Delinquent Property Taxes in Nevada: The County Treasurer Holds Your Parcel in Trust for Two Years
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Nevada · Last updated October 21, 2026
In Nevada the party on the other side of an unpaid tax bill is your own county treasurer, who takes a trustee's certificate on the parcel at the close of business on the first Monday in June and then holds it (NRS 361.570). Delinquent property taxes are property taxes an owner failed to pay by the date the state set, after which the county adds penalties and interest and can ultimately force a sale to collect them. No certificate is auctioned to an investor at that stage. The certificate authorizes the treasurer to hold each described property as trustee for the State and county, and title to each property not redeemed vests in the county (NRS 361.570). The hold runs two years from the date of the certificate, or one year where the tax receiver has determined the property abandoned (NRS 361.567, NRS 361.570). Only after that does the tax receiver deed the property in trust to the treasurer, with recording inside 30 days (NRS 361.585, NRS 361.590), and only then may the county commissioners order the treasurer to sell it and deliver a quitclaim deed to the buyer (NRS 361.595). The money side is a rate, not a premium: interest on the taxes at 10 percent per annum, assessed monthly, from the date due until paid, on top of the 4 to 7 percent delinquency penalties the late installments already carry (NRS 361.483, NRS 361.570). You pay the treasurer holding the certificate, who is the county's ex officio tax receiver (NRS 361.625). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in Nevada
Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
How long do I have before a Nevada county can sell my house for unpaid taxes?
The trustee's certificate authorizes the county treasurer to hold the parcel for the period of 2 years after the first Monday in June of the year the certificate is dated, unless sooner redeemed (NRS 361.570). A property determined to be abandoned may be held for 1 year instead.
What does Nevada charge an owner who redeems a delinquent parcel?
A rate, not a premium and not a bid. The certificate must specify that interest on the taxes will be added at the rate of 10 percent per annum, assessed monthly, from the date due until paid (NRS 361.570), alongside the taxes themselves and the penalties and costs already added to them.
What event starts the Nevada redemption clock?
The date of the certificate, nothing earlier and nothing later. The tax receiver makes it out at the close of business of the tax receiver of the county on the first Monday in June of the current year (NRS 361.5648), and the two year period is measured from that date (NRS 361.570).
When are Nevada property taxes due and when do they turn delinquent?
Taxes assessed upon the real property tax roll are due on the third Monday of August, payable in four approximately equal installments where the taxes on the parcel exceed 100 dollars (NRS 361.483). A penalty is added where the installment is not paid on or within 10 days following the day it becomes due.
How Nevada collects an unpaid property tax bill
A Nevada parcel goes delinquent when an installment date passes with the tax unpaid, which is all delinquent property taxes means here: taxes missed by the statutory date, after which the county adds penalties and interest and can end up selling the property to collect. What makes the state unusual is who ends up holding the parcel. The certificate goes to the county treasurer as trustee for the State and county rather than to a bidder (NRS 361.570), so for two years the office you negotiate with is the same office that billed you. Two consequences follow. There is no investor rate to look up, only the statutory 10 percent per annum assessed monthly, and there is no sale to watch until the county commissioners order one (NRS 361.595).
A Sparks house where the only date that matters is a Monday in June
Run the Nevada dates on a three bedroom house in Sparks, inside Washoe County, whose owner let all four installments of a roughly 3,600 dollar bill go by. With the full amount still unpaid 10 days past the first Monday of March, a penalty of 7 percent of the full amount of the taxes is added (NRS 361.483), and interest has been running at 10 percent per annum, assessed monthly, from each due date (NRS 361.570). The tax receiver makes out the trustee's certificate on the first Monday in June, so the redemption period closes on the first Monday in June two years later (NRS 361.570), with a certified mail reminder due at least 60 days earlier (NRS 361.5648). Washoe County conducts one real estate tax auction annually, usually in April. Whether a payment arrives in time is for the treasurer's records.
Relevant Laws
NRS 361.483 (due dates, the four installments and the delinquency penalties)
Makes taxes assessed upon the real property tax roll due on the third Monday of August, allows payment in four approximately equal installments where the taxes on the parcel exceed 100 dollars, and sets the installment dates as the third Monday of August, the first Monday of October, the first Monday of January and the first Monday of March. Subsection 7 adds a penalty of 4 percent for one unpaid installment, 5 percent of the two installments due for two, 6 percent of the three installments due for three, and 7 percent of the full amount of the taxes once the whole year is unpaid, each measured on or within 10 days following the relevant due day and computed together with accumulated penalties.
