§ 47-1355 — Void certificate of sale.

(a) Except as otherwise provided, a certificate of sale shall be void if:

(1) An action to foreclose the right of redemption is not brought within one year from the date of the certificate of sale;

(2) Repealed;

(3) An action to foreclose the right of redemption is dismissed for a lack of prosecution;

(3) An action to foreclose the right of redemption is dismissed for lack of prosecution, or a pleading has not been filed by the plaintiff within the later of one year from the last hearing in the case or October 1, 2019.

(4) The purchaser fails to comply with § 47-1382 ; or

(5) A sale is set aside because of fraud on the part of the purchaser.

(b) If a certificate shall become void:

(1) The right, title, and interest of the purchaser in the real property shall cease;

(2) All monies paid for the real property by the purchaser shall be forfeited to the District and deposited by the Mayor in the General Fund of the District; and

(3) The real property shall be deemed to have been bid off in the name of the District for the taxes for which the real property was sold or bid off at the original public tax sale to which the certificate corresponds, and interest thereon shall accrue from the date that the property was sold or bid off, as if the sale or assignment to the purchaser had not occurred.

(c) Subsection (b) of this section shall not apply if a judgment or sale is set aside in the absence of fraud on the part of the purchaser and the certificate of sale is not void under subsection (a) of this section.

Legislative History

June 9, 2001, D.C. Law 13-305, § 507(a)(2), 48 DCR 334; Dec. 4, 2014, D.C. Law 20-141, § 101(c)(18), 61 DCR 7763; Feb. 26, 2015, D.C Law 20-155, §§ 7102(c)(18), 7104, 61 DCR 9990