The clerks of the superior courts are authorized to enter the following judgments:
In any tax foreclosure action pending on March 15, 1939 or thereafter brought under the provisions of G.S. 105-414 in which there is filed no answer which seeks to prevent entry of judgment of sale, the clerk of the superior court may render judgment of sale and make all necessary subsequent orders and judgments to the same extent as permitted by this section in actions brought to foreclose a mortgage. All such judgments and orders heretofore rendered or made by a clerk of the superior court in such tax foreclosure actions are hereby, as to the authority of the said clerk, ratified and confirmed.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-209