NRS 361.450 (the tax lien, when it attaches and what it outranks)
Provides that every tax levied under the chapter is a perpetual lien against the property assessed until the tax and any penalty charges and interest are paid, that the lien attaches on July 1 of the year for which the taxes are levied, and that it is superior to all other liens, claims, encumbrances and titles on the property whether or not another lien was filed or perfected first in time.
NRS 361.4835 (waiver of all or part of interest and penalty)
Allows the county treasurer or the county assessor to relieve a person of all or part of any interest or penalty, or both, on finding that the failure to make a timely return or payment resulted from circumstances beyond the person's control and occurred despite the exercise of ordinary care and without intent. The person must pay the tax due and file a statement of the facts within 30 days after payment, and a denial may be appealed to the Nevada Tax Commission.
NRS 361.5648 (the mailed notice of delinquency and the second certified notice)
Requires the tax receiver, within 30 days after the first Monday in March, to mail notice of the delinquency by first class mail to the owner, the taxpayer of record, requesting holders of recorded security interests and requesting assignees. The notice must state that if the amount is not paid the tax receiver will, at the close of business on the first Monday in June, issue the trustee's certificate subject to redemption within 2 years, or 1 year for property determined abandoned, with interest on the taxes at the rate of 10 percent per annum, assessed monthly. A second copy must be sent by certified mail not less than 60 days before the period of redemption expires, and the cost of each mailing is charged to the delinquent taxpayer.
NRS 361.565 (published notice of delinquent taxes)
Requires the tax receiver, if the tax remains delinquent 30 days after the first Monday in April, to publish notice of the delinquency at least once in the newspaper that publishes the list of taxpayers and on an Internet website maintained by the county treasurer or the county. The cost of publication is charged to the delinquent taxpayer and is not a charge against the State or county, and the notice must contain the information required for a mailed notice of delinquency.
NRS 361.567 (the expedited abandoned property track that shortens redemption to one year)
Lets a tax receiver elect an expedited sale procedure where an investigation and an inspection show the property is abandoned under the ten criteria in subsection 6, at least two of which must be found by a preponderance of the evidence. The owner must be served notice by certified and first class mail, with publication and posting on the property, and has 30 days to respond. An owner who submits a written objection gets a review, and a person aggrieved by the determination may commence an action for judicial review in district court within 30 days.
NRS 361.570 (the trustee's certificate, the two year period and the 10 percent rate)
Provides that the tax receiver shall make out a certificate describing each property on which delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs have not been paid, and that the certificate authorizes the county treasurer, as trustee for the State and county, to hold each property for the period of 2 years after the first Monday in June of the year the certificate is dated, or 1 year for property determined abandoned. The certificate must specify that interest on the taxes will be added at the rate of 10 percent per annum, assessed monthly, from the date due until paid, must state that title to each property not redeemed vests in the county, and must state that a tax lien may be assigned under NRS 361.7303 to 361.733. Subsection 4 requires a redeeming owner also to pay additional taxes, penalties and costs accrued after the certificate date with the same interest.
NRS 361.585 (the deed in trust and the surviving reconveyance right)
Requires the tax receiver, once the time allowed by law for redemption has expired with no redemption made, to execute and deliver to the county treasurer a deed of the property in trust for the use and benefit of the State and county. Subsection 3 lets persons listed in subsection 4, among them the owner, a deed of trust beneficiary, a mortgagee, a judgment creditor and a municipality holding a lien, have the property reconveyed on payment of an amount equal to the taxes accrued together with any costs, penalties and interest legally chargeable, at any time during the 90 day period specified in NRS 361.603 or not later than the close of business of the county treasurer on the third business day before the day of the sale, and provides that a reconveyance may not be made after expiration of that 90 day period.
NRS 361.590 (what the deed to the treasurer recites and conveys)
Requires the tax receiver to make a deed to the county treasurer as trustee reciting substantially the matters in the certificate and that no person redeemed the property during the time allowed, and requires the deed to be recorded within 30 days after the date of expiration of the period of redemption. The deed is, except as against actual fraud, conclusive evidence of eight listed matters including that the taxes were not paid and the property was not redeemed, and it conveys the property to the treasurer in trust free of all encumbrances except the listed exceptions.
