands,are forever barred and foreclosed of such right,title, interest, claim, lien or equity of redemp-tion. Such judgment shall be deemed to bebased on the latest dated valid tax lien appearingon the list of tax liens . No personal judgmentshall be entered against any person having orclaiming to have any right, title or interest in orlien upon said lands . . Such judgment shall havethe effect of the issuance of a tax deed or deedsand of judgment to bar former owners and quiettitle thereon.

(9) FILING OF AFFIDAVIT . All affidavits offiling, publication, posting, mailing or other actsrequired by this section, shall be made by theperson performing such acts and shall be filed inthe office of the clerk of the circuit court of thecounty in which the property subject to such taxlien is situated and shall, together with all otherdocuments required in this section, filed in suchoffice, constitute and become part of the judg-ment roll in s uch foreclosure proceeding„

(10) CONTESTED ISSUES AND TRIALTHEREOF. If a duly verified answer is servedupon' the county treasurer within the periodmentioned in sub, (7), the court shall hear anddetermine the issues raised by the petition andanswer in the same manner and under' the samerules as it hears and determines civil actions,except as in this section otherwise provide d .

rem and that a notice of the pendency of suchproceeding against each piece or parcel of landtherein described was filed in the office of theclerk of the circuit court on . .. . . . (insert date) . .Such proceeding is brought against the realproperty herein described only and is toforeclose the tax liens described in such list . . Nopersonal judgment will be entered herein forsuch taxes, assessments or other legal charges or,any part thereof.TAKE FURTHER NOT ICE That all persons

having or, claiming to have any right, title orinterest in or lien upon -thee real propertydescribed in said list of tax liens are herebynotifiedd that a certified copy- of such list of taxliens has been posted in the office of the countytreasurer of . . . .. .. county and will remain postedfor public inspection up to and including . ., ..(here insert date at least 8 weeks from the dateof the first publication of this notice) which dateis hereby fixed as the last day for redemption,.TAKE FURTHER NOTICE That any person

having or claiming to have any right, title orinterest in or lien upon any such parcel may, onor before said . ., . (insert redemption final date),redeem such delinquent tax liens by paying tothe county treasurer of : ., . county, the amount ofall such unpaid tax liens and in addition thereto,all interest and penalties which have accrued onsaid unpaid tax liens, computed to and includingthe date of redemption,

. . . . County

By County Treasurer(7) RIGHT OF PERSON HAV ING AN INTEREST

IN OR LIEN UPON PARCELS DESCRIB ED IN LI ST OFTAX LIENS, TO ANSWER PETITION„ (a) Every per-son having any right, title or interest in or lienupon any parcel described in such list of taxliens, may serve a duly verified answer' upon thecounty treasurerr for such county, setting forth indetail, the nature and amount of his interest andobjecting to the proposed foreclosure upon oneor more of the following grounds only:

1 . That the lands in which such person isinterested, described in such list of tax liens,were not liable to taxation or special assessmentat the time the tax or special assessment for thenonpayment of which the tax lien arises, waslevied .,

2. That the tax, for the nonpayment of whichsaid tax lien arises, was in fact paid before thelast day of the redemption period provided bylaw,

3. That the tax lien is barred by the statute oflimitations

(b) No other, defense to the petition of saidcounty set forth in such tax list, shall be set up,Such answer must be filed in the office of thec lerk of the circuit court and served upon the

1969 TAX SALES 75.521

however , to all unpaid taxess and cha rges whichare subsequent to the latest dated tax lien ap-pearing on the list specified in subsection . (3)(b) ofthis section and to recorded restrictions asprovided by section 75 14, and all persons, bothnatural and artificial, including the state ofWisconsin, infants, incompetents, ' absentees andnonresidents who may have had any right, title,interest, claim, lien or equity of redemption insuch lands, are forever, barred and foreclosed ofsuch right, title, interest, claim, lien or equity ofredemption „ Such , judgment shall be deemed tobe based on the latest d ated tax lien appearingon the list of tax liens, Such judgment shall havethe effect of the issuance of a tax deed or deedsand of ' ;judgment to bar former owners and quiettitle thereon . .

