Bill Text: NJ A3263 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits municipal vacant property registration fees in certain circumstances.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-25 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A3263 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A3263-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ANNETTE CHAPARRO
District 33 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits municipal vacant property registration fees in certain circumstances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act prohibiting municipal vacant property registration fees in certain circumstances and amending P.L.1965, c.187.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 7 of P.L.1965, c.187 (C.54:5-97.1) is amended to read as follows:
7. a. No search fee, counsel fee, or other fee related to certified mailings shall be allowed a plaintiff other than a municipality in the foreclosure of a tax lien unless, prior to the filing of the complaint, the plaintiff shall have given 30 days' written notice to the parties entitled to redeem whose interests appear of record at the time of the tax sale, by certified mail with postage prepaid thereon, addressed to the last known address of such persons, of intention to file such complaint. The notice shall also contain the amount due on such tax lien as of the date of the notice. A copy of such notice shall also be filed with the municipal tax collector's office. Upon the filing and service of such notice, a plaintiff shall be entitled to such fees and expenses.
b. A municipality, by ordinance, may authorize the tax collector to charge to a lienholder a fee not to exceed $50 for the calculation of the amount due to redeem the tax lien required to be provided pursuant to this section. Any request for a redemption calculation shall specify the date to be used for the calculation, which shall be the date of the notice. Neither the tax collector or the municipality shall be liable for an incorrect calculation. The fee paid to the municipality shall not become part of the lien and shall not be passed on to any party entitled to redeem pursuant to R.S.54:5-54.
c. A municipality shall not impose any fee for the registration of a vacant or abandoned property on which a judgment has been entered pursuant to R.S.54:5-87 or section 36 of P.L.1948, c.96 (C.54:5-104.64) for the one-year period following the entry of that judgment or the one-year period following the date on which the plaintiff gains possession of the property that is the subject of the judgment, whichever time period is greater, provided that a copy of the judgment is recorded in the office of the county clerk or register of deeds and mortgages, as the case may be, of the county in which the property is located.
(cf: P.L.2009, c.320, s.11)
2. This act shall take
effect immediately and shall be retroactive to January 1, 2020.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit, for a limited time, a municipality from imposing a vacant or abandoned property registration fee with respect to property that is the subject of a judgment barring the right of redemption in a tax sale foreclosure action. The prohibition on imposing a vacant or abandoned property registration fee would last for either the one-year period following the entry of the tax sale judgment or the one-year period following the date on which the purchaser gains possession of the property, whichever is greater.
The provisions of this bill would be applicable to both in personam and in rem tax sale foreclosure actions. In addition, the bill would be retroactive to January 1, 2020, meaning a vacant or abandoned property registration fee could not be imposed and collected from that date on if prohibited under the bill.
