2002 Minnesota Statutes

     272.12 Conveyances, taxes paid before recording. 

    When: 

    (a) a deed or other instrument conveying land, 

    (b) a plat of any town site or addition thereto, 

    (c) a survey required pursuant to section 508.47, 

    (d) a condominium plat subject to chapter 515 or 515A or a 
 declaration that contains such a plat, or 

    (e) a common interest community plat subject to chapter 
 515B or a declaration that contains such a plat, 

 is presented to the county auditor for transfer, the auditor 
 shall ascertain from the records if there be taxes delinquent 
 upon the land described therein, or if it has been sold for 
 taxes.  An assignment of a sheriff's or referee's certificate of 
 sale, when the certificate of sale describes real estate, and 
 certificates of redemption from mortgage or lien foreclosure 
 sales, when the certificate of redemption encompasses real 
 estate and is issued to a junior creditor, are considered 
 instruments conveying land for the purposes of this section and 
 section 272.121.  If there are taxes delinquent, the auditor 
 shall certify to the same; and upon payment of such taxes, or in 
 case no taxes are delinquent, shall transfer the land upon the 
 books of the auditor's office, and note upon the instrument, 
 over official signature, the words, "no delinquent taxes and 
 transfer entered," or, if the land described has been sold or 
 assigned to an actual purchaser for taxes, the words "paid by 
 sale of land described within;" and, unless such statement is 
 made upon such instrument, the county recorder or the registrar 
 of titles shall refuse to receive or record the same; provided, 
 that sheriff's or referees' certificates of sale on execution or 
 foreclosure of a lien or mortgage, certificates of redemption 
 from mortgage or lien foreclosure sales issued to the redeeming 
 mortgagor or lienee, deeds of distribution made by a personal 
 representative in probate proceedings, decrees and judgments, 
 receivers receipts, patents, and copies of town or statutory 
 city plats, in case the original plat filed in the office of the 
 county recorder has been lost or destroyed, and the instruments 
 releasing, removing and discharging reversionary and forfeiture 
 provisions affecting title to land and instruments releasing, 
 removing or discharging easement rights in land or building or 
 other restrictions, may be recorded without such certificate; 
 and, provided that instruments conveying land and, as 
 appurtenant thereto an easement over adjacent tract or tracts of 
 land, may be recorded without such certificate as to the land 
 covered by such easement; and provided further, that any 
 instrument granting an easement made in favor of any public 
 utility or pipe line for conveying gas, liquids or solids in 
 suspension, in the nature of a right-of-way over, along, across 
 or under a tract of land may be recorded without such 
 certificate as to the land covered by such easement.  Any 
 instrument amending or restating the declarations, bylaws, 
 plats, or other enabling documents governing homeowners 
 associations of condominiums, townhouses, common interest 
 ownership communities, and other planned unit developments may 
 be recorded without the auditor's certificate. 

    A deed of distribution made by a personal representative in 
 a probate proceeding, a decree, or a judgment that conveys land 
 shall be presented to the county auditor, who shall transfer the 
 land upon the books of the auditor's office and note upon the 
 instrument, over official signature, the words, "transfer 
 entered", and the instrument may then be recorded.  A decree or 
 judgment that affects title to land but does not convey land may 
 be recorded without presentation to the auditor. 

    A violation of this section by the county recorder or the 
 registrar of titles shall be a gross misdemeanor, and, in 
 addition to the punishment therefor, the recorder or registrar 
 shall be liable to the grantee of any instrument so recorded for 
 the amount of any damages sustained. 

    When, as a condition to permitting the recording of deed or 
 other instrument affecting the title to real estate previously 
 forfeited to the state under the provisions of sections 281.16 
 to 281.25, county officials, after such real estate has been 
 purchased or repurchased, have required the payment of taxes 
 erroneously assumed to have accrued against such real estate 
 after forfeiture and before the date of purchase or repurchase, 
 the sum required to be so paid shall be refunded to the persons 
 entitled thereto out of moneys in the funds in which the sum so 
 paid was placed.  Delinquent taxes are those taxes deemed 
 delinquent under section 279.02. 

    HIST: (2211, 2211-1) RL s 985; 1913 c 371 s 1; 1927 c 92 s 1; 
 1939 c 215 s 1; 1939 c 236 s 1; 1943 c 475 s 1; 1951 c 204 s 1; 
 1971 c 63 s 1; 1973 c 123 art 5 s 7; 1976 c 181 s 2; 1977 c 263 
 s 1; 1979 c 9 s 1; 1984 c 566 s 1; 1986 c 444; 1993 c 375 art 3 
 s 10; 1994 c 416 art 1 s 11; 1997 c 7 art 1 s 108