The officer holding the sale or his successor in office, if said officer shall not have executed a certificate during his term of office, shall deliver to the purchaser a certificate of sale under his hand and seal, acknowledged by him as a conveyance of land, which shall set forth that the property therein described was sold by him to the purchaser, setting up the date of sale, the amount paid by the purchaser, the description of the land, the name of the owner and the items of the several municipal liens or charges, interest and costs, all as contained in the list, the rate of redemption for which sold, the date to which liens are included, and the time when the right to redeem will expire. No other statements need be included in the certificate. The provisions of this act shall be applicable to pending as well as prospective proceedings.
Whenever a sale for unpaid taxes, assessments and other municipal charges on real property has heretofore been held in any municipality and the collector or other officer charged by law in such municipality to hold such sale has sold parcels of real property in such municipality to the said municipality but has failed within time to execute to the said municipality certificates of tax sale for such parcels of real property, the said certificates of tax sale shall thereafter be executed by the officer holding such sale or his successor in office which certificates shall be valid and effectual in all respects, notwithstanding that the equity of redemption of such tax sale certificates shall have been foreclosed or are in the process thereof; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall affect the rights of any innocent purchaser for value who may have acquired an interest in the property described in any such certificate.
N.J.S. § 54:5-46