All 50 states
Behind on property taxes? Your house can be sold at a tax sale — here's how much time you have to stop it, in your state. Your house was sold at a tax sale? The extra money from the sale may be yours to claim — and there's a deadline, in your state. Same fear, fifty different rulebooks.
| State | What the county sells | Redemption window | Surplus claim window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Hybrid | 3 years from the sale (statutory redemption), with a further court redemption possible while you remain in possession | Excess proceeds above the tax debt are held for the owner. The standard claim window runs 3 years from the sale; owners who did not redeem may still pursue excess for up to 10 years after the sale with proof through the court process. |
| Alaska | Tax Deed | At least 1 year after the property is transferred to the municipality in the foreclosure — the municipality must hold it for that redemption year | If the municipality later sells the property for more than was owed — and held it less than 10 years and never set it aside for a public purpose — the former owner may claim the excess by written claim within 6 months of that resale. A claim filed after 6 months is barred. |
| Arizona | Tax Lien | 3 years from the certificate sale — and redemption actually stays open after year 3 until a court enters a judgment ending it or a treasurer's deed is delivered | A lien sale itself produces no surplus. Under Arizona's 2024 system, when the buyer forecloses, the owner may ask the court to order an excess-proceeds sale of the property; if the sale brings more than is owed, the court distributes it within 90 days — lienholders first, the rest to the former owner. |
| Arkansas | Tax Deed | Any time before the state sale — until 4:00 p.m. on the last business day before the sale date. Land reaches a sale only after about a year with the county and at least 2 more years with the Commissioner, so the runway is long, but the sale itself is final. | Excess proceeds from the sale are held in escrow for 2 years. The Commissioner's claim process opens after a 1-year hold following the deed — file the claim inside the 2-year escrow window. |
| California | Tax Deed | Until the sale happens. Your protection is the 5-year runway after default (3 years for nonresidential commercial property in applicable counties) — the collector's power to sell arises only after that period, and redemption ends when the sale occurs. There is no redemption after a California tax sale. | 1 year from the date the tax collector's deed to the buyer is recorded. The claim must be postmarked by that 1-year date. |
| Colorado | Tax Lien | 3 years from the lien sale — redemption may be made any time before a treasurer's deed is executed | 6 months from the treasurer's-deed public auction. The overbid is paid first to junior lienholders who filed a notice of intent to redeem; the rest belongs to the former owner. The treasurer must mail the owner notice within 30 days after the auction. |
| Connecticut | Tax Deed | 6 months after the sale (60 days if the property was abandoned or meets conditions in a town ordinance) | 90 days from the date the tax collector pays the sale money over to the court. You file an application with the court for return of the proceeds; the collector must notify you of the right within 5 days of paying the court. |
| Delaware | Tax Deed | 60 days from the day the Superior Court approves (confirms) the sale — confirmation usually follows the sale itself by a few weeks, so treat the computed date as the outer edge and act earlier | No fixed statutory claim window was found: on a monition sale the Superior Court disposes of proceeds above the judgment 'as it shall deem just,' and the residue is paid to the owner or deposited for the owner. Claim in writing to the court immediately after any sale. |
| Florida | Hybrid | Any time after the certificate is issued and before a tax deed is issued. The certificate holder generally cannot even apply for the deed until 2 years after April 1 of the certificate year (and the right to apply dies 7 years after issuance) — so your practical window is measured in years, but it ends the day the deed issues, without a separate warning clock. | 120 days from the date of the clerk's mailed Notice of Surplus Funds from Tax Deed Sale. The claim is a written, notarized claim. Recorded government liens are paid first, then liens by priority, then the former owner. |
| Georgia | Redeemable Deed | 12 months from the tax sale — and the right does not die automatically at month 12: it continues until the buyer bars it by giving barment notice (O.C.G.A. §§48-4-45/46), which takes additional time. Treat 12 months as your deadline; anything after is borrowed time | The tax-deed statute states no claim deadline: the selling officer must mail you notice of the excess funds within 30 days after the sale. County practice holds the funds claimable for years — claim in writing as early as you can. |
