Tax sale glossary

Every term this site uses, defined. If a word appears in a table header or a notice on this site and is not here, that is a bug — the glossary is meant to be complete, not representative.

Tax deed sale

A tax deed sale is a public auction at which a county sells real property to recover property taxes left unpaid, conveying it to the winning bidder by tax deed.

In Florida the clerk of court conducts it, most often online, after a certificate holder applies for the deed. The sale pays the holder and the county; anything left over is surplus.

See also: Tax certificate, Tax deed application, Opening bid, Surplus

Tax certificate

A tax certificate is a lien for a parcel's unpaid property taxes, sold by the county tax collector to an investor who pays the taxes and earns interest until the owner repays them.

Florida sells them each year at an auction where bidders compete by bidding the interest rate down from 18%. The certificate year printed on a notice is the year the certificate was issued, which is the year after the taxes it covers came due.

See also: Certificate holder, Redemption, Tax deed application

Certificate holder

A certificate holder is the person or fund that owns a tax certificate, and the applicant named in a notice of application for tax deed.

A holder does not own the parcel. It is repaid, with interest, when the owner redeems or when the parcel sells; the deed goes to whoever wins the auction. A handful of funds hold most Florida certificates, often under several series names -- this site groups them under one.

See also: Tax certificate, Tax deed application

Tax deed application

A tax deed application is a certificate holder's request that the county sell the parcel, which in Florida may be filed once two years have passed since April 1 of the year the certificate was issued.

The applicant pays the other outstanding certificates, delinquent taxes and costs on the parcel, and the clerk sets a sale date and publishes notice. It is what turns a lien into a scheduled sale.

See also: Notice of application for tax deed, Opening bid, Tax deed file number

Notice of application for tax deed

A notice of application for tax deed is the legal notice a Florida clerk publishes, once a week for four consecutive weeks, announcing the parcel, the certificate, the owner of record and the date of the tax deed sale.

Florida Statutes section 197.512 sets its form. Every Florida record on this site is read from one of these notices, which is why a record shows several: a notice runs weekly, and a parcel with several certificates gets one per certificate.

See also: Tax deed application, Newspaper of record

Tax deed file number

A tax deed file number is the number the clerk gives an application, and the one to quote when looking up the file or the auction item.

See also: Tax deed application

Parcel number

A parcel number is the identifier the county property appraiser or assessor gives a piece of land -- also called a parcel ID, folio number, or in California an assessor's parcel number (APN).

Its format differs by county, and notices punctuate it inconsistently, so this site compares parcel numbers on their letters and digits alone. It is the only reliable way to find the parcel on the appraiser's site, since most notices print no street address.

Legal description

A legal description is the text that identifies land by survey -- lot, block, subdivision and plat book page, or metes and bounds -- rather than by street address.

It is how a tax deed notice describes the property, and it is what the deed conveys. A street address, where one is printed, is only a convenience.

See also: Parcel number

Owner of record

The owner of record is the person or entity the tax roll names as owning a parcel when the notice was prepared, printed in the notice as the name in which the property is assessed.

It may be out of date: owners die, sell or transfer between the tax roll and the sale. The notice prints it because that owner is entitled to notice and to redeem.

See also: Redemption

Opening bid

The opening bid is the minimum a Florida tax deed sale will accept, set by the clerk from what the applicant paid -- certificates, delinquent taxes, interest and costs.

For a homestead property it also includes one half of the assessed value. Many notices do not print it; where one does not, this site says so rather than estimating, and the clerk's auction site states it before the sale.

See also: Tax deed application, Surplus, Lands available for taxes

Redemption

Redemption is the payment of the delinquent taxes, interest and costs on a tax certificate, which cancels the certificate -- and, if one is scheduled, the tax deed sale.

In Florida an owner may redeem until the tax deed is issued. It happens often and it is not published, which is why a sale listed here can simply not take place. Confirm with the clerk before bidding.

See also: Tax certificate, Owner of record

Surplus

Surplus is the amount by which a tax deed sale's winning bid exceeds the opening bid, held by the clerk for lienholders and the former owner to claim.

See also: Opening bid

Lands available for taxes

Lands available for taxes is the Florida list a parcel joins when its tax deed sale draws no bid, after which it can be bought from the clerk for the opening bid.

A parcel left unsold on the list for the period the statute sets passes to the county.

See also: Opening bid

Rescheduled

Rescheduled, on this site, marks a sale whose newest published notice gives a later date than an earlier notice for the same parcel.

The sale is shown under the newer date, and the record keeps the earlier one. A clerk reschedules for a defect in notice, a bankruptcy filing or a court order; the notice rarely says which.

Tax foreclosure sale

A tax foreclosure sale is a court-ordered sale of property to enforce a tax lien, conducted by a court officer rather than a tax collector or clerk's auction.

Kentucky works this way: the holder of a certificate of delinquency sues, and the master commissioner sells. The plaintiff is the lien holder, which may be the county or a private buyer of the certificate.

See also: Certificate of delinquency

Certificate of delinquency

A certificate of delinquency is Kentucky's lien for unpaid property tax, held by the county or sold to a private buyer, and enforceable by a foreclosure suit.

See also: Tax foreclosure sale

Tax lien sale

A tax lien sale is an auction of the county's lien for unpaid taxes rather than of the property, in which the buyer earns interest or a penalty if the owner pays and can pursue the property only if the owner never does.

The auction calendar labels these separately from deed sales, because a winning bid buys a debt, not land.

See also: Tax certificate, Redeemable deed

Redeemable deed

A redeemable deed sale transfers property by deed at a tax auction but lets the former owner buy it back within a redemption period, for the price paid plus a statutory premium.

Texas and Georgia sell this way. The buyer holds a deed that can still be undone, which is a different investment from a Florida tax deed.

See also: Tax lien sale, Redemption

Tax-defaulted property

Tax-defaulted property, in California, is a parcel whose property taxes were still unpaid at the end of the tax year, which the county must list in a published notice of the default.

It is a warning, not a sale. After five years in default -- three for some non-residential property -- the tax collector gains the power to sell, and most parcels are redeemed long before then.

Newspaper of record

A newspaper of record is a publication legally qualified to carry public notices for a county.

Which papers qualify is set by state law, which is why tax deed notices are spread across dozens of local papers rather than published in one place.

See also: Notice of application for tax deed