Delinquent Property Taxes in Kansas: The County Is the Only Bidder, and the Deadline Is a Court Date
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Kansas · Last updated October 21, 2026
Kansas never auctions your tax debt to an investor, because on the September sale date the county treasurer is the only bidder the statute allows, and no bid may be received from anyone else (K.S.A. 79-2306). Delinquent property taxes are taxes an owner did not pay by the date the state fixed, after which the county adds interest and can eventually force a sale of the property to collect them. Here that forced sale is litigation. Real estate whose taxes are unpaid on or before May 10 becomes subject to sale (K.S.A. 79-2301), the treasurer publishes a delinquent list and bids the parcel off to the county on or after the first Tuesday of September (K.S.A. 79-2302, 79-2306), and the county then holds it. A homestead is held three years from that sale date, two years where the bid-off covered both delinquent taxes and special assessments, one year for an abandoned building and the land under it (K.S.A. 79-2401a). When the period runs out unredeemed, the commissioners order the county attorney or county counselor to file suit in the district court (K.S.A. 79-2801). The court fixes the amount, decrees a first and prior lien, and orders the sheriff to sell. Redemption stays open until the day of that sale (K.S.A. 79-2803), and nothing follows it: once the court confirms the sale, the sheriff's deed vests fee simple title (K.S.A. 79-2804). Interest runs at the K.S.A. 79-2968 rate plus five percentage points, published for 2026 at 13 percent. Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in Kansas
Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
When can a Kansas county sell my house for unpaid property taxes?
Not until it wins a lawsuit. Once a parcel bid off to the county stays unredeemed on September 1 of the second year after that sale, or any extension under K.S.A. 79-2401a, the board of county commissioners must order the county attorney or county counselor to file a petition in the district court (K.S.A. 79-2801).
How much interest does Kansas charge on delinquent real property taxes?
A simple annual rate reset every January. K.S.A. 79-2004 charges the K.S.A. 79-2968 rate plus five percentage points per annum. The Division of Property Valuation published that for calendar year 2026 as 13 percent on a taxpayer's late payment of real property taxes, and 15 percent where the amount is 10,000 dollars or more.
When does the right to redeem end in Kansas?
On the day of the sheriff's sale, not at judgment. Any owner or holder of the record title, their heirs or assigns, or any mortgagee may redeem before the day of sale by applying to the clerk of the district court (K.S.A. 79-2803). After the court confirms the sale there is no further redemption.
When do Kansas property taxes become delinquent each year?
Owners may pay the full amount on or before December 20, or half by December 20 and the remaining half by May 10 next ensuing (K.S.A. 79-2004). Where a tax statement totals 10 dollars or less, the whole amount is due by December 20. A due date on a weekend moves to the treasurer's next business day.
Kansas delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Kansas collection runs on a courthouse calendar, not an investor's. Delinquent property taxes are taxes an owner failed to pay by the statutory date, after which interest is added and a sale can be forced to collect them. The September step looks like an auction but is not one: the treasurer must bid the parcel off in the name of the county, and no bid may be taken from any other person (K.S.A. 79-2306). Nobody holds a certificate against your house. What follows is a county lawsuit, a judgment setting the amount, a sheriff's sale under an order of sale, and a court confirmation before any deed issues (K.S.A. 79-2801, 79-2803, 79-2804). Two features drive the cost. The interest rate is refixed every calendar year by formula, and paying one year of back taxes can push the earliest sale date back by a year (K.S.A. 79-2401a).
A Riley County house that reaches the courthouse steps three years after the bid-off
Say 4,100 dollars of 2022 taxes on an owner-occupied frame house in Riley County went unpaid past December 20, 2022 and past May 10, 2023. The parcel became subject to sale (K.S.A. 79-2301), appeared on the published delinquent list that August, and was bid off to the county on the first Tuesday of September 2023 (K.S.A. 79-2302, 79-2306). No investor bid, because none could (K.S.A. 79-2306). As a homestead the parcel is held three years from that sale date (K.S.A. 79-2401a). Interest has run throughout at the statutory rate, 13 percent for calendar year 2026 (K.S.A. 79-2004). Had the owner paid the 2022 year alone, the earliest sale date would have moved out by a year. Instead the county counselor files, and the cutoff becomes the day the sheriff sells (K.S.A. 79-2803).
