purchasing tax sale property from state of alabama

[Steven Stewart]

i am trying to purchase a commercial property that was sold to the state 05/24/2016 i am trying to find out the redemption rights for both the owner listed and any possible lien holders i have done a title search and cannot find anything as far as liens . i have purchased one property at this years tax sale and received a letter of redemption 10 days ago from a bank claiming to have a lien on the property that does not show up anywhere . I went to the bessemer tax office a to ask about this and they said to just sign the redemption letter and let them (apex bank) in knoxville tn. prove that they hold the lien. when i spoke with the lady representing this bank she said the owners used property as collateral on a loan that was defaulted on , so i guess i have 2 questions in this thread. 

[Denise Evans]

If the  mortgage was not recorded in the real estate records of the county where the property is located, they are not a lienholder and cannot redeem.

You might have missed the mortgage when you searched. Advise the bank that you find no evidence they are a party entitled to redeem under the statutes, and please provide you with the book and page number of their recorded mortgage.

The might follow your instructions, or they might ignore you. If they allow the bank to redeem, and if you find out the bank did not have a valid lien, you will have to file something in probate court asking them to revoke the redemption certificate. Before you go to that expense, you might want to order up a title report from a closing company.

There are many reasons a lender might THINK they  have a lien, but they don't. They might have filed in the wrong county. They might not have filed at all. They might have filed a mortgage in County A for property there, done a modification to take a mortgage on other land in County B, but filed the modification in County A instead of County B.  They might have a validly recorded mortgage, but it was indexed improperly (name mis-spelled, for example) which is why it did not show up on your search.