(14) JUDGMENT TO BE RECORDED . A certi-fled copy of the judgment of the court in bothdefault and contested cases shall be recorded bythe prevailing pa t ty in the office of the registerof deeds of such county .

(14a) DAMAGES Any person who was theowner of any right, title or interest in land whichwas lost by judgment of fo reclosure as p rovidedin this section may within 2 years from the dateof entry of ' such ,judgment, in the cases hereinaf-ter mentioned other than fraud and within 6years in the case of fraud, commence an actionin the circuit court against the county to recoverthe fair market value of his interest therein atthe, date of entry of said judgment of foreclosurein rem. If the court determines that suchperson's right,, title and interest in said land wasunjustly foreclosed and lost because (a) saidperson's interest in such lands was not subject totaxation or special assessment at the time of thelevy of the tax for nonpa yment of which saidlands were foreclosed , or (b) that in fact suchtax was paid by said owner, or (c) that the taxlien uponn which the ,judgment of foreclosure inrem wass based was barred by the statute oflimitations, or (d) if ' such person lost said prop-erty through fraud without fault on his pa rt, thecourt shall determine the fair market value ofsaid landd or of said person's interest therein ashereinabove set ' forth .. The fair market valueshall not exceed the amount arrived at by divid-ing the assessed valuation of such lands in theyear in which such judgment in rem was enteredby the percentage ratio of real estate assess-ments prevailing for the taxing districtt in whichthe lands were located as set forthh in the equali-zation for state tax purposes of the same year .The court shall award judgment to such plaintiffin such amount, together with a reasonableattorney's fees to be fixed by the court, and theplaintiffs costs and disbursements of such ac-tion . The amount awarded the plaintiff shall bereduced by the total amount due, as of the date

Upon such trial , proof that such tax or specialassessment, together, with any interest of, pen-alty which ma y have been duee was paid, or thatthe property was not subject to tax or specialassessment , of t hat such tax lien is barred by thestatute of limitat ions , shall constitute a com-plete defense.. Whenever an answer is interposedas herein provided, there shall be a seve rance ofthe proceeding as to an y parcel or parcels of ' landin which such answering defendant has anyright;, title or, interest as alleged in his answer ,and as to the other , parcels in such list, theproceeding shall proceed as providedd in sub . . (8) .

(11) PREFERENCE OVER OTHER PROCEED-INGS AND ACTIONS. Any proceeding broughtpursuant to this section shall be given preferenceover alll other causes and actions not on trial andno such proceeding shall be referred .

(12) PRESUMPTIONS OF VALIDITY; GUARD-IAN AD LiTEM . (a) The county need not plead o rprove the various steps, proceedings and noticesfor the assessment and levy of the taxes, assess-ments or other lawful charges against the landsset forth in the list of tax liens and all such taxes,assessments or other lawful charges and the lienthereof shall be presumed to be valid . A defend-ant alleging any jurisdictional defect or invalid-ity in the tax or special assessment , because ofwhich said land was not liable to taxation ' or'special assessment , must particularly specify inhis answer such , jurisdictional defect or invalid-ity and . must. affirmatively establish suchdefense..

(b) This section shall apply to and be validand effective withh respect to all defendants eventhough one or more be infants , incompetents ,absentees ornonresidents of the state of Wiscon-sin, provided that a guardian ad litem shall beappointed to serve for all persons known orunknown who have or may have an interest inthe lands described in any list and who are ormay be minors or incompetents at the date offilingg such list. Such guardian ad litem 'may beappointed by the court without notice, and thefee for his servicess as fixed by the court shall bepaid by the county .

