§25. Tax Sales
Section 25.(A) Tax Sales. (1) There shall be no forfeiture of property for
nonpayment of taxes. However, at the expiration of the year in which the taxes are due, the
collector, without suit, and after giving notice to the delinquent in the manner provided by
law, shall advertise for sale the property on which the taxes are due. The advertisement shall
be published in the official journal of the parish or municipality, or, if there is no official
journal, as provided by law for sheriffs' sales, in the manner provided for judicial sales. On
the day of sale, the collector shall sell the portion of the property which the debtor points out.
If the debtor does not point out sufficient property, the collector shall sell immediately the
least quantity of property which any bidder will buy for the amount of the taxes, interest, and
costs. The sale shall be without appraisement. A tax deed by a tax collector shall be prima
facie evidence that a valid sale was made.
(2) If property located in a municipality with a population of more than four hundred
fifty thousand persons as of the most recent federal decennial census fails to sell for the
minimum required bid in the tax sale, the collector may offer the property for sale at a
subsequent sale with no minimum required bid. The proceeds of the sale shall be applied to
the taxes, interest, and costs due on the property, and any remaining deficiency shall be
eliminated from the tax rolls.
(B) Redemption. (1) The property sold shall be redeemable for three years after the
date of recordation of the tax sale, by paying the price given, including costs, five percent
penalty thereon, and interest at the rate of one percent per month until redemption.
(2) In the city of New Orleans, when such property sold is residential or commercial
property which is abandoned property as defined by R.S. 33:4720.12(1) or blighted property
as defined by Act 155 of the 1984 Regular Session, it shall be redeemable for eighteen
months after the date of recordation of the tax sale by payment in accordance with
Subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph.
(3) In any parish other than Orleans, when such property sold is vacant residential
or commercial property which has been declared blighted, as defined by R.S. 33:1374(B)(1)
on January 1, 2013, or abandoned, as defined by R.S. 33:4720.59(D)(2) on January 1, 2013,
it shall be redeemable for eighteen months after the date of recordation of the tax sale by
payment in accordance with Subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph.
(C) Annulment. No sale of property for taxes shall be set aside for any cause, except
on proof of payment of the taxes prior to the date of the sale, unless the proceeding to annul
is instituted within six months after service of notice of sale. A notice of sale shall not be
served until the final day for redemption has ended. It must be served within five years after
the date of the recordation of the tax deed if no notice is given. The fact that taxes were paid
on a part of the property sold prior to the sale thereof, or that a part of the property was not
subject to taxation, shall not be cause for annulling the sale of any part thereof on which the
taxes for which it was sold were due and unpaid. No judgment annulling a tax sale shall
have effect until the price and all taxes and costs are paid, and until ten percent per annum
interest on the amount of the price and taxes paid from date of respective payments are paid
to the purchaser; however, this shall not apply to sales annulled because the taxes were paid
prior to the date of sale.
(D) Quieting Tax Title. The manner of notice and form of proceeding to quiet tax
titles shall be provided by law.
(E) Movables; Tax Sales. When taxes on movables are delinquent, the tax collector
shall seize and sell sufficient movable property of the delinquent taxpayer to pay the tax,
whether or not the property seized is the property which was assessed. Sale of the property
shall be at public auction, without appraisement, after ten days advertisement, published
within ten days after date of seizure. It shall be absolute and without redemption.
If the tax collector can find no corporeal movables of the delinquent to seize, he may
levy on incorporeal rights, by notifying the debtor thereof, or he may proceed by summary
rule in the courts to compel the delinquent to deliver for sale property in his possession or
under his control.
(F) Postponement of Taxes. The legislature may postpone the payment of taxes, but
only in cases of overflow, general conflagration, general crop destruction, or other public
calamity, and may provide for the levying, assessing, and collecting of such postponed taxes.
In such case, the legislature may authorize the borrowing of money by the state on its faith
and credit, by bond issue or otherwise, and may levy taxes, or apply taxes already levied and
not appropriated, to secure payment thereof, in order to create a fund from which loans may
be made through the Interim Emergency Board to the governing authority of the parish where
the calamity occurs. The money loaned shall be applied to and shall not exceed the
deficiency in revenue of the parish or a political subdivision therein or of which the parish
is a part, caused by postponement of taxes. No loan shall be made to a parish governing
authority without the approval of the Interim Emergency Board.
Amended by Acts 1995, No. 1319, §1, approved Oct. 21, 1995, eff. Nov. 23, 1995;
Acts 1997, No. 1495, §1, approved Oct. 3, 1998, eff. Nov. 5, 1998; Acts 2013, No. 436, §1,
eff. Jan. 1, 2015.