AZ Property Tax Lien ALERTS

4/3/2001 - Part of "Wish List" Legislative Package Moves Forward

30-Day Notice Requirement and Lien Priority Rules To Be Clarified

The legislative "Wish List" we previously wrote about took form this Session in House Bill 2591. Due in part to the concerns of some of Arizona's county treasurers though, the bill stalled in the House committees it was assigned to, and was never given a hearing.

The primary sponsor of the bill, Representative Roberta Voss, and other legislators arranged for a strike-all amendment to an unrelated House bill sponsored by Representative Voss that had passed out of the House and into the Senate. The strike-all amendment to HB2283 consisted of those portions of HB 2591 that the treasurers and other interested parties could agree upon.

Newly amended HB 2283 adopts the holding of the Court of Appeals in Bauza Holdings, L.L.C. v. Primeco, Inc., 18 P.3d 132, 1 CA-CV 99-1012 (Div. 1), January 25, 2001 (discussed in our 1/30/2001 Alert) that tax liens for different years on the same parcel have parity in relation to each other, not any kind of priority. (We have been informed that the Bauza opinion has been appealed to the Supreme Court, which has not yet determined to grant review.)

HB2283 would also amend A.R.S. §42-18202, pertaining to the statutory 30-day notice of intent to foreclose. Correcting for the ambiguities created by the 1999 amendment to the same statute, a tax lien holder, if the Bill passes, will be able to confidently comply with the requirement by sending the notice to the Assessor's record address, the tax bill mailing address, and the property situs address, if different. As the statute stands now, the ambiguous requirement that the notice be sent to the owner of record according to the County Recorder's records could conceivably be construed to force a skip-trace of the record owner. This is an unreimbursable expense of the lien holder.

We think the change to the 30-day notice statute will result in savings on the cost of preparing such notices while at the same time improving the likelihood that the notice will be received by the owner or someone who will pass the notice on to the owner.

It is safe to assume that the remaining portions of HB 2591 are dead for this session, but may have some life in the future after the county treasurers have an opportunity to review and consider them. You can track HB2283's progress on the Arizona Legislative Information System website, at http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/45leg/1r/bills/hb2283o.htm.

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Arizona Property Tax Lien Primer: http://members.cox.net/manoil