| Hawaii | Tax Deed | 1 year from the sale (if the deed is not recorded within 60 days after the sale, 1 year from the deed's recording instead) | The state statute (§231-70) sets no claim window — surplus is paid after state taxes, and disputed claims go to circuit court. County ordinance fills the gap in at least Hawaii County: lienholders must claim within 1 year of the sale and the taxpayer within 2 years. Confirm the window with your county, in writing. |
| Idaho | Tax Deed | 3 years from the date the taxes became delinquent — if the taxes are not redeemed in that period the tax collector must deed the property to the county, and redemption ends. The county's later auction is a second, separate danger date. | When the county auctions tax-deeded property: the board must notify parties in interest within 30 days after the sale, and claims must be made within 60 days of receiving that notice. After lien-priority payments, the remainder goes to whoever owned the property when the tax deed issued. |
| Illinois | Tax Lien | 2½ years for certificates sold before July 10, 2026; 3 years for certificates sold on or after July 10, 2026. Shorter — 1 year — for vacant non-farm land, buildings with 7+ residential units, and commercial or industrial property | For sales under the reformed system (PA 104-0553): the surplus is held by the county treasurer and the owner has 3 years from the treasurer's notice to claim it. Enter the date on the treasurer's notice in the checker for the exact count. |
| Indiana | Tax Lien | 1 year from the sale (120 days for sales to a purchasing agency, sales of county-held certificates, and certain vacant or abandoned parcels) | 3 years after the date of the sale. A court may direct payment from the fund only within the 3 years. |
| Iowa | Tax Lien | At least 1 year 9 months — the buyer cannot even serve the notice that starts the end of your right until then, and your right expires 90 days after that notice is properly served on you (a faster 9-months-plus-90-days track exists for certain public sales). The served notice, not the calendar, is the real deadline: if you are served, count 90 days from service. | No general owner surplus right found |
| Kansas | Tax Deed | 2 years from the sale at which the county bid the property off (1 year for an abandoned building or structure) — and once a foreclosure case is filed, you can still redeem any time before the day of the foreclosure sale itself | No general owner surplus right found |
| Kentucky | Tax Lien | No fixed calendar date: you may pay off a certificate at any time before a foreclosure judgment and sale. A buyer cannot even sue until 1 year after the taxes became delinquent (and must sue within 11 years) — so the practical clock is the court case, not a date. | No tax-specific claim window was found: surplus exists only when the court foreclosure sale brings more than the debt, and it is then held under the court's general foreclosure distribution rules. A separate protection: if the foreclosure sale brings less than two-thirds of the appraised value, a redemption right applies to that sale itself (KRS 426.530). Ask the Master Commissioner, in writing, whether your sale left a balance. |
| Louisiana | Hybrid | 3 years from the date the tax sale is recorded (18 months for blighted or abandoned property) | Only for sales under the NEW lien-foreclosure system (from January 1, 2026): surplus from the sheriff's sale is deposited in the court registry and must be claimed within 18 months of the seizure and sale. Pre-2026 tax sales produced no overbid surplus — the old law sold the smallest percentage of the property that would pay the tax. |
| Maine | Tax Lien | 18 months after the town files its tax lien certificate in the registry of deeds — then the lien is deemed foreclosed and your right to redeem expires. After foreclosure the town still cannot simply sell: it must follow the brokered-sale process on the surplus line below | Since the 2023 reform (L.D. 101), before selling tax-acquired property the town must give you 90 days' notice, list the property with a licensed real estate broker at a fair price, and return the excess sale proceeds to you after taxes and costs. The statute text read sets no claim deadline for the owner — the duty is the town's — but chase it in writing from the day of the sale. |
| Maryland | Tax Lien | Any time until the court signs the judgment ending your right. The buyer cannot even file that case until 6 months after the sale — 9 months for an owner-occupied home — and tax-sale cases commonly run 12 to 18 months. The court date, not the calendar, is your deadline; if you are served with court papers, the clock is real | When the court ends redemption, a buyer who bid more than the lien must pay the surplus bid to the collector, and the former owner claims that balance from the collector under local procedure. No fixed statewide claim window was found in the statute text read — claim in writing the moment the case closes. |