(13) JUDGMENT, CONTENTS . (a) Where, asto any parcel in the list of tax liens, an answerhas been interposed by a party and the courtshall determine in favor, of such party upon suchanswer, the court shall make a final judgmentdivesting said parcel of the li en alleged to haveaccruedd against same.

(b) In the event that the courtt shall deter-mine that the issuee raised by thee answer of thedefendant is without merit, a final judgment tosuch effect shall be entered ordering and ad-,judging that the county is vested with an estatein fee simple absolute in such lands subject,

75.521 . TAX SALES 1970

extend upon such assessment roll the taxes law-fully levied upon and apportioned to the prop-erty described therein for such year, and suchroll and tax so extended thereon shall be a publicrecord and be prima facie evidence of theamount of tax justly chargeable against theparty seeking to set aside or avoid the originalassessment, tax or tax proceeding and upon thelot or lots, tract or tracts of land respectingwhich thee said action is brought, and shall alsobe prima facie evidence of the amount of tax

, justly chargeable against any and every otherperson or corporation and every other lot, parcelor tract of land in such tax roll for such year inany legal proceeding that may arise respectingthe same. . Such reassessment and tax roll shallbe completed and filed with the clerk of themunicipality constituting such assessment dis-trict or in which such district is located withinninety ` days fromm the date of the entry of suchorder unless the court upon motion and causeshown shall extend the time therefor .

(3) Upon such completion and filing, noticethereof' shalll be given by such clerk to the clerkof ' the court in which such action is pending ; andsuch last-mentioned clerk shall thereupon givenotice thereof to the attorneys for the parties tosuch action and to the attorneys in all otheractionss pending in which the validity of suchoriginal assessment mayy be involved. If anyparty seeking to set aside or avoid the originalassessment, tax or tax proceeding shall desire tocontest the validity of such reassessment, heshall, within twenty days after notice of thecompletionn and filing of such ceassessm°nt andtax roll, file with the clerk of the court wheresuch action is pending objections in writing tosuch reassessment or tax roll, a copy of whichobjections shall within five days after such fil-ing, be served upon the attorney for the oppositeparty and thereupon the court may direct anissue to be made up involving the objectionsaforesaid, which shall be tried summarily by thecourt,., which shall make an order sustaining oroverruling such objections„ If by such ordersuch reassessment or tax roll shall be heldinvalid subsequent reassessments of such taxmay be had in manner and form as heieinbeforeprovided and similar proceedings may be re-sorted to, to determine the validity of any suchreassessment; or the court in its discretion mayupon sustaining objections made to any reassess-ment, determine and fix the amount of taxwhich ought justly to be paid by the party orparties contesting such original assessment, taxor tax proceeding, and for that purpose, with orwithout directing a further issue to be made up,the court may proceed to take such furtherevidence as may be necessary to make suchdetermination . .

75.54 . Reassessment of taxes by order ofcourt. (1) In all actions in any court of thisstate, in which either' party seeks to avoid or setaside in whole or in part any assessment, tax ortax proceeding or reassessment, if the court is ofthe opinion, after' a hearing had, that, for anyreason affecting the groundwork of the tax andall the property in any assessment district, saidassessment, tax or- tax proceeding should be setaside, the court shall immediately stay all pro-ceedings in such action and in all other actionsaffecting the assessment, tax or tax proceedingin such `district until a reassessment of theproperty therein can be made; and the properofficers of the municipality constituting the as-sessment district or in which the district islocated shall reassess such property in the man-ner specified in the statutes, and shall levy uponthe same the amount of" taxes for the year inquestion. Such reassessment shall be made bythe assessor of the municipality or assessmentdistrict or by the person the court appoints andthe assessment roll shall be submitted to andpassed upon by the board of review in themanner and after like notice as in case of theoriginal assessment .

