What an Iowa treasurer's deed leaves on the title

• What the deed takes
• Two interests the statute keeps
• The notice gap
• How the gap closes
• What buyers usually check

Iowa holds no tax deed auction. The investor who holds the certificate of purchase waits at least one year and nine months, serves the notice of expiration, and, if no one redeems within 90 days after service is complete, takes a treasurer’s deed from the county. For a holder who gets that far, what the deed carries is what they own, and Iowa Code Section 448.3 sets that out in a few sentences.

§What the deed takes

Once executed and recorded, the deed vests in the holder all the right, title, interest and claim of the state and county, plus all the right, title, interest and estate of the former owner. Issuing the deed also cancels all suspended taxes on the parcel.

§Two interests the statute keeps

Section 448.3(1) names two things the deed stays subject to:

• Restrictive covenants that result from prior conveyances in the former owner’s chain of title. The tax deed does not clear a covenant created by an earlier deed in that chain.
• The rights of anyone holding a certificate of purchase from a tax sale held after the one the deed came from. The deed does not cut off a certificate sold at a later tax sale, such as one for a later year’s taxes.

Another survivor sits outside chapter 448. Under Section 384.69, a buyer at a tax sale, other than the county, takes a parcel with a city special assessment charged with the lien of the installments not yet paid, plus interest. The sale covers only what was delinquent, so the city’s assessment schedule matters as much as the county tax bill.

§The notice gap

What the deed cuts off depends on who was served the notice of expiration under Section 447.9. Section 448.3(2) treats a missed party in two ways. If an owner of record, or the person in whose name the parcel is taxed, establishes they were not served as Section 447.9 requires, the deed is void, subject to Sections 448.15 and 448.16. If anyone else entitled to service, such as a mortgagee, establishes they were not served, the deed stands but stays subject to that person’s interest, again as provided in Sections 448.15 and 448.16.

§How the gap closes

After taking possession, and once the deed is issued and recorded, the holder can file an affidavit under Section 448.15 with the county recorder. Section 448.16 then gives anyone claiming an adverse interest 120 days after the affidavit is filed to file a claim with the county recorder, and 60 days after filing that claim to start an action to enforce it. If no claim is filed within the 120 days, the tax title is conclusively established, including against a claim of improper service of the notice. Separately, Section 448.12 bars an action to recover a parcel sold for unpaid taxes, or an action under Section 447.8 or 448.6, more than three years after the treasurer’s deed is executed and recorded.

§What buyers usually check

A buyer weighing an Iowa certificate as a path to ownership usually checks the chain of title for covenants, later tax sale certificates on the parcel and the city’s special assessment schedule, and confirms that the affidavit of service filed with the treasurer under Section 447.12 covers every party Section 447.9 lists.

The Iowa row of the Tax Sale Atlas table of liens that survive a tax deed cites the section behind each category, and the step-by-step guide to Iowa tax sales covers the June sale and the redemption timeline.

Source: Iowa Code Sections 384.69, 447.9, 447.12, 448.3, 448.12, 448.15 and 448.16, Iowa Legislature. General information, not legal advice.