PRINTER'S NO. 1407
No. 1221 Session of 1975
INTRODUCED BY DeMEDIO, FRYER, RITTER, MEBUS AND WEIDNER,
MAY 5, 1975
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, MAY 6, 1975
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of May 16, 1923 (P.L.207, No.153), entitled "An
2 act providing when, how, upon what property, and to what
3 extent, liens shall be allowed for taxes and for municipal
4 improvements, for the removal of nuisances, and for water
5 rents or rates, sewer rates, and lighting rates; for the
6 procedure upon claims filed therefor; the methods for
7 preserving such liens and enforcing payment of such claims;
8 the effect of judicial sales of the properties liened; the
9 distribution of the proceeds of such sales, and the
10 redemption of the property therefrom; for the lien and
11 collection of certain taxes heretofore assessed, and of
12 claims for municipal improvements made and nuisances removed,
13 within six months before the passage of this act; and for the
14 procedure on tax and municipal claims filed under other and
15 prior acts of Assembly," extending the period for revival of
16 suggestions and averments of nonpayment and default and the
17 time for filing and renewal of all taxes and municipal claims
18 to twenty years.
19 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
20 hereby enacts as follows:
21 Section 1. Section 9, act of May 16, 1923 (P.L.207, No.153),
22 entitled "An act providing when, how, upon what property, and to
23 what extent, liens shall be allowed for taxes and for municipal
24 improvements, for the removal of nuisances, and for water rents
25 or rates, sewer rates, and lighting rates; for the procedure
26 upon claims filed therefor; the methods for preserving such
1 liens and enforcing payment of such claims; the effect of
2 judicial sales of the properties liened; the distribution of the
3 proceeds of such sales, and the redemption of the property
4 therefrom; for the lien and collection of certain taxes
5 heretofore assessed, and of claims for municipal improvements
6 made and nuisances removed, within six months before the passage
7 of this act; and for the procedure on tax and municipal claims
8 filed under other and prior acts of Assembly," amended June 7,
9 1961 (P.L.263, No.154) and August 2, 1963 (P.L.489, No.254) is
10 amended to read:
11 Section 9. Claims for taxes, water rents or rates, lighting
12 rates, power rates, and sewer rates, must be filed in the court
13 of common pleas of the county in which the property is situated
14 unless the property is situate in the City of Philadelphia and
15 the taxes or rates do not exceed the maximum amount over which
16 the Municipal Court of Philadelphia has original jurisdiction,
17 in which event the claim must be filed in the Municipal Court of
18 Philadelphia. All such claims shall be filed on or before the
19 last day of the third calendar year after that in which the
20 taxes or rates are first payable, except that in cities and
21 school districts of the first class claims for taxes and other
22 municipal claims, which have heretofore become liens pursuant to
23 the provisions of this act or which have been entered of record
24 as liens or which have been liened and revived, shall continue
25 and remain as liens for the period of twenty years from such
26 revival, entry or lien by operation of law, whichever shall have
27 last occurred; and other municipal claims must be filed in said
28 court of common pleas or the Municipal Court of Philadelphia
29 within six months from the time the work was done in front of
30 the particular property, where the charge against the property
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1 is assessed or made at the time the work is authorized; within
2 six months after the completion of the improvement, where the
3 assessment is made by the municipality upon all the properties
4 after the completion of the improvement; and within six months
5 after confirmation by the court, where confirmation is required;
6 the certificate of the surveyor, engineer, or other officer
7 supervising the improvement, filed in the proper office, being
8 conclusive of the time of completion thereof, but he being
9 personally liable to anyone injured by any false statement
10 therein. Where a borough lies in more than one county, any such
11 claim filed by such borough may be filed in each of such
12 counties. In case the real estate benefited by the improvement
13 is sold before the municipal claim is filed, the date of
14 completion in said certificate shall determine the liability for
15 the payment of the claim as between buyer and seller, unless
16 otherwise agreed upon or as above set forth. A number of years'
17 taxes or rates of different kinds if payable to the same
18 plaintiff may be included in one claim. The legal rate of
19 interest shall be collectible on all municipal claims from the
20 date of the completion of the work after it is filed as a lien,
21 and on claims for taxes, water rents or rates, lighting rates,
22 or sewer rates from the date of the filing of the lien therefor.
