Tax Lien Redemption
About
About Tax Lien Redemption
Purchasers of a tax sale property get a limited title to the property that is subject to redemption. The property owner has some time to catch up on payments to get full ownership of the property. Owners of property sold as part of a tax sale can pay off their delinquent taxes. This helps them regain full ownership of the property. Redeeming a tax sale is the process of paying off a tax lien or deed that is on a property due to unpaid taxes.
If the property owner redeems the property they can get all their rights back. If they do not, the tax sale buyer can then get all the rights to the property.
The owner of the property who pays back all costs of redemption may get a Certificate of Redemption. This gives them full rights to the property again.
To learn more about tax sales visit the resource Tax Sales.
What You Need To Know
The state gives you a three-year redemption period in which to pay the delinquent Louisiana property taxes, accrued interest, and additional costs.
The redemption period varies but typically starts from the date the tax lien certificate is recorded.
The property owner owing taxes can keep the property by paying the government the original taxes and fees, plus any other taxes the tax buyer paid after the tax sale, plus fees and penalties. The property owner may pay the purchase price plus a five percent penalty and a one percent interest per month from the date of the tax sale until the date it is redeemed.
A tax debtor should preserve evidence to prove a timely redemption effort and act promptly to complete the redemption. The request for redemption should be in writing and sent by certified mail. Redemptions get handled by the Parish Tax Collector’s office. Receipts get forwarded monthly to the tax purchaser.
Any person can make a redemption for a property but the redemption is in the name of the tax debtor and for their benefit.
Anyone can pay the taxes, penalties, interest, and other fees owed to undo the tax sale. The redemption certificate goes to the property owner, regardless of who paid the money.
In any other parish except Orleans, when the property is sold as vacant residential or commercial property which has been declared blighted or abandoned, the redemption period is eighteen months after the date of the recording of the tax sale.
A tax debtor may have a claim for a homestead exemption during the redemptive period.
Each successive tax deed purchaser is subject to the original tax deed purchaser’s right to redeem.
If it is too late to redeem the property, the only legal remedy is a lawsuit to annul the tax or adjudication sale or negotiate a settlement with the tax deed purchaser. You may work with the tax deed purchaser to allow “redemption” after the redemptive period has expired. You may style this redemption as a quit claim deed. The most common grounds for annulment are failure to give notice, a “redemption nullity”, redemption, or payment. If an action to annul is successful the tax debtor must still pay the redemption amount to reclaim the property, unless the ground for nullity is that the taxes were paid and current at the time of the tax sale.
How Redeeming A Tax Sale Works
Understanding How To Redeem A Tax Sale
This covers information about the redemption process when the property gets sold at a tax sale.
How Redeeming A Tax Sale Works
When the property with unpaid taxes sells at a tax sale the redemptive period begins. The redemptive period lasts for 3 years from the date the tax lien certificate gets recorded.
Redemptions get made through the applicable tax collector. The tax collector may forward monthly payments to the purchaser.
You must pay the basic redemption price - this includes - delinquent tax, accrued taxes since the tax sale, a 5% penalty, costs, and interest at 1% per month. The tax collector can require payment of all amounts accrued under other government liens at the time of the redemption payment. This could include blight liens, grass-cutting liens, etc. The inclusion of liens as part of the redemption is within the political subdivision’s discretion.
When the owner makes the payment for all parts of the redemption costs, then the tax collector issues a redemption certificate in the name of the tax debtor. The tax collector files the redemption certificate in the appropriate conveyance records.