NRS 361.595 (the commissioners' order, the sale notice and the quitclaim deed)
Provides that property held in trust may be sold and conveyed as prescribed in the section, that the board of county commissioners may order the treasurer to sell it for a total amount not less than the taxes, costs, penalties and interest legally chargeable as stated in the order, and that notice must be posted in three public places including one on the property not less than 20 days before the sale, or published four weekly insertions, and mailed by certified mail with return receipt requested not less than 90 days before the day of the sale, reduced to 45 days on the expedited abandoned track. On payment of at least the ordered amount the treasurer delivers a recorded quitclaim deed discharged of the trust.
NRS 361.600 (the two year limit on attacking a completed sale)
Provides that no action or counterclaim for the recovery of lands sold for taxes lies unless it is brought or interposed within 2 years after the execution and delivery to the purchaser of the quitclaim deed by the county treasurer. This is a limitation on challenging the sale, not a post sale right of redemption.
NRS 361.610 (excess proceeds, the county's cut and the one year claim window)
Directs the treasurer to pay the costs due officers and all taxes owing out of the sale price, then to pay into the county general fund the first 300 dollars of the excess proceeds and 10 percent of the next 10,000 dollars, with the remainder deposited in a separate interest bearing account. A person in the statutory priority list who makes a claim in writing within 1 year after the deed given by the county treasurer is recorded is paid if the treasurer is satisfied of the entitlement; the treasurer must decide within 30 days after the claim period closes, disputed claims go to mediation and then interpleader, and judicial review may be sought within 90 days. If no claim is made within the year, 5 percent of the remainder goes to the account created by NRS 249.095 and the rest to the county general fund, and the money must not thereafter be refunded to the former owner. Recovery agreements and powers of attorney may not charge more than 10 percent.
NRS 361.625 (paying the ex officio tax receiver before suit or sale)
Provides that at any time after June 1 and before the institution of suit and before the sale of the property, any delinquent taxpayer may pay to the ex officio tax receiver the taxes assessed against the delinquent together with the penalties and costs provided by law, taking a receipt for the amount paid. Where suit has been required the receipt is filed with the district attorney of the county.
NRS 361.635 (the district attorney route for accumulated delinquencies)
Lets the county treasurer, not later than the second Monday in June, certify to the district attorney a list of all accumulated delinquent taxes of 3,000 dollars or more, and requires it when the board of county commissioners so directs, with an optional list for accumulated delinquencies of 1,000 dollars or more but less than 3,000 dollars. If the certified amounts with penalties, interest and costs are not paid within 20 days after delivery of the list, the district attorney may commence an action for collection. The remedy is in addition to the other remedies in the chapter.
NRS 361.7311 and NRS 361.7316 (assignment of a tax lien, which needs the owner's signature)
Section 361.7311 provides that an owner of delinquent property may authorize the county treasurer to assign the tax lien to an assignee, that the authorization must be in writing and acknowledged by the owner before a notary public, and that the separate written agreement may provide for the consideration paid to the treasurer, recording and other expenses capped at 600 dollars where the property is a single family residence occupied by the owner, interest at a rate not to exceed 15 percent per annum, and enforcement costs. Section 361.7316 lets the treasurer assign the lien at any time after the taxes become delinquent and before judgment in favor of the county, where the parcel is on the secured roll.
NRS 361.7376 and NRS 361.7388 (postponing payment of the tax on a single family residence)
Section 361.7376 lets the owner of a single family residence file a claim to postpone payment of all or part of the accrued property tax where the residence has an assessed value of not more than 175,000 dollars, the owner holds no other real property in the state assessed above 30,000 dollars, the owner has occupied it at least 6 months, is not in bankruptcy, owes no delinquent tax for another year, has suffered severe economic hardship beyond his or her control, and household income is at or below the federally designated poverty level, capped at the tax accruing in the succeeding 3 fiscal years. Section 361.7388 sets interest at 6 percent of the total amount postponed and provides that no other penalties or interest accrue during the postponement.
Clark County Treasurer: real property tax information and the published delinquency notice
The county treasurer and ex officio tax receiver's own pages showing the scheme as administered, including the four installment due dates, the 10 day grace period, the county's cumulative penalty schedule, the statement that the certificate issues if the amount owed is not paid by the close of business on the first Monday in June, and that the property may be redeemed by payment of taxes and accruing taxes, penalties and cost together with interest on the taxes at the rate of 10 percent per annum from the original date due until paid.
Washoe County Treasurer: real property tax sales questions and the annual auction
A county treasurer page describing local auction practice, including that the office conducts one real estate tax auction annually, usually in April, with the list available in February, that the opening bid is the delinquent taxes, assessments, costs, interest and penalties or the assessed valuation, whichever is greater, that an owner may pay up to the stated cutoff on the third business day before the sale to prevent it, and that there is no redemption period on property acquired at the auction although a two year protest period follows.
