§ 14. Duty of City Solicitor; Foreclosure.

All City taxes on real and personal property shall become delinquent April 1st of each year, and if the taxes on any real estate shall not be paid before the first day of April next after the roll shall have come into the hands of the Tax Collector, he may at any time thereafter make from the roll a copy of any assessment and tax thereon remaining unpaid, showing the assessment of any lot, parcel or tract of real estate as the same appears upon the roll with the tax, which he shall certify to be a true copy from the roll, and shall delivery the same to the City Solicitor of the City of Orlando for collection; which certified copy shall be prima facie evidence of the contents of the assessment roll and of the levies made thereon, and of the regularity and validity of all the proceedings on which the same is based, in all suits to enforce the payment or the lien of such taxes as may appear upon the said certified copy, and the Tax Collector may, upon the request of the City Solicitor, make out and deliver to him a certified copy of any such assessment or assessments remaining unpaid on and after the 31st day of March in each year. The City Council also may direct the Tax Collector at any time after the 31st day of March in each year, either by resolution or by ordinance, to make out and deliver to the City Solicitor such copy or copies and may also in like manner direct the City Solicitor to proceed upon the same to enforce the payment of the tax or taxes. The Tax Collector, upon delivering any such copy to the City Solicitor, shall enter upon the assessment on the roll that it has been certified to the City Solicitor with the date of delivery, and thereafter the collection of such tax shall be made by the City collector and not by the Tax Collector.

The City Solicitor upon receiving any such certified copy as aforesaid, may and when director by the City Council, but not within two (2) years after said taxes shall have become delinquent, bring in the circuit court of Orange County a bill in chancery to foreclose the lien of the taxes so shown to be due and unpaid, which bill shall allege the City's claim of lien against the real estate described, and shall be brought in the name of the City of Orlando as plaintiff against the person named as owner of the real estate on the said certified copy, if any person be named as owner, and such other persons as the City Solicitor may know, or have satisfactory reason to believe to be owners of or interested in such real estate or to have any right thereto or lien thereon except as tenants.

The City Solicitor, for the purpose of making defendants, need not inquire who are the occupants of said real estate, or make search in the records of the county. If such real estate be assessed to an unknown owner the City Solicitor may bring the bill against the real estate itself as defendant.

In all suits to foreclose tax liens on real estate, the real estate itself may be made, or included as, a party defendant as well as individuals, persons, firms and corporations.

Upon application of the City Solicitor, the Clerk of the Circuit Court shall make an order of publication of notice to all persons having any interest or right, whether as owners, lienholders or otherwise in such real estate, which notice shall be addressed "To All Whom It May Concern," requiring them on or before a rule day to be fixed by such order to appear to and answer such bill and set forth the nature of their respective interests in, rights to and liens upon the said real estate; which order shall be entitled with the name of the parties named in the bill and shall contain a description of the real estate and shall be published in a newspaper published in the City once a week for any four consecutive weeks prior to the return date fixed in said order, and in all suits in which said order and publication shall be made, the interests, rights, and liens of all persons in, to and upon such real estate, whether such persons be named as defendants in the bill or not, shall be foreclosed and their respective interests, rights and liens of all persons in, to and upon such real estate, whether such persons be named as defendants in the bill or not, shall be foreclosed and their respective interests rights and liens, shall by the proceedings be affected thereby to the same extent as though they were named and duly served and had appeared as parties defendant in such suit, but should such suit be prosecuted to conclusion without the publication of such notice, the interests, rights and liens of those persons only who were named as defendants and duly served, shall be foreclosed. Such order and publication shall not avoid the necessity of service of a subpoena upon all parties named as defendants who are to be found within the jurisdiction of the court and service upon absent defendants named in the bill shall be by publication as in other chancery cases.

If the real estate itself be made the defendant, the service shall be by the making and publication of order "To Whom It May Concern" herein provided, and the bill may be taken as confessed on any rule day after that to which the persons interested are by said order required to appear and answer, if no plea, demurrer or answer has been filed.

The City Solicitor shall foreclose in one bill all the tax certificates and unpaid taxes certified to him which he holds against a piece of real estate at the time of bringing bill, and if any unpaid assessments be certified to him after bringing the bill he need not include the same in such suit by supplemental bill or otherwise, and no sale had in the cause shall divest the lien of any taxes except those sought to be foreclosed by the bill.

The City Solicitor need not attach as exhibits to the bill, either the originals or copies of any certified copies of unpaid assessments, or of tax certificates which he seeks to foreclose by the bill.

Except as herein otherwise provided, the suits aforesaid shall be conducted agreeably to the practice of the circuit court in* other chancery suits to foreclose lien.

A deed given to the purchaser at the sale in any such suit shall be an entire bar against the defendants and all persons claiming under such defendants, and if the order of publication addressed "To Whom It May Concern" has been made and published as hereinbefore provided (including the cases in which the real estate itself is defendant) in any suit, the deed shall be an absolute bar against all persons, unless the court proceedings are void for want of jurisdiction.

(Laws of Fla. ch. 15394(1931), § 13)

*The word "in" read "and" in the original Act.