(2) Upon the completionn of the review bysaid board, the clerk of the town, village or cityin which the reassessed district is situated shall

1971

of entry of such judgment, for all curr ent taxesand upon all tax sales certificates held by thecounty on such date that the court shall findwere valid . Upon payment of' the ,judgment thecounty may charge back as a tax to any taxinggdistrict the amount which such district receivedfrom the county in payment of taxes and intereston said land either by distribution of " proceeds ofsale thereof by the county or through otherpayment by the county to the extent that itexceeds the amount distributable to such districthad the same been based upon the payment ofthe taxes and interest found by the court to beproperly payable at the time of the entry of thejudgment . of foreclosure and applied in reduc-tion of the amount awarded to the plaintiffhereunder.

(15) EFFECTIVE DATE. This section shall be-come effective April 1, 1948 .

(16) Act : RETROACTIVE, After .the grace pe-riod allowed by the effective date of this sectionas provided by sub s (15), this section shall beretroactive to include all tax sale certificates notoutlawed by the statute of limitations, and therights of any minor, incompetent or nonresidentin any tax sale certificate of date prior to April 1,1948 shall be governed by the provisions hereof.History: 1977 c . 174.See note to 75 . . 14, citing 62 Atty . . Gen . 234 . .

TAX SALES 75 .54

(4) If' such reassessment and tax roll be heldby the court regular and valid or if no objectionsthereto shall- be filed, the court shall make anorder, requiring the party or parties contestingthe original assessment, tax or tax proceeding topay into court, for the use and benefit of theparty entitled thereto the amount which by suchreassessment he or they justly ought to pay . Ifthe amount of tax imposed upon the property ofsuch contesting party b y such valid reassess-ment, or by the subsequent determination andorder of the court, shall equal or exceed theamount imposed thereon by the original assess-ment and tax roll, the party or parties contestingthe validity of such assessment shall be adjudgedto pay the costs of such suit ; otherwise , uponcomplying with the o rder of the court last afore -said, he or they shall be entitled to judgmentwith costs ; provided, however, that no judgmentrendered in any such action shall in anyy wayaffect the validity of any tax against any otherperson than the parties to such action or anytract or parcel of land or other property thanthat described in complaint therein . .

- (5) The value of' the reassessed property shallbe fixed , as nearly as ma y be, as of the day theoriginal assessment was made, and the rules fordetermining the same shall be those provided bylaw. A like stay of proceedings and reassess-ment shall be ordered in all cases in which a taxwhich has been reassessed by any county, townor village board, or common council for one ormore years shall be adjudged uncollectible or,void for any reason affecting th,'e groundwork ofthe tax so as to r equine a reasses§ment in order- todetermine the amount properly due When suchreassessed tax shall have been levied in differentyears it shall not be necessary to make separateassessment rolls for each ,year ; but the valuationsfor each year respectively, may be placed oppo-site the description of the property on the assess-ment roll in columns headed with the figures of'the year, so that the valuations for each year ofreassessments shall be kept di stinct from otheryears entered upon the tax roll .. All the prov i-sions of this section shall apply to the makingand completion and to objections and f "urther,proceedings in respect to such assessment, andthe same shall be treated with respect to eachyear which it purports to embrace as if it were aseparate reassessment roll for that year .. Thissection shall apply to all actions whether , deter-mined upon default or otherwise . .

(6) If however, in any such action nowpending or which may be begun her'eaf'ter'r theevidence enables the court to determine, withreasonable certainty, the amount of taxes whichwere justly chargeable against the lands in-volved in the action, the court, in its discretion,

