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<section article="gen" article_name="Environment" number="9-949" title_number="9" title_name="Water, Ice, and Sanitary Facilities" subtitle_number="9" subtitle_name="Water and Sewer Authorities">
  <level label="a">
    <text>An authority has a lien on real estate:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>For:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>The amount of any fee, rent, or charge, including a tapping fee, imposed on an owner, tenant, or occupant of the real estate for the use and services of a project of the authority; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Any accrued interest on the fee, rent, or charge; and</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>From the time when the fee, rent, or charge is due and payable.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>A lien under this section is superior to any interest of an owner, tenant, or occupant of the affected real estate.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>A lien under this section binds or affects a subsequent bona fide purchaser of the real estate who purchases for valuable consideration and without actual notice of the lien only after the amount of the lien is entered in a lien register that is:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Furnished for this purpose by and at the expense of the authority; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Kept among the land records of the county where the real estate is located.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <text>The clerk of the circuit court in the county where the real estate is located:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Shall keep and make available for public inspection any lien register that an authority provides to the clerk under this section; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Shall record and index in the lien register any entry that the authority certifies.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <level label="1">
      <text>To discharge a lien under this section, a person shall pay to the authority:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>The total amount of the lien; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>Any interest that has accrued on the lien to the date of payment.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>When a person discharges a lien under this subsection, the authority shall deliver to the person a certificate of payment.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>When a person presents a certificate of payment to the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the real estate is located, the clerk, without any fee, shall record the discharge of the lien in the lien register.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
