Guide 06
9 min read · updated October 5, 2026
Many parcels set for a Florida tax deed sale never reach the auction, because the owner redeems first. Of those that do, some draw no bid at all. Those parcels do not vanish. The clerk of court puts them on a list called lands available for taxes, and after 90 days anyone can buy them for the opening bid, without an auction. Right now 2,800 Florida parcels are headed for a tax deed sale across 52 counties, 1,657 of them in the next 30 days, and the ones nobody bids on will join their county's list. This guide sets out how the list works, with each rule quoted from chapter 197 of the Florida Statutes, and what to check before you buy from it.
A parcel goes on the list when its tax deed sale draws no bidder and the certificateholder does not pay the amounts due within 30 days.
A tax deed sale starts at the opening bid, and the certificate holder who applied for the deed is the first bidder. "If there are no higher bids, the property shall be struck off and sold to the certificateholder" [1], who then has 30 days to pay what the opening bid did not already cover. If the holder walks away instead, "If the certificateholder fails to make full payment when due, the clerk shall enter the land on a list entitled “lands available for taxes.”" [2]
Section 197.502 states the rule in full. The list takes certificates, county-held or individually held, "for which there are no bidders at the public sale and for which the certificateholder fails to timely pay costs of resale or fails to pay the amounts due for issuance of a tax deed within 30 days after the sale" [3]. For those parcels, "the clerk shall enter the land on a list entitled “lands available for taxes” and shall immediately notify the county commission that the property is available" [4].
Two other routes lead to the same list. A certificateholder who will not fund a resale: "Failure to pay the costs of resale, if applicable, within 30 days after notice from the clerk shall result in the clerk’s entering the land on a list entitled “lands available for taxes.”" [5] And a resale that fails as well: "If, at the subsequent sale, there are no bidders at the tax deed sale and the certificateholder fails to pay the moneys due within 30 days after the sale, the clerk may not readvertise the sale and shall place the property on a list entitled “lands available for taxes.”" [6]
Certificates the county holds feed the list too. A certificate no investor buys at the annual certificate sale goes to the county: "If a certificate is not purchased, the certificate shall be struck to the county at the maximum rate of interest allowed by this chapter." [7] Two years later the county "shall apply for a tax deed on all county-held certificates on property valued at $5,000 or more on the property appraiser’s most recent assessment roll" [8], and when nobody bids at that sale either, the parcel joins the list. How a Florida tax deed sale works covers the road from the tax certificate to that auction.
For its first 90 days on the list only the county can buy a parcel; after that any person or government can buy it from the clerk for the opening bid, without notice or advertising.
The county gets the first chance: "During the first 90 days after the property is placed on the list, the county may purchase the land for the opening bid or may waive its rights to purchase the property." [9] Then the list opens to everyone: "Thereafter, any person, the county, or any other governmental unit may purchase the property from the clerk, without further notice or advertising, for the opening bid" [10]. A government buying for its own use can also have the back taxes written off, "except that if the county or other governmental unit is the purchaser for its own use, the board of county commissioners may cancel omitted years’ taxes" [11].
Two phrases in that sentence shape how you buy. "From the clerk" means there is no auction: the parcel goes to a buyer who pays the price. "Without further notice or advertising" means nobody announces when a parcel becomes available, so the clerk's list is the only place to watch. Each clerk sets its own procedure for taking requests and payments, and many post the list on their website; ask the clerk's tax deed office how it handles two requests for the same parcel.
A listed parcel costs its opening bid plus interest that keeps accruing at 1.5% a month, plus each year's taxes added as omitted taxes while it waits, plus the clerk's fees and deed costs.
The opening bid. The starting point is the opening bid from the tax deed sale. On a certificate the county holds, it is "the sum of the value of all outstanding certificates against the property, plus omitted years’ taxes, delinquent taxes, current taxes, if due, interest, and all costs and fees paid by the county." [12] On a homestead it also includes "an amount equal to one-half of the latest assessed value of the homestead" [13], and when the parcel sells, "that amount must be treated as surplus and distributed in the same manner" [14] as any other surplus.
Interest. The price does not freeze when the parcel is listed: "Interest on the opening bid continues to accrue through the month of sale" [15]. The rate is the one the tax deed sale uses, "interest at the rate of 1.5 percent per month for the period running from the month after the date of application for the deed through the month of sale" [16]. At 1.5% a month, a year on the list adds 18% to the amount interest is charged on.
Omitted taxes. Taxes are not billed on a listed parcel, but they are not forgiven: "Taxes may not be extended against parcels listed as lands available for taxes, but in each year the taxes that would have been due shall be treated as omitted years and added to the required minimum bid." [17]
So a parcel that has sat on the list for two years costs noticeably more than the figure printed when it was first listed. Ask the clerk for the current amount in writing before you send money, and for the clerk's fees, documentary stamp tax and recording costs on the deed.