75.61 Tax sales . ( 1 ) ONE YEAR LIMITATION .Every action enumerated in ss . 75 .57 (Stats„1955) and 66.635, and every action or proceed-ing to sett aside any sale of lands for the nonpay-ment of taxes, or to cancel any tax certificate, orto restrain the issuing ofany tax certificate, ortax deed, for any error or defect going to thevalidity of' the assessment, and affecting thegroundwork of •such tax, or on account of anyvoid or defective special assessment, shall becommenced within one year from the date ofsuch tax sale, and not thereafter-,, In every actionbrought to set aside any such sale,, or to cancelany tax certificate, or to restrain the issuing ofany tax deed upon any ground whatever' notgoing to the validity of the assessment andaffecting the groundwork of such tax or specialassessment, the plaintif'f', if he show himself'otherwise entitled to judgment, shall, before theentry thereof within a reasonable time to befixed by the court, pay into the court for theperson or persons claiming under such tax saleor tax certificate the amount for which such landwas sold, and the amount paid by such person orpersons for taxes levied upon the premises subse-quent to such sale, with interestt on all suchamounts at the rate of 8 per cent per annumfrom the times of payment until the said moneybe so paid into court ; and in default of suchpayment within the time so fixed the defendant

75.54 TAX SALES 1972

may proceed to judgment without staying pro-ceedings or ordering a reassessment, i f it findsthat it is for the best interests of all parties to theaction that it should do so ..

75.55 Application of section 75 .54. Theprovisions of'section 75 : .54 shall be construed topermit the reassessment, by or, under the direc-tion or authority of any city, of'the property, realand personal, therein, which city, before andduntil the passage of' these statutes, was autho-rized by law to make its own tax sales, taxcertificates and tax deeds by its own proper.of'f'icers : And in and for and in respect to everysuch city and the property, real and personal,therein the mayor and council thereof, the asses-sors thereof', the city clerk thereof, the board ofequalization thereof, and the city treasurerthereof shall, as to any such city and the wardstherein, respectively exercise all the powers andperform all the duties and proceed in the mannerheieinbefore provided in respect to towns, vil-lages and other cities, and exercise the powersand performm the duties devolved upon the boardof'supervisois, upon the assessors, upon the townclerk, upon the board of review and upon thetown treasurer, respectively, for the reassess-ment of taxes and the collection thereof .

to said reassessment, the plaintiff ought,justly tohave paid upon the lands involved in said actionor special proceeding . .

(3) JUDGMENT. The plaintiff in such actionor special proceeding shall be entitled to recoverjudgment for the amount, ifany, he so paid inexcess of the amount the court shall finallydetermine he ought to have paid on the landsinvolvedd in said action or proceeding, with inter-est from the date of such payment . .

(4) PAYMENT OF JUDGMENT Payment of anyjudgment so recovered by the plaintif'f', shall bemade forthwith by the treasurer of any suchcounty ; town, city or village, upon presentationof a` certified copy thereof', without other orfurther order . He shall preserve said copy ofsaid judgment as his warrant for such paymentand shall require the satisfaction of record ofsaid judgment upon the making of such pay-ment. The amount of any judgment so paid bythe county treasurer shall be charged to theproper, town, city or village and may be includedby the county as a special charge against suchtown, city or village if such judgment shall be theresult of an error or defect caused by said town,city or, village 'or official thereof'.

75 .63 Ejectment as to public lands; con-ditions . (1) No action shall be commenced,maintained of prosecuted by or on behalf of-theoriginal owner, oor any person claiming titlethrough of under such owner to recover posses-sion of or in any way involving the title to anylands conveyed to the state of Wisconsin by anycounty, or attempted to be so conveyed, and soldby said state to any person until all taxes leviedand assessed thereon from the date of the salethereof by the state, together with all legalcharges for assessing and collecting the sameand interest thereon at the rate of eight percentum per annum from the fifteenth day ofJanuary in each and every year during which thesaid lands were assessed, commencing with theJanuary following the first assessment aftersuch sale, shall have been paid into the treasuryof the county in which such lands shall lie; noruntil all delinquent taxes levied upon and re-turned against said lands and remaining unpaidwhen the same were so conveyed or, attempted tobe to the state, together with the like interestthereon, shall have been paid into such countytreasury ; which money shall be retained in saidtreasury to abide the event of'such action and bereturned to the party paying or depositing thesame if the party fails to maintainn such action ;otherwise, so `much thereof as covers the delin-quent taxes ', above mentioned and interestthereon at the rate aforesaid shall be retained bysuch `county ; and the remainder, shall be paid