Relevant Laws
K.S.A. 79-2004 (payment dates for real property taxes and the interest that follows)
Lets a person charged with real property taxes pay the full amount on or before December 20, or half by December 20 and the remaining half by May 10 next ensuing, with the entire amount due by December 20 where a tax statement totals 10 dollars or less. Unpaid first-half taxes draw interest at the K.S.A. 79-2968 rate plus five percentage points per annum, and everything still unpaid on May 11 accrues at that rate from May 10 until paid or until the real property is sold for taxes by foreclosure. A due date falling on a Saturday or Sunday extends to the treasurer's next regular business day.
K.S.A. 79-2968 (how the delinquency interest rate is fixed each year)
Sets the base rate for interest on delinquent or unpaid Kansas taxes as the underpayment rate under section 6621(a)(2) of the federal Internal Revenue Code as in effect on September 1, 1996, which is in effect on July 1 of the year immediately preceding the calendar year being fixed, plus one percentage point if computed annually. Since January 1, 2012 the rate for property tax delinquencies or underpayments of 10,000 dollars or more is that rate or 10 percent per annum, whichever is greater. Because the benchmark moves, any Kansas percentage must be read with its calendar year attached.
K.S.A. 79-2024 (county treasurer partial payments and payment plans)
Provides that notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the county treasurer of every county may accept partial payment or establish a payment plan for delinquent or nondelinquent real property tax or personal property tax in accordance with payment guidelines established by that county treasurer, and that nothing in the section shall be construed to modify any consequences of untimely payment. The authority is permissive and the guidelines are local, so terms vary between counties.
K.S.A. 79-2301 (which real estate becomes subject to sale)
Provides that all real estate on which the taxes have not been paid as provided by law on or before May 10 in each year shall be subject to sale as provided in the article. This is the entry point into the Kansas tax-sale track and it keys off the May 10 second-half date rather than the December date.
K.S.A. 79-2302 (the delinquent list, and when the sale happens)
Requires the county treasurer, between July 1 and July 10 of each year, to prepare a list of all real estate subject to sale described as of record, plus an accompanying notice stating that the treasurer will sell the listed real estate to the county for the amount of the delinquent taxes and legal charges due, and that the sale will be on or after the first Tuesday of September following publication under K.S.A. 79-2303. The list shows the owners of record, the description and address where available, and the total unpaid taxes on each tract.
K.S.A. 79-2303 (publication of the list, and the 15 dollar per-tract fee)
Requires the notice and list to be published in the official county newspaper or a newspaper of general circulation, submitted on or before August 1 of each year and published once each week for three consecutive weeks immediately prior to the week when the day of sale will occur, with a copy posted in some conspicuous place in the treasurer's office. The cost of publication comes from the county general fund, and a 15 dollar fee for each tract or lot is added to the tax due as part of the costs of collection.
K.S.A. 79-2306 (the county treasurer bids off in the name of the county)
Provides that on the day designated in the notice of sale the county treasurer shall sell the real estate on which the taxes and legal charges have not been paid, that it is the treasurer's duty to bid off in the name of the county all real estate advertised for sale for delinquent taxes for the amount of the delinquent taxes and legal charges due including the costs of advertising and the fees for selling, and that no bid shall be received by the county treasurer from any other person for the real estate so sold. This is why there is no investor counterparty in Kansas.
K.S.A. 79-2319 (later years keep accruing against a parcel bid off for the county)
Provides that all real estate bid off for the county at any tax sale continues liable to be taxed as if it were the property of individuals and that those taxes and charges are a lien on the real estate, that no such real estate shall be sold for taxes levied after the bid-off until it is redeemed or foreclosed and sold at foreclosure sale, and that the treasurer enters the later taxes and charges in the book of tax sales opposite the real estate where they constitute an additional lien.
