At any time after March 1 next succeeding the date taxes are due and unpaid, payment may be enforced by sale, as provided by law. The director of finance shall make or cause to be made up a list of all taxes which are due and unpaid, which shall contain the amount thereof, the interest and penalties thereon, the property affected thereby, the name of the owner thereof as such name appears on the assessment records of the county, a brief description of the property sufficient to identify the same and such references to conveyances or other records of title as will identify the property. To such list shall be appended a notice that if taxes, penalties and interest thereon are not paid on or before the second Monday in June next ensuing, together with the expenses of sale allowable by state law, the director of finance will, commencing on the second Monday in June at an hour and place specified in such notice, offer or cause to be offered for sale to the highest bidder upon the terms provided by public general law each and every parcel of property contained in such notice. Such notice and list shall be published in accordance with the applicable provisions of the public general laws, and the last publication thereof shall appear on or before the second Monday in June. Commencing on the second Monday in June, the director of finance shall proceed to sell or cause to be sold at auction to the highest bidder all such properties upon which the taxes are due and unpaid; but no such property shall be sold for a sum less than the total amount provided by applicable public general law. In addition to the expenses of sale allowable by state law and such interest and penalties as provided for elsewhere in this chapter, the director of finance shall impose on each parcel of property published a penalty charge of twenty dollars ($20.00). (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-130; 1906, ch. 171, § 62-I; 1912, ch. 790, § 137; 1931, ch. 461; 1933, ch. 541, § 207; 1935, ch. 250; 1941, ch. 916, § 199; 1982 L.M.C., ch. 39, § 4; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 7, § 2.)
Editor’s note—Pursuant to Montgomery County Council Resolution 9-1591, commencing with the tax sale of real property in June 1982 for ordinary taxes overdue, in arrears and unpaid, in accordance with the provisions of Ann. Code of Md., Tax-Property Article, §§ 14-820 and 14-828, the rate of redemption shall be the sum of the interest rate on late payment of taxes and the penalty rate on late payment of delinquent taxes as fixed by resolution of the County Council.
Section 52-25 (formerly § 52-36, 2016 L.M.C., ch. 7, § 1) is interpreted in Heartwood 88, Inc. v. Montgomery County, 156 Md. App. 333, 846 A.2d 1096 (2004).