Alabama Tax Sale Redemption

[Adam Zuffinetti]

I own approximately 100 SFH Rentals in Alabama through multiple LLCs. Unfortunately, I have had numerous issues with Jefferson County (Birmingham) either a) Misappropriating my Property Tax Checks, or b) Failing to cash some. Last year, they cashed and allocated 47 of them and failed to do so on 20. They consequently failed to notify me (By apparently sending the tax sale info to an old address on file) and sold 20 properties to the state. 4 of which were sold to consumers. I immediately redeemed all of them by navigating the trickery and deceit and lack of responsiveness that seems to run rampant as Modus Operandi by some of the less ethical tax certificate purchasing companies. The final one did not respond to our letters, phone calls, physical visits, messages left at the property, etc. They took possession and boarded up the windows and chained the gates and apparently started remodeling the property. We sent a certified letter to their address which was returned to us 2 weeks later as unclaimed. We immediately went down to the Probate court and filled out an affidavit and submitted our evidence of attempting to contact the buyer. The Probate court signed off on it and we were able to go to the Tax Collectors and Redeem our property. We immediately took possession of our property (As nobody was living there) and changed the locks and put up NO TRESPASSING SIGNS etc. When we inspected the property, we noticed that in this short time of a couple months they tax certificate holders had done a significant amount of remodeling, painting of exterior, kitchen redo, walls, carpets, etc. This was likely in excess of 10-15k. I have no doubts they will be attempting to contact me now, but I was wondering what my rights are and what claims they may have for restitution? This was well beyond preservation expenses. I now have possession, with a notarized affidavit from the judge and a stamped redemption receipt from the collector's office because they did not respond to my attempts to redeem. Thoughts? @deniseevans seems to be an expert on this.