Section 23 Defects in Notice or Publication

• Library: Tax Law 2009

A tax sale notice must contain all of the owners listed in the land tax book. A sale in violation of this requirement is void. Mo. Const. art. X, § 13; Mitchell v. Atherthon, 563 S.W.2d 13 (Mo. banc 1978). Although early cases considered certain defects consequential, Myers v. De Lisle, 168 S.W. 676 (Mo. 1914), many such defects were made inconsequential by a legislative action. See § 140.500, RSMo 2000. But see McCready v. Southard, 671 S.W.2d 385 (Mo. App. S.D. 1984).

In Campbell v. Siegfried, 823 S.W.2d 156 (Mo. App. E.D. 1992), the holder of a purchase certificate obtained in a tax sale of real estate was held obliged to give notice to the owner of the property that he was acquiring a collector’s deed. In this instance, the owner was not the record owner at the time of the tax sale but subsequently purchased the property during the redemption period. See also § 140.405, RSMo Supp. 2007. Then see Buck v. Leggett, 813 S.W.2d 872 (Mo. banc 1991), which held that late notice of an assessor’s denial of a reconsideration of exempt status of real property may provide a basis for a late appeal to the board of equalization and the STC. The Court...