§ 21-251 — Registry of owners of certificates of purchase

(a) The county clerk of each county shall create and maintain a registry system that permanently records the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of owners or assignees of certificates of purchase issued pursuant to any tax sale conducted under this Code. The registry may consist of a single record or a combination of records maintained in paper or electronic form and may include copies of records kept by the county treasurer for other purposes, all to be used as the county clerk deems appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Section. The information in the registry shall be made available to the public. (b) The county clerk of each county is authorized to promulgate reasonable rules, procedures, and forms for purposes of creating and maintaining the registry and for access to the registry information by members of the public. In counties with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, any owner of a certificate of purchase pursuant to assignment may elect whether to register that assignment as provided in this Section, but all owners of certificates of purchase shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (d) of this Section. In counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, the county clerk shall provide by rule whether registration of assignments of certificates of purchase shall be elective or mandatory. (c) The owner of a certificate of purchase pursuant to assignment, in order to register that assignment, shall submit to the county clerk the owner's name, address, and telephone number in accordance with any rules, procedures, and forms promulgated by the clerk. Any registered owner of a certificate of purchase may update the registration at any time without charge by submitting to the county clerk any lawful change of name, address, or telephone number. (d) If notice is required to be given to the owner of the certificate of purchase in any proceeding, whether judicial or administrative, affecting a tax sale conducted under any provision of this Code, the notice may be directed to the most recent owner of the certificate of purchase appearing in the county clerk's registry under this Section. Any notice that has been directed as provided in this Section shall be conclusively presumed to be properly directed to the owner of the certificate of purchase for all purposes related to the proceeding in which the notice is given. No objection or assertion by any assignee of a certificate of purchase in any proceeding shall be heard on grounds that a notice to the tax purchaser was misdirected, unless that assignee's current and lawful name, address, and telephone number were submitted to the county clerk's registry at the time of the notice in question. (e) The county clerk may assess an automation fee of no more than $10 to be paid by the owner of the certificate of purchase for each assignment of the certificate that is registered under this Section. The fee shall be collected in the same manner as other fees and costs and shall be held by the county clerk in a fund for purposes of automating his or her office. The fee provided for under this Section shall not be chargeable to the cost of redemption under Section 21-355 nor shall it be posted under Section 21-360 of this Code.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 92-729, eff. 7-25-02.)