South Carolina · Law checked October 19, 2026

South Carolina tax sale: your deadline, your office, your money

Behind on property taxes in South Carolina? Your house can be sold at a tax sale — here's how much time you have to stop it. Your house was sold at a tax sale in South Carolina? The extra money from the sale may be yours to claim — and there's a deadline. Both answers are on this page, from the statute.

Count my South Carolina deadline

How South Carolina sells

The machine, in four lines

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

Your window: 12 months after the sale, counted from the sale date. Statute-verified

What it costs to redeem: The bid price in full — note that repaying part does not stop the tax deed — plus interest on the whole bid: 3% for months 1–3, 6% for months 4–6, 9% for months 7–9, 12% for months 10–12, plus added taxes and costs.

Source: S.C. Code §12-51-90

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: No statewide pre-sale installment right was verified (delivery-of-execution procedures vary by county).

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): None found. (The homestead exemption is an exemption from tax, not a deferral.)

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the Delinquent tax collector / county treasurer.

Your claim window: 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. Statute-verified

If nobody claims it: Unclaimed overage escheats to the county general fund.

Source: S.C. Code §12-51-130

The county figure rule. This page gives you the law — the window, the formula, the office. The exact payoff or surplus figure lives in the Delinquent tax collector / county treasurer's books and changes as interest runs. Ask that office for the figure, in writing, and keep the letter.

Included in the $49 TaxSaleDecoded Kit

  • The surplus claim pack: how to prove the house was yours (deed records, address history, ID), the claim-form path in your state, and what to do when the county says it has no record of your money
  • The redemption playbook: your state's window and cost formula worked step by step, who to pay, how to prove you paid, and the traps in the payoff figure (added fees and interest)
  • The heirs page: the house was a parent's — what changes, which papers prove you are an heir, and the point where it stops being simple
  • The scam shield: how surplus-recovery companies work, the fee caps your state sets for them, and the assignment papers you should never sign
  • The lookback module: what Tyler won, what Pung limited (the extra money is the sale price minus the debt — not your home's value), and the dated state lookbacks, including Illinois claims that die in July 2028

Get the TaxSaleDecoded Kit — $49

One payment of $49. No subscription. The kit is a web page you can return to and print — the claim pack, the redemption playbook, the heirs page, and the scam shield.

All 50 states · The surplus, explained · Redemption, explained