Indiana law, for title research

Indiana tax deed sales: a certificate at auction, a year to redeem, then a court-ordered deed

Every rule below is quoted from the Indiana Code 2026, IC 6-1.1-24 and 6-1.1-25 or another official source, linked and checked on the date shown. General information, not legal advice.

Is Indiana a tax lien state or a tax deed state?

Indiana's process has both parts. The treasurer sells the parcel at public auction, subject to redemption, and the buyer receives a certificate of sale from the county auditor. That certificate carries a lien for the entire amount paid, superior to all liens existing when it is issued. The buyer gets a tax deed only later, and only if no one redeems and the notice and petition steps are met.

Until a deed issues, the buyer holds a certificate, registered in the auditor's office, and a lien. A parcel on the vacant and abandoned property list works differently, as covered below.

How does a parcel reach an Indiana tax sale?

The county treasurer certifies a list no later than 51 days after the first tax payment due date. It covers delinquent amounts from the prior year's spring installment or earlier that exceed 25 dollars. A recorded mortgagee or land contract buyer who asks the auditor for the list is mailed a copy, due within 15 days after the treasurer's list.

The auditor posts and publishes notice, and mails the owner notice by return receipt and first class mail, at least 21 days before the earliest date for applying for judgment. The court then enters judgment and an order for sale no later than 3 days before the advertised sale date. Payment in full before the sale, or a signed written arrangement with the treasurer, takes a parcel off the list. A partial payment alone does not, and a missed arrangement payment puts the parcel back.

What happens at the auction?

The treasurer sells to the highest bidder, and may run the auction by electronic means. Outside the vacant and abandoned list, no parcel sells below the minimum bid: delinquent taxes and assessments, those due in the year of sale, penalties, the county's sale costs, unpaid costs from a prior sale, and reasonable collection expenses. The bid is due immediately, and a buyer who fails to pay owes a civil penalty of 25% of the bid. Money above what is owed goes to a tax sale surplus fund.

Each bidder signs a statement under penalty of perjury about owing no delinquent taxes, prior sale costs or listed penalties. The chapter also bars subjects of unsafe building orders, personal property tax delinquents, owners of parcels twice offered without a bid, businesses unregistered or not in good standing with the secretary of state, and their agents and listed affiliates. If no bid reaches the minimum, the county executive takes a lien and certificate without paying, and it may later sell those certificates at a public sale for less than the minimum.

How long can an Indiana owner redeem, and at what cost?

Any person may redeem by paying the county treasurer. The period is 1 year from the sale in most cases, 120 days after a sale to a qualified purchasing agency, and 120 days on a lien the county acquired or a county certificate sold later. If a parcel did not sell, the treasurer and owner may agree to a payment arrangement, and the extended period expires a year after the agreement unless ended earlier. A parcel on the vacant and abandoned property list has no right to redeem after the sale.

For a parcel sold after June 30, 2014, the cost is 110% of the minimum bid within 6 months of the sale, or 115% after that. Added to that are 5% a year on any amount bid above the minimum, taxes the buyer paid with 5% a year, and the buyer's attorney's fees, notice costs and title search costs if filed with the auditor before redemption. Later delinquent taxes also count. A county certificate sold later uses a different formula, which includes the last minimum bid, 10% of the certificate price, and notice and title search costs.

What must the buyer do to get the tax deed?

Three deadlines control. First, notice of the sale must go out within 6 months after the sale, or 90 days for a buyer of a county certificate. It goes by return receipt mail to the owner of record and anyone with a substantial property interest of public record, with publication if such a person's address cannot be located by ordinary means. Second, a verified petition must be filed within 3 months after redemption ends, in the court that entered the judgment. Missing either one ends the buyer's lien, and a certificate can revert to the county. Third, within 150 days after the hearing granting the petition, the order and sales disclosure form must be filed, and recording fees and later real property taxes paid, or the auditor may not issue or record the deed.

The county auditor and treasurer may agree that the auditor handles the notice, title search and petition instead of the buyer.

Anyone with an interest may object within 30 days after filing, and a timely objection brings a hearing. The court orders the deed within 61 days of the petition if redemption expired, taxes and costs were paid, the notices were given, and the petitioner met the law. The auditor signs the deed in the name of the state.

A refused petition can cost the buyer. If the required notice of the sale was missing or insufficient and the sale is otherwise valid, the court may not order any of the price returned. If the failure was the notice of the petition, the petitioner gets back the amount above the minimum bid, less a 25% penalty, and is barred from the next sale in the county. A bona fide attempt that still falls short, outside that first case, brings a refund of the purchase money less 25%, on a claim filed within 30 days.

What does an Indiana tax deed clear, and what stays?

A deed issued through this process vests fee simple absolute, free and clear of liens and encumbrances created or suffered before or after the sale. Two exceptions come first: liens granted priority under federal law, and later taxes and special assessments that were not removed.

