Iowa Code § 448.16 (2026)

1. When the affidavit described in section 448.15 is filed it shall be notice to all persons, and any person claiming any right, title, or interest in or to the parcel described adverse to the title or purported title by virtue of the tax deed referred to, shall file a claim with the county recorder of the county in which the parcel is located within one hundred twenty days after the filing of the affidavit, which claim shall set forth the nature of the interest, the time when and the manner in which the interest was acquired.

2. At the expiration of the period of one hundred twenty days, if no such claim has been filed, the validity of the tax title or purported tax title shall be conclusively established as a matter of law, and all persons shall thereafter be forever barred and estopped from having or claiming any right, title, or interest in the parcel adverse to the tax title or purported tax title, including but not limited to any claim alleging improper service of notice of expiration of right of redemption. An action shall not thereafter be brought to challenge the tax deed or tax title.

3. An action to enforce a claim filed under subsection 1 shall be commenced within sixty days after the date of filing the claim. The action may be commenced by the claimant, or a person under whom the claimant claims title, under section 447.7, 447.8, or 448.6. If an action by the claimant, or such other person, is not filed within sixty days after the filing of the claim, the claim thereafter shall be forfeited and canceled without any further notice or action, and the claimant, or the person under whom the claimant claims title, thereafter shall be forever barred and estopped from having or claiming any right, title, or interest in the parcel adverse to the tax title or purported tax title. [C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §448.16] 91 Acts, ch 191, §114; 2005 Acts, ch 34, §24, 26; 2018 Acts, ch 1039, §5 Referred to in §447.7, 447.8, 448.3, 448.6, 448.17 \n