K.S.A. 79-2401a (the holding periods, partial redemption, and what a redeemer pays)
Holds real estate bid off for both delinquent taxes and special assessments for two years from the sale date, an abandoned building or structure and the land accommodating it for one year, and real estate which is a homestead under section 9 of article 15 of the Kansas Constitution together with all real estate not described in subsection (a) for three years. Redemption during the period is by paying the county treasurer the amount for which the real estate was sold plus accrued interest, all later delinquent taxes and special assessments with interest, and the costs and expenses of the sale and redemption including abstracting costs. Subsection (b) allows partial redemption of homestead and other listed property by paying one or more years of taxes beginning with the first year carried on the tax-sale book plus K.S.A. 79-2004 interest, and extends the time when a tax foreclosure sale may be commenced by the number of years paid, with Johnson County counting from the most recent year instead. Subsection (d) sends unredeemed real estate to foreclosure and sale under K.S.A. 79-2801 et seq.
K.S.A. 79-2403 (the treasurer's certificate of redemption)
Requires the county treasurer, on redemption or partial redemption under K.S.A. 79-2401a of real estate sold for taxes and bid off by the county, to execute to the person redeeming a certificate specifying that person's name, the real estate redeemed and the amount of redemption money paid, and to enter the name, the date of redemption and the amount paid on the book of tax sales opposite the real estate.
K.S.A. 79-2801 (the county's duty to sue, and what filing changes)
Requires the board of county commissioners, where real estate bid in by the county at a delinquent tax sale remains unredeemed on September 1 of the second year after the sale or any extension under K.S.A. 79-2401a (b), or on September 1 of the first year after the sale for an abandoned building, to order the county attorney or county counselor to institute an action in the district court in the name of the board against the owners, supposed owners and all claimants. The petition asks the court to fix the amounts and decree them a first and prior lien to be satisfied by public sale. A summons is issued and personally served or publication made as in other cases under the code of civil procedure. The petition is filed in duplicate and a copy delivered to the county treasurer, who thereafter may accept no payments of taxes on a listed parcel except as the foreclosure statutes allow. Filing is discretionary where the aggregate assessed valuation is less than 300,000 dollars or the aggregate delinquent taxes including special assessments are less than 10,000 dollars, and a city may initiate the sale on property in its limits if the county does not act for at least three years after eligibility.
K.S.A. 79-2803 (judgment, redemption before the day of sale, and the surplus)
Gives the action precedence over all other actions except criminal cases, directs the district court to decide what taxes, charges, interest and penalty were legally assessed, render judgment, charge it as a first and prior lien subject to valid covenants running with the land and valid easements of record or in use, and order the sale. It allows any person interested as owner or holder of the record title, their heirs, devisees, executors, administrators or assigns, or any mortgagee or assigns, to redeem before the day of sale by filing an application to redeem with the clerk of the court and paying the clerk the parcel's equitable share of all costs and expenses in such amount as the court may order, or if no order is made five percent of the amount set forth in the petition as the lien, plus separate charges, after which the treasurer calculates and takes the taxes and issues a triplicate certificate. It also provides that where a parcel sells for more than the judgment lien plus its share of costs, charges and expenses, the excess shall be ordered by the court paid upon due proof to the owner or party entitled to it.
K.S.A. 79-2804 (order of sale, published notice, confirmation, and the sheriff's deed)
Has the clerk issue an execution or order of sale to the sheriff after judgment, with the lien and the costs charged to each parcel in such amount as the court orders or, absent an order, five percent of the petition amount. The sheriff publishes notice once each week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation and fixes a sale date not less than 30 days from the first publication, at the courthouse front door or another county location selected by the chief judge. Each parcel is offered separately and sold at public auction for the highest and best bid obtainable; the county may bid but not above the judgment lien, interest and the costs in the order of sale. The sheriff makes return to the clerk, the court examines it and confirms the sale if regular, and the sheriff then executes and records a deed that vests fee simple title subject only to valid covenants running with the land, valid easements of record in use, and taxes and interest becoming a lien after judgment.
