916279 Tax Sale Costs and Waiting Period

OFFICE OF TAX AND REVENUE
NOTICE OF FINAL RULEMAKING

 

The Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR), pursuant to the authority set forth in D.C. Official Code § 47-1335 (2001), Section 201(a) of the 2005 District of Columbia Omnibus Authorization Act, approved October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2019; P.L. 109-356, D.C. Official Code § 1-204.24d(9), (10) (Supp. 2009)) of the Home Rule Act, and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer Financial Management and Control Order No. 00-5, effective June 7, 2000, hereby gives notice of this final action to adopt rules to amend chapter 3, REAL PROPERTY TAXES, of title 9 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR), by making new rules within section 315, Tax Sale Costs, and section 319, Special Deed Tax Sale.  The rules were previously published as proposed rulemaking in the D.C. Register on February 25, 2011 at 58 DCR 1593.

 

The tax sale fee for tax sales conducted after July 1, 2011, shall be raised to two hundred dollars ($200), pursuant to subsection 315.3.  Additionally, it is clarified that the four (4)-month period described in D.C. Official Code § 47-1377(b) shall relate back to the original or latest tax sale to which the certificate of sale corresponds, consistent with the relation back of the six (6)-month waiting period under D.C. Official Code § 47-1353(c) to the original tax sale.  The D.C. Official Code is currently silent on the relation back to the original tax sale for reimbursement of pre-complaint legal expenses, and the new rule in subsection 319.10 provides uniformity and consistency in the interpretation of both sections under chapter 13A of title 47 of the D.C. Official Code.

 

No comments were received concerning the proposed rulemaking.  No substantive changes were made to the text of the proposed rulemaking.  One technical change was made to the new subsection 315.3.  “Subsection” was inadvertently omitted from the text and was added here to clarify that “315.2” is referring to subsection 315.2.  This final rulemaking is identical to the published text of the proposed rulemaking.  This final rulemaking shall become effective upon publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.

 

Chapter 3 of title 9 DCMR is amended as follows:

 

Section 315, Tax Sale Costs, is amended by adding a new subsection 315.3 to read as follows:

 

315.3               For any real property public auction tax sale conducted after July 1, 2011, the

tax sale fee described in subsection 315.2 shall be increased to the amount of two hundred dollars ($200).  This two hundred dollar ($200) tax sale fee shall be levied against each real property advertised for sale and sold or bid off. The tax sale fee shall be included in the certificate of sale and added to the amount for which the property shall be sold or bid off at public auction.

 

Section 319, Special Deed Tax Sale, is amended by adding a new subsection 319.10 to read as follows:

 

319.10             When a certificate of sale is issued for real property sold or a certificate

of sale is assigned pursuant to any provision in § 47-1353 of the D.C. Official Code, the four (4)-month period described in § 47-1377(b) of the D.C. Official Code shall be reduced by the number of days that shall have passed since the original or latest public tax sale to which the certificate of sale corresponds.