Georgia Practice

Georgia Tax Sale Right of Redemption

Losing a property at a tax sale is not the end of it. For at least 12 months after the sale you hold a right of redemption, and that right can be exercised, or sold, while it lasts. Most people are never told it has value.

A white wooden house with a red door, Atlanta, Georgia

What you still own after a tax sale

A Georgia tax sale does not give the buyer full ownership. It gives them a tax deed, and that deed is subject to your right to redeem: to pay the buyer what the law sets and take the property back. Until that right is foreclosed, the buyer’s title is incomplete, and yours is not gone.

The right belongs to the former owner, and to anyone with a recorded interest in the property, such as a mortgage lender or an heir. Because it is an interest in the property, it can also be sold. A buyer who takes a quitclaim deed from you can redeem in your place.

How the clock runs in Georgia

The sale

Tax sales are held on the first Tuesday of the month on the courthouse steps, by the county tax commissioner or the sheriff, to collect unpaid property taxes. The high bidder pays, receives a tax deed, and records it. That deed is subject to your right to redeem.

The first 12 months

For 12 months from the date of the sale you may redeem at any time. The price is what the buyer paid, plus any taxes the buyer has since paid and any special assessments, plus a premium of 20 percent of that amount. No notice is needed from the buyer, and no court is involved.

After 12 months, until you are barred

The right does not end on the anniversary. It continues until the buyer forecloses it by serving a notice of foreclosure of the right to redeem, through the sheriff, on you, on the occupant, and on everyone with a recorded interest. The notice names the date the right ends, and it must reach the sheriff at least 45 days before that date. The premium is 30 percent in the second year and 10 percent more for each year after. Redeem more than 30 days after the notice and the sheriff’s and publication costs are added.

The deadline passes

If no one redeems by the date in the notice, the right is gone and the buyer’s title becomes absolute. A tax deed left alone also ripens on its own four years after it is recorded. After that there is no claim to the property, only the separate claim to excess funds, if the sale brought more than the taxes owed.

Judicial in rem tax foreclosures run differently. Some counties use them for some properties, Henry, Chatham, Richmond, Bibb and Muscogee among them, while the large metro Atlanta counties mostly hold ordinary tax sales. In a judicial in rem sale the right of redemption lasts 60 days from the sale and is exercised by paying the minimum bid into the superior court. The paperwork from the sale says which kind of sale it was. If yours was judicial, the time is short.

Three things you can do with the right

Redeem
Pay the redemption price to the buyer in certified funds, in full. The buyer signs a quitclaim deed back to you and title returns to you, subject to the liens that were on the property when it sold. A mortgage that was on the property comes back with it.
Sell the right of redemption
If you cannot raise the redemption price, the right still has value whenever the property is worth more than that price. An investor, or sometimes the tax deed buyer itself, will pay you for a quitclaim deed of your remaining interest and then redeem in your place. The sale has to be documented so that the deed actually conveys the right to redeem, and it has to close before the deadline. How selling the right works.
Claim excess funds
If the sale brought more than the taxes, costs and interest owed, the difference is held by the official who ran the sale, usually the county tax commissioner, for the former owner and lienholders. It is a separate claim from the right to redeem, and it does not depend on what you decide about the property.

What a right of redemption is worth

There is no fixed answer. It depends on four things: how much the property is worth above the redemption price, which liens come back with the title when it is redeemed, the condition of the property, and how much time is left before the right is barred.

We can tell you the redemption price and the deadline from the tax deed and the notice. For a first estimate of the price, use the Georgia redemption calculator.

What this costs

Fee arrangements depend on the posture of the matter and are set out in a written agreement before any work begins. We are glad to explain how fees would work in your situation when we speak — ask, and you will get a straight answer.

Find out where you stand

Tell us the county, when the sale was, and whether a notice has arrived. We pull the tax deed, work out the redemption price and the deadline, and go through the options with you.

Talk to us (561) 933-4747

By county

Common questions

Lost a property at a mortgage foreclosure rather than a tax sale? That is a different process with different rules, and Georgia gives no right of redemption after it. See Georgia foreclosure surplus.

Important information

Attorney advertising. Responsible attorney: Christian Cruz, Esq., Georgia Bar Number 238836. Office: CRUZ LAW FIRM, 160 W Camino Real, 589, Boca Raton, FL, 33432.

This page is general information about Georgia law, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship, and no such relationship is formed until we have a signed written agreement.