BILL REQ. #:  H-1796.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/17/11.   

     AN ACT Relating to the foreclosure process for delinquent local improvement district assessments; amending RCW 35.49.030 and 35.50.030; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 35.49.030 and 1971 ex.s. c 116 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     Every city and town shall prescribe by ordinance within what time assessments or installments thereof ((shall)) must be paid, and ((shall)) may provide for the payment and collection of penalties and interest thereon at a rate as ((shall be)) fixed by the legislative body of the city or town. ((Assessments or installments thereof, when delinquent, in addition to such interest, shall bear such penalty not less than five percent as shall be by general ordinance prescribed.))

Sec. 2   RCW 35.50.030 and 2002 c 168 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) If on the first day of January in any year, two installments of any local improvement assessment are delinquent, or if the final installment thereof has been delinquent for more than one year, the city or town ((shall)) must proceed with the foreclosure of the delinquent assessment or delinquent installments thereof by proceedings brought in its own name in the superior court of the county in which the city or town is situate.
     (2) The proceedings shall be commenced on or before March 1st of that year or on or before such other date in such year as may be fixed by general ordinance, but not before the city or town treasurer has notified by certified mail the persons whose names appear on the current assessment roll as owners of the property charged with the assessments or installments which are delinquent, at the address last known to the treasurer, a notice thirty days before the commencement of the proceedings. If the person whose name appears on the assessment rolls of the county assessor as owner of the property, or whose name appears on the tax rolls of the county treasurer as taxpayer of the property, or the address shown for the owner, differs from that appearing on the city or town assessment roll, then the treasurer shall also mail a copy of the notice to that person or that address.
     (3) The notice shall state the amount due, including foreclosure costs, upon each separate lot, tract, or parcel of land and the date after which the proceedings will be commenced. The city or town treasurer shall file with the clerk of the superior court at the time of commencement of the foreclosure proceeding the affidavit of the person who mailed the notices. This affidavit shall be conclusive proof of compliance with the requirements of this section.
     (4) Notwithstanding the mandatory foreclosure requirements established in subsection (2) of this section, a city or town may delay foreclosure proceedings for residential property owners for up to one year if the owner enters into an installment plan that is acceptable to the city or town and that allows the owner to become current with delinquent installments within that one-year period. However, the city or town may not exercise this option to delay foreclosure proceedings for any delinquencies that exist or occur within two years from the date the final installment is due.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   Sections 1 and 2 of this act apply only to local improvement assessment rolls formed after the effective date of this section.