In early February, the City starts its yearly tax sale process by sending a final bill and legal notice to the property owner at the address we have on file. This notice shows all the unpaid city taxes and charges up to the end of February. If these unpaid amounts are not paid, the City may add more penalty or interest charges for each unpaid item.
Tax Sale Timeline
March: The complete list of properties still eligible for tax sale is published twice in two newspapers of general circulation during the month of March.
Early April: The City mails a second tax sale notice to the same property address during the first week of April. The amounts included in the second notice are due and valid until the last day of April, the last day to pay all of the outstanding taxes and charges owed the City to avoid tax sale.
Mid-May: The annual tax sale is normally held during the third week in May.
Late May: Redemption can begin. Redemption involves the owner, or an interested party such as a mortgage holder, reimbursing the bidder an amount of interest and other fees and costs. If a property is not redeemed by July 1, then the new fiscal year’s real property taxes also must be paid to redeem the property.
Avoiding Tax Sale: What Can I Do to Reduce the Risk of a Tax Sale?
The Tax Sale Deferral Program is managed by the Departments of Finance and Housing and Community Development. It lets people keep their property from being sold in a tax sale for a year. This program doesn't make unpaid bills disappear. If you still owe money, your property could end up in a tax sale the next year.
Redemption Process
Once a successful bidder has paid to the City all of the taxes and charges listed in the tax sale for a property, the property owner may only redeem their property by reimbursing the bidder. The sooner a property is redeemed, the lower the additional charges imposed by the bidder will be.
Four months after the tax sale, other fees and costs may be added to the redemption amount.
Six months after the sale, the successful bidder may file a lawsuit to foreclose the right of redemption on non-owner occupied residential properties.
More fees and costs may be added seven months after the tax sale on owner occupied properties.
The successful bidder may file a lawsuit to foreclose the right of redemption nine months after the tax sale on owner occupied properties. Fees and most costs are defined by State law and are owed to bidder, not to the City. The City has no power to waive or to reduce the fees and costs set by State law.
It is important to note that the earlier a property is redeemed, the smaller the amount to redeem will be. Delay causes the costs to increase significantly.