Section 48-4-46. Form of notice of foreclosure of right to redeem; service; time; return and record; waiver

   (a) The notice provided for in Code Section 48-4-45 shall be written or printed, or written in part and printed in part, and shall be in substantially the following form:
   Take notice that:
      The right to redeem the following described property, to wit:
                 will expire and be forever foreclosed and barred on and after the 
             day of     ,     .
      The tax deed to which this notice relates is dated the          day of     , 
           , and is recorded in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of 
             County, Georgia, in Deed Book          at page     .
      The property may be redeemed at any time before the          day of     , 
           , by payment of the redemption price as fixed and provided by law to 
   the undersigned at the following address:             .
      Please be governed accordingly.
 
                                                                               

(b) The purchaser at the tax sale or his heirs, successors, or assigns, as the case may be, shall make out an original notice in substantially the form prescribed in subsection (a) of this Code section and one copy of the notice for each person to be served with the notice. The purchaser shall deliver the notice and the copies together with a list of the persons to be served to the sheriff of the county in which the land is located not less than 45 days before the date set in each notice for the expiration of the right to redeem. Within 15 days after delivery to him, the sheriff shall serve a copy of the notice personally or by deputy upon each of the persons included on the list furnished him who reside in the county. The sheriff shall make an entry of the service on the original copy of the notice. Leaving a copy of the notice at the residence of any person required to be served with the notice shall be a sufficient service of the notice.

(c) If the sheriff personally or by deputy makes an entry that he is unable for any reason to effect service upon any person required to be served, the person who requested that the service be made shall forthwith cause a copy of the notice to be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in the newspaper in which the sheriff's advertisements for the county are published, unless that notice is being published as provided in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of Code Section 48-4-45. Either publication shall operate as and for all purposes shall be treated as service upon all persons as to whom the sheriff has made an entry that he has been unable to effect service.

(d) Each original notice together with the entry of the sheriff on the notice shall be returned to the person by whom the service was requested upon the payment of the sheriff's costs as provided by law. Any original notice together with the entries on the notice may be filed and recorded on the deed records in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the land is located.

(e) Service of notices as provided in this Code section may be waived in writing by any person required or entitled to be served with the notice.

Ga. L. 1937, p. 491, § 2; Code 1933, § 91A-435, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 48; Ga. L. 1989, p. 1391, § 2; Ga. L. 1999, p. 81, § 48.