| Massachusetts | Tax Deed | Any time before a foreclosure petition is filed in Land Court — and the petition cannot be filed until 12 months after the sale or taking (raised from 6 months effective November 1, 2024). Even after a petition is filed, the Land Court may allow redemption on terms | Under the 2024 excess-equity law (§64A): if the property is sold — or kept and appraised — the excess equity above the tax title debt is held for the former owner and interested parties. Unclaimed excess equity is disposed of under the unclaimed-property law (c. 200A) after 19 months; a court dispute over the accounting must be filed within 12 months of the notice of the itemized accounting. |
| Michigan | Tax Deed | Ends at the sale/deed | A TWO-STEP claim, and both steps are unforgiving: (1) file a notarized notice of intent to claim (Treasury Form 5743) with the county treasurer by JULY 1 immediately after the foreclosure; (2) after the property sells and the treasurer sends the accounting, file a motion in the circuit court foreclosure case between FEBRUARY 1 and MAY 15. The right cannot be sold or signed away — it passes only by inheritance. |
| Minnesota | Tax Deed | 3 years from the judgment sale to the State (1 year for certain targeted-community non-homestead parcels) — then the land is forfeited. Redemption in Minnesota is entirely a before-forfeiture right | When tax-forfeited land is sold, the auditor must mail you a surplus notice and claim form within 60 days of the sale; your claim must be filed within 6 months from the date that notice is first mailed. Enter the mailing date in the checker — the clock runs from the mailing, not the sale. |
| Mississippi | Redeemable Deed | 2 years after the day of the sale | If the property is NOT redeemed, the owner must request the excess within 2 years after the redemption period expires — so the outside date is about 4 years after the sale. The tax collector reports the excess to the chancery clerk, who certifies the claim. |
| Missouri | Redeemable Deed | 1 year after the certificate sale as an absolute right — and a defeasible right that continues until the purchaser actually acquires the collector's deed. Treat the year as your deadline | The surplus is held in trust for 3 years. Lienholders of record are paid first, by priority; the recorded owner takes what remains. Nothing is distributed until 90 days after the redemption period expires. |
| Montana | Tax Lien | 36 months from the first day of the tax lien sale (or 60 days after the statutory redemption notice, if later) | For residential property sold at a tax-deed auction under MCA 15-18-220/221: the surplus is retained for the people the statute notifies — senior lienholders first, then junior lienholders, then the former owner — and claims are made by notarized claim within 30 days of the auction. County sales of tax-deeded land follow a different, older track (MCA 7-8-2306) under which excess was credited to the county — which track your property is on changes everything; ask the treasurer, in writing. |
| Nebraska | Tax Lien | 3 years from the sale — and redemption actually runs until the buyer applies for the tax deed (possible in the 9 months after year 3) once a 3-month notice has run. Treat the 3 years as your deadline | Under Nebraska's new surplus law (operative April 17, 2026): within 30 days after the tax deed is recorded, the buyer must pay the previous owner the surplus — the property's resale price since the deed (or its assessed value at the deed application if unsold), minus the redemption amount, all encumbrances, and a $500 administrative fee. If they do not pay, your claim is against the buyer, with the treasurer's records as your proof. |
| Nevada | Tax Deed | 2 years after the certificate issues to the county treasurer as trustee (1 year if the property is determined abandoned). There is no redemption after the treasurer's deed and sale | 1 year after the treasurer's deed is recorded, by written claim. Know the skim: the county first takes $300 of the excess plus 10% of the next $10,000 for its general fund; then recorded lienholders are paid, then the former owner class. |
| New Hampshire | Tax Lien | Any time before the tax deed is given — and the collector cannot give the deed until 2 years after the lien was executed. If the town refuses the deed (for liability or public-interest reasons), redemption stays open indefinitely | On resale of tax-deeded property, the town's recovery is limited to back taxes, interest, costs and penalty — the excess goes to the former owner and lienholders. The town's distribution duty and your right to repurchase run 3 years after the deed is recorded (RSA 80:89) — and New Hampshire's supreme court held in Polonsky v. Town of Bedford that a scheme letting a town keep all equity raises a taking, so do not treat year 3 as a clean wall without advice. |
| New Jersey | Tax Lien | Until a Superior Court judgment bars your right. A private buyer cannot even start foreclosure until 2 years after the certificate sale (a municipality, 6 months) — and the case itself takes time after that. If foreclosure papers arrive, the right ends with the judgment, not before | The decisive move is BEFORE the foreclosure judgment: under the 2024 law, the owner or heirs may demand in writing that the foreclosure proceed as a sheriff (judicial) sale — that demand is what preserves the surplus. After a judicial sale, lienholders may apply for surplus funds first; the owner or heirs take the remainder on written application to Superior Court. Do not wait to be contacted. |