Some things also stay with the land. Easements, covenants, declarations and other deed restrictions shown by public records remain, and an easement recorded before the sale is not extinguished. Zoning, building and environmental laws still apply, as do liens the new owner creates. Where the deed conveys only a severed interest, leases of record remain too.

Can an Indiana tax deed be challenged?

The deed is prima facie evidence of a regular sale, regular proceedings and valid fee simple title. It is incontestable except by appeal from the court's order, filed within 60 days. On appeal, section 25-16 allows title to be defeated only on listed grounds: the parcel was not subject to or assessed for the tax, the tax was paid before the sale, a county certificate said no tax was due, the parcel was redeemed, the description failed, or the notices were not in substantial compliance.

The petition file also matters. If the buyer includes copies of the notices, mailing receipts and the evidence used to identify the owners, the deed is prima facie evidence of the sale. If not, the buyer or a successor must prove the sale valid by a preponderance of the evidence in a later challenge. A deed holder may also seek possession from the same court, or bring an action to quiet title there.

What routes to title skip the certificate process?

Several do, and the deed result can differ:

• Vacant and abandoned list. For a parcel listed as vacant or abandoned, the auditor issues a fee simple deed directly to the highest bidder. The minimum bid is the proportionate share of the county's sale costs, the owner has no right to redeem after the sale, and the buyer takes subject to repair orders the executive submitted and made public.
• Serial tax delinquencies. If a court enters an order under chapter 24.5, the owners have no right of redemption, and the petitioner acquires a lien and may ask the auditor for deeds.
• Twice unsold parcels. In a county that adopts the ordinance, a court may declare such a parcel a public hazard and order a deed to the county or municipality. An owner may also deed such a parcel to a county or municipality, subject to any liens and encumbrances.

A deed from one of these routes should be read against its own section, not against the certificate process above.

Who gets the surplus from an Indiana tax sale?

The statute lets two groups file a verified claim: the owner of record at the time the parcel was listed for sale and before a tax deed issues, and the buyer or assignee on redemption. A contract with a surplus recovery agent, an executor, an attorney-in-fact or a guardian routes the warrant through the court. An amount not claimed within 3 years of its receipt goes to the county general fund, unless federal bankruptcy law extended redemption. The buyer's notice must also say that the owner of record at the time the deed issues may have a right to the surplus.

What a title search checks on an Indiana tax sale parcel

Auction title research names the owner of record and each person with a substantial property interest of public record, so the buyer's notice list can be compared with the record. It lists recorded easements, covenants and deed restrictions, looks for liens that may have federal priority, and reads the court cause number on the certificate. On a later resale it reads the petition, the notices and the order behind the deed. Whether a defect in notice affects the title is a question for an Indiana attorney; the report shows the record it turns on.

The Indiana tax sale rules on this page, with their sources

Sources: IC 6-1.1-24-1(a); IC 6-1.1-24-1(d); IC 6-1.1-24-1.2; IC 6-1.1-24-3(b); IC 6-1.1-24-4(b); IC 6-1.1-24-4.7(a); IC 6-1.1-24-5(e), (i); IC 6-1.1-24-5(e); IC 6-1.1-24-5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.7; IC 6-1.1-24-7(a), 24-8; IC 6-1.1-24-9(a); IC 6-1.1-24-9(b), 24-12; IC 6-1.1-24-9(c), (d); IC 6-1.1-24-6; IC 6-1.1-24-6.1; IC 6-1.1-25-1(a); IC 6-1.1-25-4(a); IC 6-1.1-25-4(b), (c), (k); IC 6-1.1-25-2(b)-(d); IC 6-1.1-25-2(e); IC 6-1.1-25-4.5(a), (c); IC 6-1.1-25-4.5(d); IC 6-1.1-25-4.5(i); IC 6-1.1-25-7, 25-4.5(j); IC 6-1.1-25-4.6(a); IC 6-1.1-25-4.6(f); IC 6-1.1-25-4.6(h)-(j); IC 6-1.1-25-4(n), 4.6(f), 25-20; IC 6-1.1-25-4(f); IC 6-1.1-25-4(f), (g); IC 6-1.1-25-4(h); IC 6-1.1-25-4.6(b)-(e); IC 6-1.1-25-4.6(l); IC 6-1.1-25-16; IC 6-1.1-25-4.6(g); IC 6-1.1-25-14; IC 6-1.1-25-10, 25-11; IC 6-1.1-24-1.4(d), 24-1.5; IC 6-1.1-25-2(g), 24-6.1; IC 6-1.1-25-4.7; IC 6-1.1-25-4.9, 25-5.1; IC 6-1.1-24.5-6, 24.5-7; IC 6-1.1-24-7(c), (f). Each row links the section it summarizes.

Questions people ask

More on how Indiana property law shapes a title search: title research in Indiana.