Constitution of the United States
Fifth Amendment
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 60, Section 62A: Municipalities; payment agreements
Municipalities may by bylaw or ordinance authorize payment agreements between the treasurer and persons entitled to redeem parcels in tax title. Such agreements shall be for a maximum term of no more than 5 years or such lesser period as the ordinance or bylaw may specify and may waive not more than 50 per cent of the interest that has accrued on the amount of the tax title account, subject to such lower limit as the ordinance or bylaw may specify. An ordinance or bylaw under this section shall provide for such agreements and waivers uniformly for classes of tax titles defined in the ordinance or bylaw.
Any such agreement must require a minimum payment at the inception of the agreement of 25 per cent of the amount needed to redeem the parcel. During the term of the agreement the treasurer may not bring an action to foreclose the tax title unless payments are not made in accordance with the schedule set out in the agreement or timely payments are not made on other amounts due to the municipality that are a lien on the same parcel.
General Law – Part I, Title IX, Chapter 60, Section 62A (malegislature.gov)
Bolton Town Bylaws
The licensing authority may deny, revoke or suspend any license or permit, including renewals and transfers, of any party whose name appears on said list furnished to the licensing authority from the tax collector, or with respect to any activity, event or other matter which is the subject of such license or permit and which activity, event or matter is carried out or exercised or is to be carried out or exercised on or about real estate owned by any party whose name appears on said list furnished to the licensing authority from the tax collector; provided, however, that written notice is given to the party and the tax collector, as required by applicable provisions of law, and the party is given a hearing, to be held not earlier than 14 days after said notice. Said list shall be prima facie evidence for denial, revocation or suspension of said license or permit to any party. The tax collector shall have the right to intervene in any hearing conducted with respect to such license denial, revocation or suspension. Any findings made by the licensing authority with respect to such license denial, revocation or suspension shall be made only for the purposes of such proceeding and shall not be relevant to or introduced in any other proceeding at law, except for any appeal from such license denial, revocation or suspension. Any license or permit denied, suspended or revoked under this section shall not be reissued or renewed until the license authority receives a certificate issued by the tax collector that the party is in good standing with respect to any and all local taxes, fees, assessments, betterments or other municipal charges, payable to the municipality as the date of issuance of said certificate.
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 60, Section 28: Accounting for surplus
The collector shall upon demand give a written account of every sale on distress or seizure and charges, and pay to the the owner any surplus above the taxes, interest and charges of keeping and sale.
General Law – Part I, Title IX, Chapter 60, Section 28 (malegislature.gov)
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 60, Section 43: Conduct of sale, etc.
If the taxes are not paid, the collector shall, at the time and place appointed for the sale, sell by public auction, for the amount of the taxes and interest, if any, and necessary intervening charges, the smallest undivided part of the land which will bring said amount, or the whole for said amount, if no person offers to take an undivided part; and shall at such sale require of the purchaser an immediate deposit of such sum as he considers necessary to insure good faith in payment of the purchase money, and, on failure of the purchaser to make such deposit forthwith, the sale shall be void and another sale may be made as provided in this chapter. The word ”taxes”, as used in the provisions of this and the following sections of this chapter relating to collection by sale or taking of any parcel of land shall, so far as pertinent, include all taxes, assessments or portions thereof, rates and charges of every nature which constitute a lien upon such parcel and which have lawfully been placed upon the annual tax bill of a municipality or of a district wholly or partly located within its limits. The collector, on behalf of such municipality and district or either of them, shall make a single sale or taking of any parcel of land for all unpaid taxes as so defined. If the municipality purchases or takes the land in such case, the proceeds received upon redemption of the tax title or upon a sale following foreclosure of the right of redemption shall be applied first to taxes assessed on account of the municipality under chapter fifty-nine, including interest thereon, and all costs, charges and terms of redemption in any way resulting from such sale or taking, second to any district taxes, including interest thereon, in the order in which they were committed to the collector, and the balance to other assessments or portions thereof, rates and charges, including interest thereon, in the order in which they were committed to the collector.
General Law – Part I, Title IX, Chapter 60, Section 43 (malegislature.gov)
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 60, Section 69A: Decree barring redemption; time for vacating decree entered by person other than petitioner
No petition to vacate a decree of foreclosure entered under section sixty-nine and no proceeding at law or in equity for reversing or modifying such a decree shall be commenced by any person other than the petitioner except within one year after the final entry of the decree if the decree is entered on or after September first, nineteen hundred and forty-five or within one year after said date if the decree was entered prior to said date. If said foreclosure petition was filed for an unoccupied or abandoned building as set forth in sections one and eighty-one A, or there has been a certification pursuant to section 81B that the redemption amount as determined pursuant to section 62 exceeds the assessed value of the parcel, no petition to vacate a decree of foreclosure entered under section sixty-nine and no proceedings at law or equity for reversing or modifying such a decree shall be commenced by any person other than the petitioner except within ninety calendar days after the final entry of the decree, or within one year of the final entry of the decree, if the decree was entered prior to the effective date of this section. For any decree relating to a property which stands in the name of a deceased person or person under guardianship or conservatorship, a petition may be maintained for reversal or modification of such decree up to one year from the date of decree.