23 Claims for taxes, water rents, or rates, lighting rates,
24 power rates and sewer rates may be in the form of written or
25 typewritten lists showing the names of the taxables and
26 descriptions of the properties against which said claims are
27 filed, together with the amount of the taxes due such
28 municipality. Such lists may be filed on behalf of a single
29 municipality, or they may cover the unpaid taxes due any two or
30 more municipalities whose taxes are collected by the same tax
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1 collector, provided the amounts due each municipality are
2 separately shown. All tax claims, water rents, or rates,
3 lighting rates, power rates and sewer rates, heretofore filed in
4 such form, are hereby ratified, confirmed and made valid
5 subsisting liens as of the date of their original filing.
6 A number of years' taxes or rates of different kinds, if
7 payable to the same plaintiff, may be included in one claim.
8 Municipal claims shall likewise be filed within said period,
9 where any appeal is taken from the assessment for the recovery
10 of which such municipal claim is filed. In such case the lien
11 filed shall be in the form hereinafter provided, except that it
12 shall set forth the amount of the claim as an undetermined
13 amount, the amount thereof to be determined by the appeal taken
14 from the assessment upon such municipal claim is based, pending
15 in a certain court (referring to the court and the proceeding
16 where such appeal is pending). Upon the filing of such municipal
17 claim, the claim shall be indexed by the prothonotary upon the
18 judgment index and upon the locality index of the court and the
19 amount of the claim set forth therein as an undetermined amount.
20 If final judgment is not obtained upon such appeal within
21 [five] twenty years from the filing of such municipal claim, the
22 claimant in the lien shall within such period of [five] twenty
23 years file a suggestion of nonpayment, in the form hereinafter
24 set forth, which shall have the effect of continuing the lien
25 thereof for a further period of [five] twenty years from the
26 date of filing such suggestion, except that with respect to
27 claims for taxes and other municipal claims, in cities and
28 school districts of the first class, if final judgment is not
29 obtained upon such appeal within twenty years from the filing of
30 such municipal claims, the claimant in the lien shall, within
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1 such period of twenty years, file a suggestion of nonpayment in
2 the prescribed form which shall have the effect of continuing
3 the lien thereof for a further period of twenty years from the
4 date of filing such suggestion. Such municipal claim shall be
5 revived in a similar manner during each recurring period of
6 [five] twenty years thereafter, until final judgment is entered
7 upon said appeal and the undetermined amount of such municipal
8 claim is fixed in the manner hereinafter provided, except that
9 with respect to claims for taxes and other municipal claims, in
10 cities and school districts of the first class, such municipal
11 claims shall be revived in a similar manner during each
12 recurring period of twenty years thereafter until final judgment
13 is entered upon said appeal and the undetermined amount of such
14 municipal claim is fixed in the manner hereinafter provided.
15 When the final judgment is obtained upon such appeal, the
16 court in which said municipal claim is pending shall, upon the
17 petition of any interested party, make an order fixing the
18 undetermined amount claimed in such claim at the amount
19 determined by the final judgment upon said appeal, which shall
20 bear interest from the date of the verdict upon which final
21 judgment was entered, and thereafter the amount of said claim
22 shall be the sum thus fixed. Proceedings upon said municipal
23 claim thereafter shall be as in other cases.
24 Where, on final judgment upon said appeal, it appears that no
25 amount is due upon the assessment for the recovery of which such
26 claim is filed, the court in which such municipal claim is
27 pending shall, upon the petition of any interested party, make
28 an order striking such municipal claim from the record, and
29 charge the costs upon such claim to the plaintiff in the claim
30 filed.
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1 Where such appeal is discontinued, the court in which such
2 municipal claim is pending shall, upon the petition of any
3 interested party, make an order fixing the undetermined amount
4 claimed at the amount of the original assessment, which shall
5 bear interest from the date that such assessment was originally
6 payable, and thereafter the amount of such claim shall be the
7 sum thus fixed.