Until a buyer pays the clerk in full for the tax deed, the owner, or anyone else, can still redeem the certificate and take the parcel off the list.
Listing a parcel does not end the owner's rights. "A person may redeem a tax certificate at any time after the certificate is issued and before a tax deed is issued unless full payment for a tax deed is made to the clerk of the court" [18]. That has two consequences for a buyer. A parcel you have researched can disappear from the list before you pay. And the purchase is not secure until the clerk has your full payment, so do not spend money on the property, or on a survey or title work you cannot reuse, before then.
A buyer from the list receives a tax deed like an auction buyer's, which clears private liens but leaves unpaid government liens of record, deed restrictions and some federal tax liens in place.
A purchase from the list ends the same way as a winning bid: the clerk issues a tax deed. Under section 197.552, "no right, interest, restriction, or other covenant shall survive the issuance of a tax deed" [19] except what chapter 197 preserves, and the exception that matters most is "a lien of record held by a municipal or county governmental unit, special district, or community development district, when such lien is not satisfied as of the disbursement of proceeds of sale" [20]. A listed parcel sells for its opening bid, which leaves no surplus beyond any homestead amount, so a city's code enforcement lien on it is likely still there after the deed. Deed restrictions survive too: "the restrictions and covenants shall survive and be enforceable after the issuance of a tax deed" [21]. What a Florida tax deed wipes out, and what survives it sets out every survivor, the federal tax lien included.
The deed carries the usual tax deed title questions. The former owner can challenge it until "a tax deed has been issued to any person under s. 197.552 for 4 years" [22], which is why title insurers often ask for a quiet title action first. Possession follows the deed: the grantee "shall be entitled to the immediate possession of the lands described in the deed" [23].
A parcel still on the list three years after the day it was offered for sale escheats to the county free and clear, and every certificate, tax and lien against it is canceled.
The list has an end date. "Three years after the day the land was offered for public sale, the land shall escheat to the county in which it is located, free and clear." [24] When it does, "All tax certificates, accrued taxes, and liens of any nature against the property shall be deemed canceled as a matter of law and of no further legal force and effect" [25]. Note the starting point: three years from the sale date, not from the day the parcel was listed. A parcel close to its third anniversary is close to becoming county land, and some counties later sell escheated land on their own terms.
A parcel that drew no bid at an auction open to everyone usually has a reason, so find it before you pay: its size and access, surviving government liens, restrictions, and its condition.
The list is not a discount rack. Every parcel on it was offered to the public at the same price and nobody took it. Sometimes the reason is only that the sale was small or poorly attended, and those parcels are what the list is good for. Before you buy, check:
After a Florida tax deed sale covers the deposit, the deed and the surplus for parcels that do sell. The parcels going to sale now, the ones that will feed next month's lists, are on the Florida sale calendar and Florida tax deed sales.
Parcels that were offered at a tax deed sale and did not sell. When no one bids and the certificateholder does not pay the amounts due for a tax deed within 30 days, the clerk of court enters the parcel on a list entitled lands available for taxes. After the county's 90 days, anyone can buy a listed parcel from the clerk for the opening bid, without an auction.
Get the current list from the clerk of court's tax deed office, research the parcel, and ask the clerk for the current amount due, since it changes month to month. Once the parcel has been on the list for 90 days and the county has not taken it, you pay the clerk the opening bid with accrued interest and any omitted taxes, plus the clerk's fees and deed costs, and the clerk issues a tax deed. Each clerk sets its own procedure for requests and payment.
The opening bid from its tax deed sale, plus interest that keeps accruing at 1.5% a month through the month you buy, plus each year's taxes added as omitted taxes while it sits on the list, and the clerk's fees and deed costs. If the parcel was assessed as a homestead, the opening bid also includes half of its assessed value, which the clerk treats as surplus.
Yes. A Florida tax certificate can be redeemed at any time before a tax deed is issued unless full payment for the tax deed has been made to the clerk. Until a buyer pays in full, the owner or anyone redeeming can pay off the certificate and take the parcel off the list.
Three years after the day the land was offered at the tax deed sale, it escheats to the county free and clear. Every tax certificate, accrued tax and lien of any nature against it is canceled by law, and the clerk executes an escheatment tax deed vesting title in the board of county commissioners.
The same ones that survive any Florida tax deed. A buyer from the list receives a tax deed, which clears private liens such as mortgages and judgments, but liens of record held by a city, county, special district or community development district survive to the extent they are unpaid, along with deed restrictions and some federal tax liens.
Yes, and it gets the first chance. For the first 90 days after a parcel is placed on the list, the county may buy it for the opening bid or waive its right to. A county or other government buying a listed parcel for its own use may also have the omitted years' taxes canceled.
General information about Florida procedure, not legal advice. Each clerk sets its own sale terms, and statutes change; confirm with the clerk of court before bidding.