| New Mexico | Tax Deed | Ends at the sale/deed | 2 years from the sale. The balance after costs, penalties, interest, and the delinquent taxes is paid to the former owner (the department may require proof you owned it). |
| New York | Hybrid | The redemption period expires 2 years after the lien date (the later date in the foreclosure notice controls if one is given). Districts may extend the period for residential or farm property, or cut it to 1 year for vacant and abandoned homes. Redemption is a before-judgment right | Claim is filed with the court under RPTL §1197. For residential property, if no former owner has claimed by the time the sale is confirmed, the proceeding must remain open at least 3 years from that confirmation, and a claim filed in that period counts as timely. |
| North Carolina | Tax Deed | Until the sale is final and confirmed — and every upset bid restarts a 10-day window (each upset bid must top the last by at least 5% or $750). You may pay the judgment in full until the sale is final | Surplus is held by the clerk for the persons entitled; disputed or uncertain claims are resolved in a special proceeding before the clerk naming the other known claimants (G.S. §§1-339.70, 1-339.71). No fixed tax-statute claim deadline was pinned — file the proceeding promptly. |
| North Dakota | Tax Deed | Until the foreclosure date in the auditor's notice — October 1 after service of the notice (the county acts once 2 or more years have passed since the tax became due). There is no redemption after the deed issues to the county | No general owner surplus right found |
| Ohio | Hybrid | Any time before the court confirms the sale — there is no fixed statewide month count. On confirmation, the equity of redemption ends. (Certificate parcels likewise redeem until confirmation or the foreclosure decree.) | A two-stage clock (R.C. §5721.20): the sale officer must deliver the balance to the clerk within 45 days after the sale is confirmed, and the clerk notifies the owner. Residue still unclaimed 90 days after the clerk's final notice moves to the county treasury, held in the owner's name — and payable on the owner's demand within 3 years of the treasurer receiving it. |
| Oklahoma | Redeemable Deed | Any time before the treasurer executes the resale deed — the statute sets no fixed month count, so the deed's execution, not a date on the calendar, ends the right. (Minors and incapacitated persons get 1 year after the disability ends, at no more than 10% per year.) | 1 year from the start of the resale. The excess over taxes, penalties, interest and costs is held for whoever the county records show as the record owner on the day the resale begins, and may be withdrawn at any time within that year. (Assignment trap: an assignment of this right made on or after the resale start date is void — a recovery company's paperwork signed after that date cannot take your money.) |
| Oregon | Tax Deed | 2 years after the foreclosure judgment date — during which the county takes and holds the property. After the 2 years the county issues a deed to itself and your redemption ends | Under Oregon's 2025 law (ORS 312.540–312.560): within 60 days after the county disposes of the property, it determines the surplus (sale price minus foreclosure judgment amounts), then within 30 days delivers the claim record to prior owners and the money to the State Treasurer. You claim from the Treasurer under unclaimed-property law. Assignments of your surplus to a finder are VOID (protective exceptions only). |
| Pennsylvania | Tax Deed | Ends at the sale/deed | When the sale brings more than the upset price, the bureau distributes the balance in this order: sale costs, tax liens, municipal claims, mortgage and judgment liens, and then the owner. There is NO owner-claim deadline in the RETSL text read — do not let anyone tell you a county '3-year rule' is the law for your county without checking that county's practice. |
| Rhode Island | Tax Lien | At least 1 year — the buyer cannot file the foreclosure petition until 1 year after the lien sale (5 years if Rhode Island Housing bought it) — and you can still redeem after the petition is filed, until the court enters the foreclosure decree. Do not treat year 1 as the end; treat the first court paper as the emergency | The surplus statute read (§44-9-37) covers city/town treasurer sales made without the foreclosure process: the excess is held by the treasurer and paid to the former owner or heirs on demand. What happens to an overbid at a court-foreclosed lien sale was not resolved in the sources read — ask the collector and the Superior Court clerk, in writing. |
| South Carolina | Redeemable Deed | 12 months after the sale | 5 years from the auction date. The overage is payable to the former owner 90 days after the tax deed is issued — but only those who owned the property on the day of the auction may claim, and if you owned it with others, your share is pro-rata. |
