Help! Can Anyone Redeem On Behalf Of The Owner?
I purchased a lien at the Christian County Missouri 2006 tax sale. A construction company came along in January and tried to redeem the property. They had no recorded deed.
One of the owners’ is deceased. The other owner claiming to be the Personal Representative of the deceased, sold the property. He signed his interest over through a warranty deed that does have the same name on the deed as the original deed. He then signed a Personal Representative deed. The case had not been filed in probate and he did not have court permission to sell the property.
An attorney did the closing and then never filed the deeds or paid the taxes. The probate file was not opened until 5 months after the alleged sale. Eight months after the tax sale the attorney filed the deeds but still had not gotten the probate court permission to sell and no affidavit explaing the difference in the signed name.
Now everyone is suing everyone else. The man who sold it through his attorney is suing the attorney for legal malpractice. The people who bought but have invalid deeds are suing me because I objected to the redemption.
The Bar Association is the attorney’s legal malpractice carrier. The Bar/Bar Ins. Carrier wants the people who purchased the property through this attorney to end up with the property to limit their liability. So now one day before the end of the redemption period the Bar has redeemed in the name of the estate and former owner.
Can they do this?
Copied from MO Revised Statutes
140.340. 1. The owner or occupant of any land or lot sold for taxes, or any other persons having an interest therein, may redeem the same at any time during the one year next ensuing, in the following manner: by paying to the county collector, for the use of the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, the full sum of the purchase money named in his certificate of purchase and all the cost of the sale together with interest at the rate specified in such certificate, not to exceed ten percent annually, except on a sum paid by a purchaser in excess of the delinquent taxes due plus costs of the sale, no interest shall be owing on the excess amount, with all subsequent taxes which have been paid thereon by the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, with interest at the rate of eight percent per annum on such taxes subsequently paid, and in addition thereto the person redeeming any land shall pay the costs incident to entry of recital of such redemption.
So my question would be dealing with the wording "having an interest". Would this mean they have a vested interest in the property, such as an owner, someone with money tied up in the property, or someone who has a claim to the property of some type. Or would "having an interest" be just anyone that took a fancy to the property. We need to know the defination (legal) of "having an interest". Also see Blacks Law dictionary
having an interest
Thank you all for taking the time to respond. "interest in" definately means legal interest. I got that cleared up with the Missouri State Tax Commission.