K.S.A. 79-2804b (the twelve month limit on attacking a confirmed sale)
Allows legal or equitable actions to open, vacate, modify or set aside any judgment rendered for taxes, interest and costs, any order of sale under K.S.A. 79-2803 or any sale under K.S.A. 79-2804, but requires every such action, including one brought under the code of civil procedure, to be commenced within twelve months after the date the sale was confirmed by the court. The limit is a condition precedent rather than a statute of limitations, the petition must show the action was timely, and the court has no jurisdiction otherwise. It applies whether the purchaser was the county or an individual.
K.S.A. 79-2804f (what the county does with a parcel it buys in)
Requires the commissioners to keep a record of real estate the county acquires under K.S.A. 79-2804 and to sell it at private or public sale for cash for at least the original judgment lien, interest, the costs in the order of sale and any later taxes and special assessments not in the judgment. If the real estate is still unsold six months after confirmation of the sale to the county, the board may reduce the price and sell it after advertising once each week for three consecutive weeks and requesting sealed bids, or sell at public auction to the highest cash bidder. Conveyance is by deed from the county clerk on written order of the board.
K.S.A. 79-2804g (who may not buy, and the ten year clawback)
Bars sale at a K.S.A. 79-2804 auction, directly or indirectly, to any person having a statutory right to redeem before the sale, and to a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, spouse, sibling, trustee or trust beneficiary who held an interest as owner or holder of record title or held an interest when any tax in the judgment became due, with a carve-out for a mortgagee of record. Where the county buys in and later advertises the parcel, it may not be sold to a person with a redemption right for less than the original judgment lien, interest and costs. Where a parcel bought at auction is transferred, sold, given or otherwise conveyed within ten years to a person who had a statutory right to redeem, that person is liable for the original judgment lien and interest from the auction date.
K.S.A. 79-2810 (counties over 300,000 inhabitants)
Gives the county counselor or an authorized deputy, in counties having a population of more than 300,000 inhabitants, authority to institute the action in the name of the county commissioners against the owners or supposed owners of real estate bid in by the county at a delinquent tax sale which remains unredeemed on the first day of September of the third year after that sale, in the same manner prescribed for the county attorney.
K.S.A. 79-2001 (the annual mailed tax statement)
Requires the county treasurer, each year after receipt of the tax roll and before December 1, to mail each taxpayer shown by the rolls a tax statement indicating the taxing unit, the assessed value of real and personal property, the mill levy and the tax due, sent by first-class mail to the taxpayer's last known address or to an authorized designee, with a diligent effort to find a forwarding address where a statement is returned. The treasurer may instead transmit the statement electronically where the taxpayer consented. The treasurer also enters unpaid taxes and the date of unredeemed sales opposite each tract.
Riley County Tax Foreclosure Auction (how one county runs the judicial sale)
A county page showing the statutory scheme in practice, including that current owners may redeem at any time prior to the day of sale and those parcels are then not offered, that tax payments are made out to the county treasurer while the court-cost check is made out to the Clerk of the District Court, that a payment made to the treasurer before court costs are paid is held and not applied, that parcels are sold by public auction to the highest qualified bidder with no minimum bid, and that excess proceeds are distributed upon further order of the court pursuant to K.S.A. 79-2803.
Regional Variances
Kansas delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
Judicial foreclosure, preceded by a non-competitive bid-off. The treasurer must bid every advertised parcel off in the name of the county and may receive no bid from any other person (K.S.A. 79-2306), so no certificate and no investor exists. Title moves only after the county sues, the court enters judgment and orders a sheriff's sale, the court confirms the return, and the sheriff executes a deed vesting fee simple (K.S.A. 79-2801, 79-2803, 79-2804).
Delinquency dates
Full payment on or before December 20, or half by December 20 and the remaining half by May 10 next ensuing, with the whole amount due by December 20 where a tax statement totals 10 dollars or less (K.S.A. 79-2004). A date falling on a Saturday or Sunday moves to the treasurer's next regular business day. Real estate unpaid on or before May 10 becomes subject to sale (K.S.A. 79-2301).