shall have judgment in the action . . This provi-sion as to the payment into court to be made bythe plaintiff shall apply to all actions brought tocancel any tax deed,, or to remove the cloud uponanyy title created by any tax certificate or taxdeed where the action impeaches the tax deed oftax certificate upon any grounds whatever' notaffecting the groundwork of the tax for thenonpayment of which such deedd or tax certifi-cate was issued ..

(2) TAX CERTIFICATES OF COUNTY;: DIS-COUNT ON. Whenever the county owns andholds tax certificates upon real estate and theowner of said real estate or, any person, firm,association or- corporation holding a valid lienthereon shall claim the assessment of said realestate to be greater than thee value that canordinarily be obtained therefor at private sale,the respective town board, villagee board or citycouncil where said real estatee is situated maytake proof under, oath of the value of said realestate and make a finding thereon,. Upon thefiling of said finding with the county treasurerhe shall accept from said owner or lienholder, theproper proportional tax on said zeal estate basedupon the value so found, together with theproper charges, as in the case of redemption oftax certificates, shall cancel said tax certificate,and shall give to said owner of- lienholder areceipt for said tax .. The difference between thetax as returned and the amount of such propor-tional tax, exclusive of charges, received by thecounty as a result of the compromise shall becharged tothe town, village of city which re-turned the same and may be included by thecounty as a special charge in the next tax levyagainst such town, city or village

75 .62 `" Tax sales ; actions to set aside. (1)CONDITIONAL PAYMENT, Whenever' any actionor, special proceeding is hereafter, commenced toset aside any sale of lands for the nonpayment oftaxes, of to cancel any tax certificate, or torestrain the issuing of any tax certificate or, taxdeed, or, to set aside any tax,, for any error ordefect going to the validity of the assessment andaffecting the groundwork of such tax, within 20days after the commencement of such action theplaintiff in such action or special proceedingshall pay or cause to be paid to the county, town,city, or village officer entitled to receive thesame, the amount of taxes, interest and chargeslevied against the said lands involved in suchaction, as a condition of maintaining said action ..

( 2 ) REASSESSMENT; PROCEEDING . I f in saidaction or proceeding a reassessment is ordered,the court shall, upon the completionn of saidreassessment made in the manner required bystatute, determine the amount which, according

1973 TAX SALES 75.63

75.67 Tax sales , certificates and deeds inMilwaukee city and county. (1) In countieshavingg a population of 500,000 or, more contain-ing a city authorized to sell land for nonpaymentof its taxes, whenever either such county or cityacquired, subsequent to January 1, 1933, anyproperty by tax deed, or, foreclosure deed, uponits delinquent owned tax certificates or by quit-claim deed of by any other means, the assign-ment or sale of other tax certificates and theredemption and cancellation thereof shall be asprovided by this section :

(2) All tax certificates issued upon a sale ofsuch property by such county or city on the sameday or subsequent to the date of sale of thecertificate upon which such deed was acquired,and which certificates are owned by such countyor, city at the time of the acquisition of theproperty, shall only be sold by assignment orotherwise to such county or city so owning suchproperty . ' On anyy tax sale subsequent to theacquisition of'such property after the first Mon-day of August in any year, such county or city soowning suchh land shall be the exclusive pur-chaser of the tax certificates and the county orthe city treasurer shall bid in and purchase thesame . . Any transferor sale of a tax certificate inviolation of these provisions shall be null andvoid, It is the duty of the city and the countytreasurer' to give the other, as the case may be,written notice of'the acquisition of such propertywithin twenty-four hours, Sundays and holidaysexcluded, after such tax deed, foreclosure deed,or other conveyance has been acquired ; andupon receipt of such notice it is the duty of suchtreasurer, as the case may be, to make entry ofsuch notice upon his sales records .