| South Dakota | Tax Lien | Deed proceedings cannot begin until 3 years after the certificate sale (4 years if the land is outside a municipality) — then you get 60 more days after the notice to take deed is served on you. Your true last day is inside that 60-day window | No general owner surplus right found |
| Tennessee | Tax Deed | 1 year from the court's confirmation of the sale — shorter if the property had been delinquent for years: 180 days if it was delinquent more than 5 but less than 8 years, 90 days if 8+ years, and 30 days for vacant or abandoned property | Proceeds are paid out in this order: sale costs, then the taxes and charges, then other liens by priority, then the owner. Claim by motion in the tax case (Tenn. Code §67-5-2702) — the safe rule is to file while the funds are still with the Clerk & Master, because once they are forwarded to the state's unclaimed property program the route changes. |
| Texas | Redeemable Deed | 180 days for most property — 2 years if the property was your homestead or agricultural land | 2 years from the sale date: you must file your petition with the court BEFORE the second anniversary of the sale. The court pays court costs, sale costs, and liens first, then you. Unclaimed excess is then paid out to the taxing units — it does not wait in unclaimed property. |
| Utah | Tax Deed | Redeem at any time before the final tax sale by paying in full. There is no post-sale redemption in Utah | If the sale brings more than the taxes, penalties, interest and costs, the excess is unclaimed property by statute — it is not county revenue. The auditor must report and deliver unclaimed property to the State Treasurer, and you claim it from the unclaimed property division. |
| Vermont | Tax Deed | 1 year from the day of the sale | No general owner surplus right found |
| Virginia | Tax Deed | Until the sale: owner, lienholders and other interest-holders may redeem by paying everything owed — and a partial payment does NOT redeem. There is no post-sale redemption in Virginia | Judicial sales: surplus paid to the court is held for those entitled; after 2 years from the confirmation of the sale it is paid into the state treasury for the Literary Fund if unclaimed. Nonjudicial sales: surplus sits in a treasurer's escrow account for at least 3 years before being paid over to the locality. |
| Washington | Tax Deed | Until the close of business on the business day immediately before the sale — there is no redemption after the sale. (Exception: minors and legally incompetent persons may redeem within 3 years after the sale.) | 3 years from the sale. The right belongs to the person who owned the property on the date the certificate of delinquency was issued — and no one else may take it, even by a later assignment. Claim it from the county treasurer with proof you held title on that date. |
| West Virginia | Tax Lien | Before the Auditor issues a deed — the pre-deed period runs about 18 months from the lien sale in the Auditor's own guidance. Treat any notice from the Auditor as the start of your final window | TWO different pockets, do not confuse them: (1) at a sheriff's lien sale, any bid above the taxes goes to the lien PURCHASER if you later redeem (§11A-3-10) — it is not your claim at that stage; (2) at an Auditor land sale (property the state took and resold), the former owner may claim the proceeds above the taxes within 2 years after the court confirms that sale (§11A-3-65). Track 2 is your money claim. |
| Wisconsin | Tax Deed | Until the county takes its tax deed or files in rem — generally not before 2 years after the certificate issues (1 year for counties of 750,000+ and certain city tracks). Redeem at the treasurer's office before either move | When the county later sells the tax-deeded property, the net proceeds above its tax and interest claim belong to the former owner — ask the treasurer IN WRITING, promptly. Flag: the statute text is in flux — an older text required a written request within 60 days and let the county deduct the greater of $500 plus half the gain or its costs plus 2%; the current text pays net proceeds and forfeits them only if the owner cannot be located within 5 years of notice. Which text governs depends on your parcel's track; the treasurer must tell you. |
| Wyoming | Tax Lien | 4 years from the date of the certificate sale — one of the longest redemption windows in the country | At the treasurer's certificate sale there is no overbid (the bid is the full delinquent amount). Surplus can arise later, if the lienholder forecloses and the foreclosure sale brings more than the judgment: the balance after the judgment and costs is paid to the persons entitled, on claim made within 2 years after the sale is confirmed. |
Compiled from state statutes and official sources, law checked October 19, 2026. Windows are the headline rule; triggers, exceptions (homestead, heirs, disability), and the claim office are on each state page. Where a figure rests on secondary sources rather than the statute text, the state page flags it on its face.
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