(a) Where any contract or extension thereof for the sale of any interest in land fails to state the time within which, or the circumstances under which, a deed is to be delivered, the time for the delivery of the deed shall be a reasonable time after the date on which the contract was entered into, and in no case more than one year subsequent to such date.
(b) Where any contract for the sale of any interest in land or any extension of such contract has been recorded or rerecorded and five years have elapsed since the time provided by the parties or by subsection (a) of this section for the delivery of the deed, whichever period shall be the longer, and no action has been brought for the specific performance of such contract or for the foreclosure of the vendee's interest or for the enforcement of an equitable lien arising from the contract and no lis pendens has been properly filed, a lienholder or a purchaser for value or mortgagee may conclusively presume that such contract has been abandoned by the parties thereto and that the vendee named in the contract and his successors in interest have no equitable claim against the land made the subject of the contract; provided, that this section shall not apply so long as the vendee named in the contract or his successors in interest shall be in actual possession of the land made the subject of the contract.
(c) This section shall apply to contracts and extensions thereof recorded before or after January 31, 1972; except, that the period of five years provided for in subsection (b) of this section shall not be deemed to have expired in any case until January 31, 1974.
Structure Code of Alabama
Chapter 4 - Conveyances and Creation of Estates.
Article 3 - Recordation and Registration in General.
Division 1 - General Provisions.
Section 35-4-50 - Conveyances Required to Be Recorded in Office of Probate Judge.
Section 35-4-52 - Petitions, Decrees, or Orders of Bankruptcy.
Section 35-4-51.1 - Recordation of Memorandum of Lease; Contents; Effect.
Section 35-4-53 - Bonds for Title, Etc.
Section 35-4-54 - Conveyances of Personal Property Brought Into State by Tenants for Life or Years.
Section 35-4-55 - Choses in Action Not "Personal Property" Within Meaning Used in Division.
Section 35-4-57 - Deeds of Assignment for Benefit of Creditors.
Section 35-4-58 - Mode of Recording Generally; Time Stamp; Fees.
Section 35-4-59 - Conveyance Operative as Record From Date of Delivery; Receipt.
Section 35-4-60 - Access to Books; Transcripts.
Section 35-4-61 - Liability of Probate Judge for Failure to Perform Duties Generally.
Section 35-4-62 - Locations for Recording Conveyances in Real Property, Deeds, Mortgages, Etc.
Section 35-4-63 - Recording Effective as Notice of Contents of Conveyance.
Section 35-4-64 - Purchasers Protected in Dealing With Record Owner as Owner of Indebtedness.
Section 35-4-65 - When Conveyance Receivable in Evidence.
Section 35-4-66 - Recording Certified Copies of Instruments.
Section 35-4-67 - Proof of Conveyances Executed in Name of Corporation.
Section 35-4-68 - Form of Proof or Acknowledgment of Conveyances.
Section 35-4-69 - Affidavits - Record as Notice of Facts Recited; by Whom Made.
Section 35-4-70 - Affidavits - Admissibility as Evidence.
Section 35-4-71 - Affidavits - Filing and Recordation by Probate Judge.
Section 35-4-72 - Improperly Acknowledged or Recorded Instruments as Evidence.
Section 35-4-75 - Time for Delivery of Deed; When Recorded Contract Presumed Abandoned.
Section 35-4-76 - Limitations on Duration of Option to Purchase Land.