Tax Sale Process

Once a property has been delinquent in taxes for three (3) years that property is started on the Tax Sale Process.

• Notifications

• Tax Sale

• Acquirement

• Sealed Bids

Notifications

Once property taxes are delinquent for 3 years, the Finney County Treasurer’s Office will send letters to the property owner informing the owner that taxes must be paid or else the property will be submitted for the Tax Sale. The property owner can pay their taxes with the Treasurer’s Office and redeem their property. If the taxes continue to be unpaid, further notification goes out. The County will notify a title company, and a law firm of the delinquent properties. The law firm will issue certified letters to the property owner notifying that a lawsuit is filed against the property owner for delinquent taxes. The property owner can still redeem their property, however, they will have to pay all years of delinquent taxes in full, the court costs which is 5% of the total delinquent taxes, and the abstract fee from the title company.

Tax Sale

If property taxes remain delinquent past the notification stages, the property is submitted to the Tax Sale and the property owner can no longer redeem their property. The Tax Sale date is then determined and advertised. The public will be allowed to bid on the properties in the sale on that determined date. The starting bid will include of all years of delinquent taxes, court costs and abstract fees. Any amount paid for the property over the starting bid will go to the original property owner.

Acquirement

After the Tax Sale, the County acquires any property that did not receive a bid.

Sealed Bids

Six months after the County acquires any property it can then be put out for sealed bids. The sealed bid process allows the public to submit any bid on the property. After a determined amount of time, the bids are opened and the property is sold to the person with the highest bid.