Chapter 60

Section 43. If the taxes are not paid, the collector shall, at the time and place appointed for the sale, sell by public auction, for the amount of the taxes and interest, if any, and necessary intervening charges, the smallest undivided part of the land which will bring said amo…

Section 44. The collector may adjourn the sale from time to time not exceeding seven days in all, and shall give notice of every adjournment by a public declaration thereof at the time and place appointed for the sale.

Section 45. The collector shall execute and deliver to the purchaser a deed of the land, stating the cause of sale, the price for which the land was sold, the name of the person on whom the demand for the tax was made, the places where the notices were posted, the name of the new…

Section 46. If it subsequently appears that, by reason of an error, omission or informality in the assessment or the sale, the purchaser has no claim upon the property sold, he may within six months after the date of the deed, offer by writing given to the collector to surrender …

Section 47. Whoever has a title to land under a sale for non-payment of taxes or other assessment and is a resident of the town where such land lies shall file with the treasurer thereof and in the registry of deeds a statement of his residence and place of business, with the str…

Section 48. If at the time and place of sale no person bids for the land offered for sale an amount equal to the tax and charges, and if the sale has been adjourned one or more times, the collector shall then and there make public declaration of the fact; and, if no bid equal to …

Section 49. If the purchaser fails to pay the collector within twenty days after the sale the amount bid by him, the sale shall be void, and the town shall be deemed to be the purchaser of the land, under the preceding section.

Section 50. If the town becomes the purchaser, the deed to it, in addition to the statements required by section forty-five, shall set forth the fact that no sufficient bid was made at the sale or that the purchaser failed to pay the amount bid, as the case may be, and shall conf…

Section 50A. In the event of the filing of a certificate under clause (38) of section five of chapter forty in respect to any particular real estate held by a town under a purchase or taking for non-payment of taxes, the collector shall make a written demand upon the owner of rec…

Section 50B. Every city or town shall include in its annual budget the amount estimated by its treasurer as the amount necessary for land court proceedings for tax title foreclosure; provided, that the amount so included shall be not less than eighty dollars for each tax title ri…

Section 51. If unimproved and unoccupied land does not exceed four thousand square feet in area, or is laid out in lots or parcels no one of which exceeds such area, and the taxes unpaid for any one year do not exceed fifty cents on such land, or on any such lot or parcel thereof…

Section 52. Cities and towns may make regulations for the possession, management and sale of land purchased or taken for taxes, not inconsistent with law, regulations promulgated by the department of revenue or the right of redemption. The treasurer of any city or town holding 1 …

Section 53. If a tax on land is not paid within fourteen days after demand therefor and remains unpaid at the date of taking, the collector may take such land for the town, first giving fourteen days' notice of his intention to exercise such power of taking; provided, however, th…

Section 54. The instrument of taking shall be under the hand and seal of the collector and shall contain a statement of the cause of taking, a substantially accurate description of each parcel of land taken, the name of the person to whom the same was assessed, the amount of the …

Section 55. If land has been so taken there shall be allowed to the collector and added to the tax the charges and fees fixed by section fifteen, and also the cost of recording the instrument of taking, provided he has caused such instrument to be duly recorded within sixty days …

Section 56. The assessment, sale or taking may be made in the name of one or more of the record owners at the date of assessment, and if so made, shall, subject to section forty-three, be deemed to be in the name of the owner thereof. Every such sale or taking shall be of the who…

Section 57. The affidavit of the collector, deputy collector or disinterested person reciting the proceedings required by law in the sale of land for taxes, with copies of the advertisement and notices annexed thereto, recorded within three months after such sale in the registry …

Section 57A. If any check or electronic funds transfer in payment of any tax, interest, penalty, fee or other charge imposed under chapters 59 to 61A, inclusive, or chapter 80 or for any other municipal service rendered is not duly paid there may, in addition to any other penalti…

Section 58. If the whole or any portion of a tax on land remains unpaid after it is due, the holder of a mortgage upon the land may pay to the collector such amount as is due and unpaid, with the accrued charges and expenses; and the amount so paid may be added to the mortgage de…

Section 59. If a tax on land is assessed to a mortgagor and mortgagee separately, any part thereof remaining unpaid on October first following its assessment may be paid by either party. If a mortgagee pays a tax, interest or costs thereon which by law or by the terms of the mort…

Section 6. The collector shall make and keep the book, or an electronically prepared record, containing the tax list committed to the collector and against the name of every person assessed for a tax shall make entries showing the disposition thereof, whether reassessed, abated o…

Section 60. If a person other than the owner of the fee rightfully pays the taxes assessed on land to the collector or treasurer, before a taking or sale, the collector or treasurer shall at the request of the person so paying give him a certificate of such payment stating the na…

Section 61. Whenever a town shall have purchased or taken real estate for payment of taxes the lien of the town on such real estate for all taxes assessed subsequently to the assessment for payment of which the estate was purchased or taken shall continue, and it shall be unneces…

