8.3.3 Blighted Property

A shorter 18-month redemptive period exists for blighted or abandoned property sold at a tax sale.1  In Padilla v. Schwartz, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal held that this 18-month period only applies when the tax sale occurred under the statutory authority for sales of blighted property.2  However, the tax sale in Padilla occurred prior to the tax sale revisions, and so its holding can no longer be relied on as a tax sale defense. In Smith v. Brumfield, the same court distinguished Padilla by holding that in order for the 18-month redemptive period to apply, the property need only have been judicially declared blighted or abandoned prior to the tax sale.3  However, in In re Flag Boy Properties, LLC, Praying for Monition, the Fourth Circuit held that a code violation judgment rendered subsequent to a judgment of blight that does not declare the property blighted for a second time is “sufficient proof of compliance” that the property is no blighted and, therefore, not subject to an 18-month redemptive period.4

• 1La. Const. art. VII, § 25(B)(2).
• 2Padilla v. Schwartz, 2006-CA-1517 (La. App. 4 Cir. 3/11/09), 11 So. 3d 6.
• 3Smith v. Brumfield, 2013-1171 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1/15/14), 133 So. 3d 70.
• 4In re Flag Boy Properties, LLC, 2021-0644 (La. App. 4 Cir. 3/10/22).