(3) (a) Whenever such property has been soacquired as a result of tax sale before or- afterMarch 14, 1941, the city treasurer shall notifythe county clerk and the county treasurer, or thecounty clerk shall notify the city treasurer, asthe case mayy be, in writing thereof within 24hours thereafter, Sundays and holidays ex-cluded. The county treasurer or the city trea-surer upon- receipt of such notice shall forthwithcharge the amount, without interest or penalties,of alll city, county, state and metropolitan sewer-age district current and delinquent taxes, allunpaid instalments of special assessments andother, assessments, charges and tax certificates

75 .64 No jurisdiction ; Issue of deed post -poned ; deposit . (1) In all cases where actionis now pending or shall hereafter be commencedfor the setting aside of any sale of ;lands, or' forthe cancellation of any tax certificate, or forenjoining or restraining the issuing of a tax deedthereon upon the ground that the lands so sold ordescribed in such certificate were not liable totaxation,, or, that the taxes on such lands werepaidd prior to such sale, or thatt such lands havebeen redeemed according to law, the owner of,or Any person interested in, the lands covered bythe lien of said certificate may, at any timebefore final judgment is entered in such action,deposit with the county clerk, or when suchcertificatee shall have been issued by a citytreasurer, then with"such treasurer, the amountfor- which such lands were sold, with interestthereon from the date of such sale to the date ofsuch deposit at eight-tenths of one per, cent per,month or fraction thereof, together with thelegal charges thereon.

(2) The said clerk or treasurer shall retainsuch deposit until the final determination of theaction, and in case such certificate shalll bevacated and set aside or the issuing of such deedbe permanently restrained, the money so depos-ited shall,, at the time of entry of judgment or, atany time thereafter, upon demand, be returnedto the person depositing the same . In case finaljudgment shall be rendered in such action sus-taining the validity of such sale and tax certifi-cate the court shall compute the interest uponsuch certificate from the date of such deposit tothe date of rendering judgment at eight-tenthsof one per cent per month or fraction thereof andadd the same to the costs and disbursementstaxable in such action and the amount of such

75.63 TAX SALES

over, to the person purchasing the same from thestate or the person's legal representatives

(2) If the title to any such lands shall beadjudged to be in such original owner or partyclaiming title through or under him they shall bedeemed to be and shall be subject to taxationduring the time the same we r e held by the statein like manner as if they had not been conveyedto or held by it, and the taxes for such periodshall be levied and assessed upon such lands andcollected in like manner as other taxes upon realestate. In all such actions the court shall enteran order requiring the plaintiff therein, within areasonable time to be fixed in the order, tocomply with this section by payment of thetaxes, charges and interest as provided herein,and in default of compliance therewith the courtshall dismisss the action . Nothing herein con-tained shall be construed as amending or repeal-ing s 75 .. 26, 75,27 or 75 .61 .

History: 1973 c .. 184 ; 1977 c 29 s.. 1646 . (3) ; . 197 7 c . 2' 7 .3 .

1974

deposit, and shall enter judgment against theplaintiff therefor-, And no tax deed shall be issuedupon such certificate unless the plaintif 'f' shallfail to pay to such clerk or treasurer, for the useof the owner of such certificate, the amount ofsuch judgment within twenty days after therendition ther'eof', together with interest thereon . .

which are liens upon the land, and which areowned or held by or due to such county or city, asthe case mayy be, and upon which the timelimitations of s . 75,20 have not expired, to a "taxdeed in force" account, and such taxes, assess-ments and certificatess shall thereby be consid-ered as paid or redeemed and such taxes shall bemarked paid or redeemed on the tax roll, as thecase may be ; thereafter the amounts ther'eof'owned by or due to such county shall be chargedback against such city and such amounts thereofowned or held by or due to such city shall becredited to such city in the next tax levy uponsuch city by the county.

