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If the owner of drift property described in § 55.1-2700 does not, within three months from the time the property was so deposited, remove or demand the property from the owner of the land, the owner of the land may sell the property or otherwise convert it to his own use, provided that the owner of the land, after deducting a just compensation for any proper care, labor, or expense bestowed, done, or incurred by him for the property from the amount received by him as the price thereof, or the actual value thereof at the time of such sale or other conversion, shall pay to the owner of the property, if he elects to receive it, the residue of the price or of the actual value, as the case may be. The owner of the property, after he has demanded such residue and proved by the affidavit of some other person, or by a competent witness, his right thereto, or offered to prove such right, and if the owner of the land has refused or declined to inspect or hear the evidence thereof, (i) may recover such residue, when the property has been sold, as money received for his use; (ii) may recover such residue, when the property has not been sold, as the price of goods sold by the owner of the property to the owner of the land; or (iii) may have his action of trover to the extent of such residue. Code 1919, § 3571; Code 1950, § 55-209; 2019, c. 55.1-2700 .
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