Section 38:22 Liens and Collection of Charges.
I. All charges for services furnished to patrons by a municipally owned electric, gas, or water works shall create a lien upon the real estate where such services are furnished.
II. A municipality may use any of the following collection procedures for charges and the use of one collection procedure for one service shall not preclude the use of a different collection procedure for another service:
(a) A municipality may commit bills for charges to the tax collector with a warrant signed by the appropriate municipal officials requiring the tax collector to collect them. The tax collector shall have the same rights and remedies, including a lien on the real estate, and be subject to the same liabilities in relation thereto as in the collection of taxes as provided in RSA 80; provided, however, that the real estate lien shall continue for 18 months from the date of the last unpaid bill.
(b) The official or board responsible for administering the municipal utility may collect charges for services by direct billing on any periodic basis it may choose. All charges which are delinquent may be committed to the tax collector with a warrant signed by the appropriate municipal officials requiring the tax collector to collect them. The tax collector shall have the same rights and remedies, including a lien on the real estate, and be subject to the same liabilities in relation thereto as in the collection of taxes as provided in RSA 80; provided, however, that the real estate lien shall continue for 18 months from the date of the last unpaid bill.
(c) If the official or board responsible for administering the municipal utility has not committed the charges to the collector of taxes, the municipality shall have a lien upon the real estate where the services were furnished and the lien shall continue for 18 months from the date of the last unpaid bill, unless the municipality records in the registry of deeds for the county in which the land is situated a notice of lien, in which case the lien shall continue for 6 years from the date of the last unpaid bill. The lien may be enforced in a suit by the municipality against the owner of the real estate. In such a suit, the municipality shall have the right to a judgment for per year charges, interest at the rate of 12 percent from the date of the last unpaid bill to the date of judgment, and costs. The records in the municipal department which furnished the services shall be sufficient notice to maintain suit upon the lien against subsequent purchasers or attaching creditors of the real estate.
(d) When the services were furnished to some person or legal entity other than the owner of the real estate, the liens provided for in this paragraph shall be effective against the owner of the real estate only for charges of which the owner of the real estate was notified by the municipality within 120 days of the date the charges became delinquent; provided, however, that a municipality may meet these notice requirements by mailing to the owner of the real estate copies of the bills for services at the same time bills are furnished to the person or legal entity which received the services.
Source. 1997, 206:1, eff. July 1, 1997.