First time buyers are required to provide a certified check in the amount that they plan to purchase at this tax sale. Tax buyers who have participated in a tax sale within the last three years are only required to make a $500 deposit. An additional $100 fee will be charged to the buyers interested in obtaining a delinquent tax list. Click here for more registration information.
Properties to which all or part of the previous year's taxes are delinquent are offered for sale every year. Bidding starts at a 9% per 6-month rate and may go all the way to zero. Tax purchasers must pay the amount owed on the delinquent taxes and penalties. In certain counties, the tax purchaser must also pay all prior years’ open taxes to complete the sale and obtain a certificate of purchase.
Properties may be redeemed by the property owner at any time if the full amount owed is paid before the expiration of 2.5 years from the date of sale, except:
Purchasers will not be entitled to a tax deed unless they deliver an IL 22-5 notice of sale to the county clerk within 4 months and 15 days after the sale is held. Purchasers will also not be entitled to a tax deed to the property sold unless they deliver a notice of expiration of the period of redemption, not less than 3 months and not more than 6 months before the expiration of the period of redemption.
At any time within 6 months but not less than 3 months before the expiration of the redemption period, the purchaser may file a petition in the court, asking the county clerk to issue a tax deed if the property is not redeemed from the sale. If the tax certificate was purchased in error, the purchase can contact the Treasurer's Office to request a sale-in-error, where the sale will be examined to determine if it meets the sale-in-error requirements which could lead to a refund of the purchase price to the certificate purchaser.
Bidders are strongly encouraged to exercise due diligence in researching properties and obtaining the advice of legal counsel before purchasing tax certificates or for help with filing notices after the county's annual tax sale.