Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 60, § 80C (2026)

Title to land conveyed under Sec. 79 or Sec. 80; curing defects

✓ current as of July 2026

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Section 80C. When any city or town has conveyed or sold any land under section seventy-nine or section eighty by an instrument in writing conveying or purporting to convey such land, and said instrument is duly recorded in the registry of deeds for the district wherein such land is situated and a period of twenty years elapses after the instrument is accepted for record, and the notice or procedure for the taking and sale or conveyance under this chapter or the instrument or record thereof because of a defect, irregularity, or omission, fails to comply in any respect with any requirement of law relating thereto or the instrument or record thereof shall, notwithstanding such defects, irregularities, or omissions be effective for all purposes to the same extent as though such notice or procedure or the instrument or record thereof had originally not been subject to any such defects, irregularities, or omissions, unless within said period of twenty years a proceeding is commenced on account of such defect, irregularity, or omission and notice thereof is duly recorded in said registry of deeds and indexed and noted on the margin of said instrument of conveyance and in the event of such proceeding, unless relief is thereby in due course granted.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 1987–1996 · leading case: Sheriff's Meadow Found., Inc. v. Bay-Courte Edgartown, Inc., 516 N.E.2d 144 (Mass. 1987).

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Sheriff's Meadow Found., Inc. v. Bay-Courte Edgartown, Inc., 516 N.E.2d 144 (Mass. 1987). · cites it 4× “There are three principal issues which we shall treat after an exposition of the material facts: (1) the plaintiff’s title; (2) the effect of G. L. c. 60, § 80C; and (3) laches. The testimonial evidence, in the main, came from an official of the board of assessors of Edgartown,…”

In Re Stacy, 99 B.R. 142 (D. Mass. 1989). · cites it 4× “But even if the notice was improper and thus sufficient to otherwise prevent “good, record and marketable title,” the defect has been cured by Mass. Gen.L. ch. 60, § 80C. This is exactly the type of problem the statute is designed to solve.”

Lamontagne v. Knightly, 572 N.E.2d 1375 (Mass. App. Ct. 1991). · cites it 3× “60, § 79, for sale of low value land taken for nonpayment of taxes and (2) G. L. c. 60, § 80C, barred the plaintiffs’ petition.”

Opinion of the Justices to House of Representatives, 563 N.E.2d 203 (Mass. 1990). “While construing G. L. c. 60, § 80C, a statute that contains language identical in many relevant respects to the proposed bill, the court has stated that “the statute cannot cure a defect which is founded on a want of title.”

Homer v. Town of Yarmouth, 662 N.E.2d 1056 (Mass. App. Ct. 1996). “There remains the town’s argument that G. L. c. 60, § 80C, a statute of repose for the benefit of cities and towns which have recorded instruments conveying real property, cures any defect in the town’s title.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.