State liens against tax-deferred property

(1) The Department of Revenue shall have a lien against tax-deferred property for payment of deferred taxes plus interest on the deferred taxes and any fees paid by the department in connection with the filing, recording, release or satisfaction of the lien. The liens for deferred taxes shall attach to the property on July 1 of the year in which the taxes were assessed. The deferred property tax liens shall have the same priority as other real property tax liens except that the lien of mortgages, trust deeds or security interests that is filed, recorded or noted on any certificate of title or in any record maintained by the Department of Consumer and Business Services pursuant to ORS 446.566 to 446.646 prior in time to the attachment of the lien for deferred taxes shall be prior to the liens for deferred taxes. (2) The deferred property tax lien may be foreclosed by the department as if it were a purchase money mortgage under ORS chapter 88. The court may award reasonable attorney fees to the department if the department prevails in a foreclosure action under this section. The court may award reasonable attorney fees to a defendant who prevails in a foreclosure action under this section if the court determines that the department had no objectively reasonable basis for asserting the claim or no reasonable basis for appealing an adverse decision of the trial court. (3) Receipts from foreclosure proceedings shall be credited in the same manner as other repayments of deferred property taxes under ORS 311.701. (4) This section applies only to deferred property tax liens arising prior to October 3, 1989.