General Law – Part I, Title IX, Chapter 60, Section 69A (malegislature.gov)
Proposed Changes to Mass General Law H.2937, S.921 and S.1876
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H2937
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/S921/Cosponsor
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/S1876/Cosponsor
If deemed appropriate and just by the land court, it may order seizure of rents or other income from the property if doing so would fully satisfy property tax liens and applicable interest and costs. Upon issuance of a judgment foreclosing the right of redemption, the land court shall also order a public sale of the foreclosed property and order distribution of proceeds consistent with the provisions of chapter 187 sections 21 and sections 24 to 27, inclusive; provided, that the order shall treat the tax title holder like a mortgagee with the first priority interest in proceeds from the property, and treating the delinquent debtor as a mortgagor.
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 183, Section 21: ”Statutory power of sale” in mortgage
Section 21. The following ”power” shall be known as the ”Statutory Power of Sale”, and may be incorporated in any mortgage by reference:
(POWER.)
But upon any default in the performance or observance of the foregoing or other condition, the mortgagee or his executors, administrators, successors or assigns may sell the mortgaged premises or such portion thereof as may remain subject to the mortgage in case of any partial release thereof, either as a whole or in parcels, together with all improvements that may be thereon, by public auction on or near the premises then subject to the mortgage, or, if more than one parcel is then subject thereto, on or near one of said parcels, or at such place as may be designated for that purpose in the mortgage, first complying with the terms of the mortgage and with the statutes relating to the foreclosure of mortgages by the exercise of a power of sale, and may convey the same by proper deed or deeds to the purchaser or purchasers absolutely and in fee simple; and such sale shall forever bar the mortgagor and all persons claiming under him from all right and interest in the mortgaged premises, whether at law or in equity.
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter183/Section21
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 183, Section 27: Disposition of proceeds of foreclosure sale; itemized accounting provided to mortgagor
Section 27. The holder of a mortgage of real estate, or his representatives, out of the money arising from a sale under the power of sale shall be entitled to retain all sums then secured by the mortgage, whether then or thereafter payable, including all costs, charges or expenses incurred or sustained by him or them by reason of any default in the performance or observance of the condition of the mortgage or of any prior mortgage, rendering the surplus, if any, to the mortgagor, or his heirs, successors or assigns, unless otherwise stated in the mortgage. No person other than the holder of the mortgage shall be bound to see to the application of the money arising from such sale.
The holder of a mortgage of real estate, or the holder’s representatives, shall provide to the mortgagor or the mortgagor’s heirs, successors or assigns a written notice containing an itemized accounting of the disposition of the proceeds arising from a sale under the power of sale including, but not limited to, the sale price, legal fees, auctioneer fees, publication costs and other fees, and any surplus due to the mortgagor, within 60 days after the receipt of such funds provided, that if such sale is subject to further legal proceedings, such accounting shall be stayed until the conclusion of such proceedings
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleI/Chapter183/Section27
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 40, Section 14: Purchase of land; conditions, limitations, definition
Section 14. The aldermen of any city, except Boston, or the selectmen of a town may purchase, or take by eminent domain under chapter seventy-nine, any land, easement or right therein within the city or town not already appropriated to public use, for any municipal purpose for which the purchase or taking of land, easement or right therein is not otherwise authorized or directed by statute; but no land, easement or right therein shall be taken or purchased under this section unless the taking or purchase thereof has previously been authorized by the city council or by vote of the town, nor until an appropriation of money, to be raised by loan or otherwise, has been made for the purpose by a two thirds vote of the city council or by a two thirds vote of the town, and no lot of land shall be purchased for any municipal purpose by any city subject to this section for a price more than twenty-five per cent in excess of its average assessed valuation during the previous three years.
The words ”municipal purpose”, as used in this section, shall include any such land, easement or right therein within the city or town, so purchased or taken by eminent domain for the purpose of conveying or granting the same to the commonwealth for the use of a regional community college.
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter40/Section14
Mass General Law
CHAPTER 44, Section 7: Cities and towns; purposes for borrowing money within debt limit
Section 7. Cities and towns may incur debt, by a two-thirds vote, within the limit of indebtedness prescribed in section 10, for the following purposes and payable within the periods hereinafter specified not to exceed 30 years or, except for clauses (2), (3), (6) and (7), within the period determined by the director to be the maximum useful life of the public work, improvement or asset being financed under any guideline issued under section 38:
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter44/Section7