(b) On or before October 1 of each year, thecity treasurer and the county treasurer shallrespectively furnish the other with an itemizedstatement of the amounts so charged by him, asthe case may be, to the city's or county's "taxdeed in force" account as a result of tax deedstaken by the city or county . The county clerkshall include an itemized statement of suchamounts in the apportionment filed by him . Ifany such tax deed is set aside, the city treasurerand the county treasurer shall respectivelycredit the other with the amounts so chargedwithh respect to the deed set aside,: and theamounts andd entries . by either treasurer withreference thereto, comprising said amounts shalllbe as though no charge had been made to a "taxdeed in force" account; and the city treasurerand the county treasurer, respectively, shall, onor before October 1 of each year, advise theother of such credits due him

(c) In the event that such property is soacquired by such city while the county tax roll isin the possession of its city treasurer, the lattershall consider such taxes as paid and mark thetax roll accordingly, and furnish the countytreasurer with a statement thereof upon a formprovided by the county :. He shall return suchrecords to the county treasurer with the delin-quent countyy tax roll, and shall receive credittherefor the same as for delinquent taxes . . Theamount for which suchh credit is given shall beincluded in the amount ,to be charged back tosuch city in succeeding apportionment of countytaxes.. .

75 .6 Consideration in sale of land fornonpayment of taxes . Any county or any citytherein authorized by charter to sell andpurchase land for nonpayment of taxes may sellor dispose of land acquired by it by tax deed ordeed of foreclosure on tax certificates, or byquitclaim deed or by any other means, and notneeded by it for public use, for a consideration inamount thee same as or- more or less than the full

75 .69 Sale of tax delinquent real estate .(1) Except in counties having a population of500,000 or more, no tax delinquent real estateacquired by a municipality as defined in s . 75,35(1) (a), shall be sold : unless the sale and ap-praised value of such real estate has first beenadvertised by publication of a class 3 notice,under ch . 985 .. Any such municipality mayaccept the bid most advantageous to it but everybid less than the appraised value of the propertyshall be rejected. Any suchh municipality isauthorized to sell for an amount equal to orabove the appraised value, without ieadvertis-ing, any land previously advertised for sale.

(2) This section shall not apply to exchangeof property under s, 59 .97 (8), to withdrawaland sale of county forest lands, nor to the sale orexchange of lands to or between municipalitiesor to the state.

(3) Thiss section shall apply to all tax delin-quent lands regardless of the date of acquisitionby the .muncipality,

(4) No tax delinquentt real estate shall besold by a county under this section unless noticeof such sale is mailed to the clerk of the munici-pality in which the real estate is located at least 3weeks prior to the time of the sale . .

75 .70 Delinquent tax lands and taxes. (1)DEEDS TO MUNICIPALIT IE S: The county boardmay authorize the county' clerk to deed county-owned lands to towns, cities or villages having anexcess of delinquent real estate taxes to theircredit in exchange for such part of the interest ofthe town, city or village for one or, more years asmay be agreed upon by the county board and thegoverning body of the town, city or village . Thelands so conveyed shall be valued at not less thanthe face value of the certificates covering them .

(2) PURCHASE OF TAxES .. The county boardmay, by atwo-thirds vote, authorize the countyto purchase and assume such delinquent taxes,tax certificates and interest thereon from anytown, city or village, exclusive of the penaltyprovided by s . 74 03,,as exceed the sum then duethe county from the town, city or- villagee forunpaid county taxes .

1975 TAX SALES 75.70

value which could ordinarily be obtained there-for at a private sale. The amount of suchconsideration shall not affect the determination,in any other proceeding, of' such full value ofsuch property or of any comparable propertysimilarly situated . Any such sale or dispositionof lands shall be made subject to the provisionsof section 75,69 .