Georgia tax deeds: the redemption right that outlasts the first year

A Georgia tax sale gives the winning bidder a tax deed, but the former owner can still buy the property back. It is easy to assume that right ends 12 months after the sale. It does not end on its own. The purchaser has to close it.

The 12-month floor

Under O.C.G.A. 48-4-40, the taxpayer named in the tax execution, and anyone holding an interest in or a lien on the property, may redeem for 12 months from the date of the sale. After that year the right stays open until the purchaser forecloses it with the notice described in O.C.G.A. 48-4-45. The purchaser cannot start that notice until the 12 months have passed.

Closing the window with the barment notice

The notice names a date after which redemption is barred. Two timing rules govern it:

• The purchaser delivers the notice to the sheriff for service at least 45 days before that date.
• The notice runs in the newspaper once a week for four consecutive weeks during the six months immediately before that date.

Until that process is complete, a redemption can still arrive. A bidder who never sends the notice leaves the owner's right to redeem open.

What a redemption pays the purchaser

O.C.G.A. 48-4-42 sets the price. The redeeming party pays the amount bid at the sale as recited in the deed, plus any taxes the purchaser paid after the sale and any special assessments. On top of that sum comes a premium of 20 percent for the first year or part of a year, and 10 percent for each year or part of a year after that. Redeem more than 30 days after the barment notice and the sheriff's service cost and the publication cost are added. For sales after July 1, 2016, amounts the purchaser paid to a property owners', condominium or homeowners' association are added as well.

A quick example with no later taxes, assessments, association dues or notice costs: a $10,000 winning bid redeemed in month 8 returns $12,000 to the purchaser. Redeemed in month 14, the premium is 20 plus 10 percent, so the figure is $13,000.

When the owner redeems, title goes back subject to the liens that existed at the sale, and the purchaser must sign and record a quitclaim deed.

Two other clocks

• Prescription. A tax deed executed on or after July 1, 1996 ripens into title by prescription four years after it is recorded (O.C.G.A. 48-4-48).
• Judicial in rem sales. Some counties foreclose under Article 5 instead. There the owner has 60 days after the sale to redeem by paying the minimum bid price into superior court (O.C.G.A. 48-4-81).

Before you bid

Find out which kind of sale the county is holding, budget for the time and cost of the barment notice, and read the county's payment terms, because Georgia sets no statewide deposit. For the full sequence from execution to deed, see the Tax Sale Atlas guide to how Georgia tax sales work.

General information, not legal advice. Sources: O.C.G.A. 48-4-40, 48-4-42, 48-4-43, 48-4-44, 48-4-45, 48-4-46, 48-4-48 and 48-4-81.