8 Section 2. Section 15 of the act, amended June 7, 1961
9 (P.L.263, No.154), is amended to read:
10 Section 15. Such tax, municipal or other claim if filed
11 within the period aforesaid, shall remain a lien upon said
12 properties until fully paid and satisfied: Provided, That either
13 a suggestion of nonpayment and an averment of default, in the
14 form hereinafter provided, be filed, either before or after
15 judgment on the scire facias or else a writ of scire facias, in
16 the form herein provided, be issued to revive the same, within
17 each period of [five] twenty years following--(a) the date on
18 which said claim was filed, (b) the date on which a writ of
19 scire facias was issued thereon, (c) the date on which any
20 judgment was entered thereon, (d) the date on which a previous
21 suggestion of nonpayment and default was filed thereon, or (e)
22 the date on which a judgment of revival was obtained thereon,
23 except that in cities and school districts of the first class
24 with respect to taxes and other municipal claims, the period
25 within which such liens may be revived shall be twenty years.
26 The suggestion and averment shall be in the following form,
27 under the caption of the claim:
28 And now .....................................the claimant, by
29 ............................, its solicitor, or by the chief of
30 its delinquent tax bureau, or, in counties of the second class,
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1 by the county controller, suggests of record that the above
2 claim is still due and owing to the claimant, and avers that the
3 owner is still in default for nonpayment thereof. The
4 prothonotary is hereby directed to enter this suggestion and
5 averment on the municipal lien or the proper docket of the
6 claim, and also to index it upon the judgment index and on the
7 locality index of the court, for the purpose of continuing the
8 lien of the claim.
9 Such suggestion and averment shall be signed by, or have
10 stamped thereon a facsimile signature of, the solicitor or chief
11 executive officer of the claimant, or the chief of its
12 delinquent tax bureau, except in counties of the second class,
13 in which case it shall be signed by, or have stamped thereon a
14 facsimile signature of, the county controller. The prothonotary
15 shall docket and index the suggestion and averments directed
16 therein; and for such services, in all counties of the fifth
17 class and the political subdivisions in such counties, shall be
18 entitled to a fee of one dollar, and in all other classes of
19 counties and the political subdivisions thereof, he shall
20 receive the following fee, to be taxed and collected as other
21 costs in the claim.
22 Where suggestion and averment is for taxes or municipal
23 claims for one year and is directed to be indexed in one name
24 only .......................one dollar ($1);
25 Each additional year included ...................... one
26 dollar ($1);
27 Each additional name included .........twenty-five cents
28 ($.25).
29 The filing and indexing of such suggestion and averment
30 [within five years, or in any city or school district of the
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1 first class] within twenty years, of filing the claim or the
2 issuing of any writ of scire facias thereon, or of any judgment
3 thereon, or of the filing of any prior suggestion and averment
4 of default, shall have the same force and effect, for the
5 purposes of continuing and preserving the lien of the claim, as
6 though a writ of scire facias had been issued or a judgment or
7 judgment of revival had been obtained within such period:
8 Provided, That no writ of levari facias shall be issued upon a
9 claim for the purpose of exposing the property liened to
10 sheriff's sale, except after a judgment shall have been duly
11 obtained upon the claim, as provided in this section, and such
12 judgment must have been obtained [within five years, or in any
13 city or school district of the first class] within twenty years,
14 of the issuance of the levari facias. Whenever the lien of a
15 claim has been revived and continued by the filing and indexing
16 of a suggestion and averment of default, the claimant may, at
17 any time [within five years therefrom or in any city or school
18 district of the first class] within twenty years, issue a writ
19 of scire facias thereon reciting all suggestion and averment of
20 default filed since the filing of the claim, and shall proceed
21 thereon, in the manner herein provided, subject to the right of
22 the owner to raise any defense arising since the last judgment.
23 If a claim be not filed within the time aforesaid, or if it
24 be not prosecuted in the manner and at the time aforesaid, its
25 lien on real estate shall be wholly lost.
26 Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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