To the Section Membership:

The attached Tax Sale legislative amendments and following explanation
will be considered by the Section Council.  Again, we encourage your
comments and ask that you post them to the list serve.  Thank you.

Mark A. Otto 
Chair

-----Original Message-----
From: James Nervig [mailto:jim.nervig@brickgentrylaw.com] 
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 1:54 PM
To: Mark Otto
Subject: 3 tax sale amendments

Mark, attached is a draft for 3 possible tax sale amendments.   
Amendment 1 would amend Sec. 446.16 in 2 ways.  First, new subsec. 1  
would eliminate percentage bid-downs at tax sale, whereby a person can  
bid the lien down to an undivided percentage of between 1 and 99  
percent.  Second, new subsec. 5 would mandate that only legal entities  
are qualified to bid at tax sale (and ultimately to claim a tax deed);  
this is to avoid a situation of a non-entity receiving a tax deed,  
which would be void.

Amendment 2 would lower the redemption interest rate from 2 percent a  
month (24 percent a year) to 1.75 percent a month (21 percent a  
year).  This interest rate reduction is intended to be offered as a  
trade-off benefit to the taxpayer, in return for the elimination of  
the percentage bid-down which is a corresponding benefit to the tax  
sale investor.

Finally, Amendment 3 would clear up the judicial procedures applicable  
to a lawsuit brought to challenge a tax deed.  These changes are  
intended to harmonize the procedures with the terms of the 2008  
amendment to Sec. 448.3.

I will make myself available any time to discuss this proposal with  
any interested persons.  Thanks for your consideration.

James E. Nervig
Brick Gentry P.C.
6701 Westown Parkway, Suite 100
West Des Moines, IA 50266
Telephone:  515-274-1450
Fax:  515-274-1488

08.7.28.TaxSaleAmendment.doc

Type: application/octet-stream Name: 08.7.28.TaxSaleAmendment.doc