N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-362 — Discharge of lien on real property

(a) General Rule. - The tax lien on real property shall continue until the principal amount of the taxes plus penalties, interest, and costs allowed by law have been fully paid. (b) Release of Separate Parcels from Tax Lien. - (1) When the lien of taxes of any taxing unit for any year attaches to two or more parcels of real property owned by the same taxpayer, the lien may be discharged as to any parcel at any time prior to advertisement of tax foreclosure sale in accordance with either subdivision (b)(1)a or subdivision (b)(1)b: a. Upon payment, by or on behalf of the listing taxpayer, of the taxes for the year on the parcel or parcels to be released, of the taxes for the year on the parcel or parcels to be released, plus all personal property taxes owed by the listing taxpayer for the same year. b. Upon payment, by or on behalf of any person (other than the listing taxpayer) who has a legal interest in the parcel or parcels to be released, of the taxes for the year on the parcel or parcels to be released, plus a proportionate part of personal property taxes owed by the listing taxpayer for the same year. The proportionate part shall be a percentage of the personal property taxes equal to the percentage of the total assessed valuation of the taxpayer's real property in the taxing unit represented by the assessed valuation of the parcel or parcels to be released. (2) When real property listed as one parcel is divided, a part thereof may be released as provided in subdivision (b)(1), above, after the assessed valuation of the part to be released has been determined and certified to the tax collector by the tax supervisor. (3) It shall be the duty of the tax collector accepting a payment made under this subsection (b) for the purpose of releasing the tax lien from less than all of the taxpayer's real property: a. To give the person making the payment a receipt setting forth a description of the real property released from the tax lien and bearing a statement that such property is being released from the tax lien. b. To indicate on the tax receipts, tax records, and other official records of his office what real property has been released from the tax lien. If the tax collector fails to issue the receipt or make the record entries required by this subdivision (3), the omission may be supplied at any time. (4) When any parcel of real property has been released under the provisions of this subsection (b) from the lien of taxes of any taxing unit for any year, the property shall not thereafter be subject to the lien of any other regularly levied taxes of the same taxing unit for the same year, whether such other taxes be levied against the listing owner of the property or against some other person acquiring title thereto. No tax foreclosure judgment for such other taxes shall become a lien on the released property; and, upon appropriate request and satisfactory proof of the release by any interested person, the clerk of the superior court shall indicate on the judgment docket that the judgment is not a lien on the released property. However, the failure to make such an entry shall not have the effect of making the judgment a lien on the released property. (1939, c. 310, s. 1704; 1971, c. 806, s. 1.)