Penalty before the sale
Interest, not a flat penalty. The K.S.A. 79-2968 rate plus five percentage points per annum runs on the unpaid first half from December 20, and on everything still unpaid on May 11 from May 10 until paid or until the property is sold for taxes by foreclosure (K.S.A. 79-2004). A 15 dollar fee per tract or lot is added to the tax due when the delinquent list is published (K.S.A. 79-2303).
Time before sale
The bid-off is on or after the first Tuesday of September (K.S.A. 79-2302). The county may not sue until the parcel remains unredeemed on September 1 of the second year after that sale, extended under K.S.A. 79-2401a (b), or September 1 of the first year for an abandoned building (K.S.A. 79-2801). Counties over 300,000 inhabitants work off September 1 of the third year (K.S.A. 79-2810). The sheriff's sale date is at least 30 days after the first published notice (K.S.A. 79-2804).
Redemption period and clock
The clock starts on the date of the county's bid-off sale. Three years for a homestead under section 9 of article 15 of the Kansas Constitution and for all real estate outside subsection (a), two years where the bid-off covered both delinquent taxes and special assessments, one year for an abandoned building and its land (K.S.A. 79-2401a). Partial redemption extends the earliest sale date by the number of years paid. Once suit is filed the cutoff becomes the day of the sheriff's sale (K.S.A. 79-2803), and nothing survives confirmation.
Redeemer's charge
A simple annual interest rate refixed every calendar year, not a penalty, not a bid-down return and not a premium. The rate is the K.S.A. 79-2968 rate plus five percentage points per annum (K.S.A. 79-2004), which the Division of Property Valuation published for calendar year 2026 as 13 percent on a taxpayer's late payment of real property taxes and 15 percent where the amount is 10,000 dollars or more. The base moves with a federal benchmark fixed each July 1, so the figure must carry its year.
Other redemption costs
The amount the real estate sold for, every later year of delinquent taxes and special assessments with interest, and the costs and expenses of the sale and redemption including abstracting costs (K.S.A. 79-2401a). Later years constitute an additional lien (K.S.A. 79-2319). Once suit is filed, add the parcel's equitable share of costs and expenses in such amount as the court may order, or five percent of the petition amount where no order is made, plus separate charges (K.S.A. 79-2803). The court fixes that figure, so it is not a statewide amount.
Notice to the owner
A tax statement mailed by first-class mail before December 1 each year, or sent electronically with consent (K.S.A. 79-2001). The delinquent list and notice published once each week for three consecutive weeks before the week of the bid-off, and posted in the treasurer's office (K.S.A. 79-2302, 79-2303). In the lawsuit, a summons personally served or publication made as in other civil cases, with the publication notice describing the real estate (K.S.A. 79-2801). Then the sheriff's three week published notice (K.S.A. 79-2804).
Where to redeem
The county treasurer during the holding period, who issues a certificate of redemption (K.S.A. 79-2401a, 79-2403). After the petition is filed the treasurer may accept no payments of taxes on a listed parcel except as the foreclosure statutes allow (K.S.A. 79-2801), so redemption runs through the clerk of the district court for the cost share and then the treasurer for the taxes (K.S.A. 79-2803). Riley County directs tax payments to the county treasurer and the court-cost check to the Clerk of the District Court.
Surplus proceeds
Released by court order, not by an agency claim form. Where a parcel sells for more than the judgment lien for taxes, interest, penalty and charges plus its share of the costs, charges and expenses of the proceedings and sale, the excess is ordered by the court paid upon due proof to the owner or party entitled to it (K.S.A. 79-2803). A separate provision makes a former owner who takes the parcel back within ten years of the auction liable for the original judgment lien and interest (K.S.A. 79-2804g).
Payment plan
Two separate things. Every county treasurer may accept partial payment or establish a payment plan under guidelines that treasurer sets, and the statute adds that nothing in it modifies any consequences of untimely payment (K.S.A. 79-2024). Statutory partial redemption is different and does move the deadline: paying one or more years of taxes on homestead and other subsection (b) property extends the time when a tax foreclosure sale may be commenced by the number of years paid (K.S.A. 79-2401a).
Frequently Asked Questions
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