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(a) As used in this Code section, the term:
(1) “Delinquent taxpayer” means the person or persons against whom an execution has been issued or the successor in title to the property for which the execution has been issued.
(2) “Due diligence” means the performance of a diligent search to ascertain the actual location of the record owner of the property. The following actions shall satisfy the diligent search requirements of this Code section: sending notice by first-class mail, certified mail, or statutory overnight delivery, as required by law. If the notice is returned undelivered, the following actions shall satisfy the diligent search requirements of this Code section: checking telephone directories for the county wherein the property is located; checking the records of the tax commissioner of the county wherein the property is located; or checking the real estate records of the clerk of the superior court of the county wherein the property is located.
(3) “Execution” means an execution issued for the collection of any ad valorem taxes, special assessments, fees, penalties, interest, or collection costs due the state or any political subdivision thereof.
(4) “Transferee” means a person to whom an execution is transferred.
(5) “Transferor” means the official holding the tax executions and authorized to collect or transfer such tax executions.
(b) (1) Whenever any person other than the person against whom an execution has been issued pays an execution issued for state, county, or municipal taxes or special assessments, the officer whose duty is to enforce the execution may transfer the execution to the party so paying the full value of the execution. No officer whose duty it is to enforce an execution issued for state, county, or municipal taxes or special assessments shall be required to make any transfer or transfers of such execution or executions. The transferee shall have the same rights as to enforcing the execution and priority of payment as might have been exercised or claimed by the tax official. The person to whom the execution is transferred shall, within 30 days of the transfer, cause the execution to be entered on the general execution docket of the superior court of the county in which the execution was issued. In default of the required entry or entries, the execution shall lose its lien upon any property which has been transferred in good faith and for a valuable consideration before the entry and without notice of the existence of the execution.
(2) (A) It shall be unlawful for any tax official covered by this subsection to pay a tax execution in order to obtain a transfer of the execution under this Code section. It shall be unlawful for any employee of a tax official covered by this subsection to pay a tax execution in order to obtain a transfer of the execution under this Code section. The tax officials covered by this subsection are:
(i) County tax receivers, tax collectors, and tax commissioners;
(ii) Members of county boards of tax assessors;
(iii) Members of county boards of equalization; and
(iv) County tax appraisers.
(B) Any execution transferred in violation of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph shall be void and unenforceable by the person obtaining the execution and such person’s successors in interest.
(C) Any tax official or employee of a tax official violating subparagraph (A) of this paragraph shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(c) (1) Within 60 days following the transfer, the transferee shall notify the delinquent taxpayer of the transfer of the tax execution by first-class mail. The notice shall include:
(A) The name, mailing address, and telephone number for the transferee’s business office;
(B) The amount necessary to satisfy such execution; and
(C) Other information as deemed appropriate by the transferee.
(2) In the event that any such notice by first-class mail is returned undelivered, the transferee shall be required to perform due diligence in an effort to obtain the delinquent taxpayer’s correct address or any new owner’s correct address and resend the notice by first-class mail.
(d) An execution which has been transferred shall bear interest as specified in Code Section 48-3-20 on the amount paid for such execution from the date of the transfer. In addition, the transferee may charge and collect recording fees actually expended in recording the transferred execution on the general execution docket of any county in which the transfer is recorded and such other penalties as are provided for in this title.
(e) (1) Whenever an execution has been transferred to any transferee, the transferee shall not be authorized to submit the execution to the appropriate levying officer until 12 months after the date of such transfer or 24 months after the tax giving rise to the execution was originally due, whichever is earlier. A transferee shall not have the right to advertise and sell property under a tax execution. Such right shall remain solely with the appropriate levying official, such as the sheriff or marshal.
(2) A transferee with multiple outstanding executions against the same property shall not be subject to the time period requirements of paragraph (1) of this subsection with respect to all such executions if at least one of the executions meets such requirements of paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(f) Until the execution is paid in full or satisfied, on or before November 15 of each year after the calendar year in which the transfer occurred, the transferee shall send notice by regular mail to the delinquent taxpayer and the record owner of the property advising that the tax execution is still outstanding. The notice must provide the transferee’s most updated contact information, including mailing address and telephone number.
(g) Any transferee that pays the tax official more than $2 million in any calendar year for the transfer of executions shall maintain a reasonably accessible office within 50 miles of the courthouse wherein the superior court of the county wherein the transferred executions were issued is located. Said office shall be open to the public for at least eight hours per day for five days a week, official state holidays excepted. History. Code 1981, § 48-3-19, enacted by Ga. L. 2006, p. 770, § 3/SB 585; Ga. L. 2010, p. 878, § 48/HB 1387; Ga. L. 2017, p. 774, § 48/HB 323. The 2017 amendment, effective May 9, 2017, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, in the last sentence of paragraph (a)(2), revised punctuation and deleted “due diligence shall include” preceding “checking telephone directories”. Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2006, p. 770, § 8/SB 585, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “The provisions of this Act shall apply to all executions transferred on or after July 1, 2006. Executions transferred prior to July 1, 2006, shall not be affected by this Act.” Law reviews. For annual survey of real property law, see 58 Mercer L. Rev. 367 (2006). For comment, “Making Debt Pay: Examining the Use of Property Tax Delinquency as a Revenue Source,” see 62 Emory L.J. 217 (2012). JUDICIAL DECISIONS Demand for payment of interest and fees proper. — When the plaintiff argued that the defendants improperly demanded interest and fees based on the higher assessment amount as the plaintiff entered into a consent agreement with the county tax commissioner to lower the value of the property prior to levy on the 2012 executions, the plaintiff’s substantive claims were prohibited as a matter of law because the tax executions were validly issued by the commissioner; the plaintiff failed to pay the taxes while pursuing the plaintiff’s appeal of the assessment and awaiting a refund; and the defendants were authorized to levy the executions and demand payment as the plaintiff failed to plead that the executions were void as a matter of law or were cancelled by the commissioner in the consent judgment. B.C. Grand, LLC v. FIG, LLC, 352 Ga. App. 646, 835 S.E.2d 676, 2019 Ga. App. LEXIS 622 (2019), cert. denied, No. S20C0503, 2020 Ga. LEXIS 425 (Ga. June 1, 2020).