Section 61A. Anything contained in section sixty-one to the contrary notwithstanding, if a tax is a lien on land only part of which is subject to a tax title or tax titles held by the town or part of which is subject to a tax title held by the town and the remainder of which is s…

Section 62. Any person having an interest in land taken or sold for nonpayment of taxes, including those assessed under sections twelve, thirteen and fourteen of chapter fifty-nine, or his heirs or assigns, at any time prior to the filing of a petition for foreclosure under secti…

Section 62A. Municipalities may by bylaw or ordinance authorize payment agreements between the treasurer and persons entitled to redeem parcels in tax title. Such agreements shall be for a maximum term of no more than 10 years or such lesser period as the ordinance or bylaw may s…

Section 63. The treasurer shall receive money paid to him instead of the purchaser or assignee of a tax title, if the amount tendered equals the amount stated in the instrument of assignment or collector's deed plus additional interest at the rate stated in section 62 from the da…

Section 64. The land court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the foreclosure of all rights of redemption from titles conveyed by a tax collector's deed or a taking of land for taxes in a proceeding held pursuant to sections 65 to 75, inclusive. The title conveyed by a tax coll…

Section 64A. (a) This section shall apply to the sale or retention of property by a municipality or a purchaser of tax receivables following a final judgment of the land court foreclosing the right of redemption under this chapter. Not more than 14 days after the of entry of judg…

Section 65. Except as provided in section sixty-two, whoever then holds the title to land acquired by a sale or taking for taxes may bring a petition in the land court for the foreclosure of all rights of redemption of said land either after 12 months from the sale or taking, or …

Section 66. Upon the filing of such a petition the court shall forthwith cause to be made by one of its official examiners an examination of the title sufficient only to determine the persons who may be interested in the same, and shall upon the filing of the examiner's report no…

Section 67. After the return day fixed, to be at least twenty days after the time of the actual issuance of notice, the court shall, if satisfied that the notice has been properly given, on motion of the petitioner enter an order defaulting all persons failing to appear and answe…

Section 68. Any person claiming an interest, on or before the return day or within such further time as may on motion be allowed by the court, shall, if he desires to redeem, file an answer setting forth his right in the land, and an offer to redeem upon such terms as may be fixe…

Section 69. If a default is entered under section sixty-seven, or if redemption is not made within the time and upon the terms fixed by the court under the preceding section, or if at the time fixed for the hearing the person claiming the right to redeem does not appear to urge h…

Section 69A. The land court may grant a motion to vacate a decree of foreclosure brought by any interested person other than the petitioner under section 65 within 1 year after the final entry of the decree if presented with extraordinary circumstances and if: (i) no innocent pur…

Section 7. He shall also keep a cash book, in which he shall enter all sums paid to him, as received, specifying the total amount of tax, abatements allowed, all interest charged, the total amount received and the date of receipt, the date and amount of every payment and disburse…

Section 70. If a person claiming an interest desires to raise any question concerning the validity of such a title, he shall do so by answer filed in the proceeding on or before the return day, or within such further time as may on motion be allowed by the court, or else be forev…

Section 71. Any party may claim a jury trial on or before the return day, or within such further time as may on motion be allowed by the court, but unless so claimed the right to jury trial shall be deemed to be waived. Upon such a claim issues shall be framed therefor in accorda…

Section 72. Questions of law may be reported by the court or taken to the supreme judicial court for revision by any party aggrieved, in the same manner as in other proceedings in the land court.

Section 73. The petitioner, at the time of filing his petition, shall deposit with the recorder a sum sufficient to cover the costs of the proceedings as estimated by the court, and the fees chargeable by the court as the case proceeds shall be computed in accordance with section…

Section 75. Practice and procedure under sections sixty-four to seventy-three, inclusive, sections seventy-six, seventy-six A, and eighty B, not therein otherwise provided for, shall conform as nearly as possible to the land court practice, rules, regulations and procedure under …

Section 76. In addition to its jurisdiction to allow a party to redeem under section sixty-eight, the land court shall have jurisdiction as to redemption in all cases of taking or sale of land for non-payment of taxes if relief is sought before the filing of a petition under sect…

Section 76A. If real estate has been divided by sale, mortgage, upon a petition for partition or otherwise and such division has been duly recorded in the registry of deeds, and such real estate has been taken or sold for failure to pay a tax assessed on it as a whole, the land c…

Section 76B. Errors or irregularities in respect to water, sewer use or municipal light rates and charges included in a tax title account, including interest and costs, or in the proceedings relating thereto, shall not render invalid a tax title otherwise valid; but in proceeding…

Section 76C. Whenever a tax title held by a town shall be assigned, or the land subject to a tax title so held shall be redeemed or the right of redemption thereunder foreclosed, the treasurer shall forthwith send written notice of the assignment, redemption or foreclosure, as th…

Section 77. After foreclosure by a town of the rights of redemption under a tax title or taking, as hereinbefore provided, the land shall thereafter be held and disposed of like any land belonging to it and held for municipal purposes, and shall not while so held be assessed for …