Regional Variances
Nevada delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
Lien then deed, with the county as the holder throughout. The tax receiver makes out a trustee's certificate that authorizes the county treasurer, as trustee for the State and county, to hold the parcel, and nothing is sold to an investor at that point (NRS 361.570). If the period runs out the receiver deeds the property in trust to the treasurer (NRS 361.585, NRS 361.590) and the board of county commissioners may order the treasurer to sell it for not less than the amount stated in the order, with a quitclaim deed to the purchaser (NRS 361.595). Counties run that sale as a public auction.
Two routes the default does not cover
A tax lien may be assigned to a private assignee, but only on the owner's written authorization acknowledged before a notary public, under an agreement whose interest may not exceed 15 percent per annum (NRS 361.7311, NRS 361.7316). Separately, the treasurer may certify accumulated delinquencies of 3,000 dollars or more to the district attorney, who may sue to collect, as a remedy in addition to the trustee route (NRS 361.635).
Delinquency dates
Taxes on the real property tax roll are due on the third Monday of August and may be paid in four approximately equal installments where the taxes on the parcel exceed 100 dollars, on the third Monday of August, the first Monday of October, the first Monday of January and the first Monday of March (NRS 361.483). The lien itself attaches on July 1 of the year for which the taxes are levied (NRS 361.450).
Penalty before the certificate
A stepped penalty measured on or within 10 days following each due day: 4 percent for one unpaid installment, 5 percent of the two installments due for two, 6 percent of the three installments due for three, and 7 percent of the full amount of the taxes once the year is unpaid, each computed together with accumulated penalties (NRS 361.483). Clark County publishes how those steps stack in its own billing.
Time before sale
Two years plus at least another 90 days. The certificate issues at the close of business on the first Monday in June (NRS 361.5648), the treasurer holds for 2 years or 1 year if the property is determined abandoned (NRS 361.570), the deed in trust is recorded within 30 days after the period expires (NRS 361.590), and only then may the commissioners order a sale, for which notice goes out not less than 90 days ahead (NRS 361.595).
Redemption period and clock
Measured from the date of the certificate, which is the first Monday in June of the year it is dated, and not from the delinquency, a sale or a recording. The period is 2 years, or 1 year where the tax receiver has determined the property abandoned under NRS 361.567 (NRS 361.570). After it expires a reconveyance right survives for the owner and listed lienholders to the close of business on the third business day before the day of the sale (NRS 361.585).
Redeemer's charge
A simple annual rate, assessed monthly. The certificate must specify that interest on the taxes will be added at the rate of 10 percent per annum, assessed monthly, from the date due until paid (NRS 361.570). There is no premium, no step up in the second year and no bid-down rate, because the certificate was never offered to bidders. The taxes, penalties and costs already accrued are paid alongside it.
Other redemption costs
Any additional taxes, penalties and costs assessed and accrued against the property after the certificate date, with the same interest (NRS 361.570), the cost of each delinquency mailing charged to the delinquent taxpayer (NRS 361.5648), the cost of publication also charged to the taxpayer (NRS 361.565), and the necessary costs of abating a nuisance on a parcel held in trust (NRS 361.577).
Notice to the owner
First class mail within 30 days after the first Monday in March (NRS 361.5648), newspaper and county website publication if the tax is still delinquent 30 days after the first Monday in April (NRS 361.565), a second notice by certified mail not less than 60 days before the redemption period expires (NRS 361.5648), and certified mail with return receipt not less than 90 days before a sale, or 45 days on the abandoned track (NRS 361.595).
Where to redeem
The county treasurer holding the certificate, who also collects the post certificate taxes, penalties and costs (NRS 361.570). The same officer is the county's ex officio tax receiver, to whom a delinquent taxpayer may pay the taxes, penalties and costs at any time after June 1 and before suit is instituted and before the sale, taking a receipt (NRS 361.625).
Surplus proceeds
Claimable in writing within 1 year after the deed given by the county treasurer is recorded, with the county first taking the first 300 dollars of the excess proceeds and 10 percent of the next 10,000 dollars into its general fund (NRS 361.610). Unclaimed money goes 5 percent to the account created by NRS 249.095 and the rest to the county general fund, and must not thereafter be refunded to the former owner.
Payment plan
No statutory instalment plan for redeeming a certificate. The four instalment option covers the current year's taxes where they exceed 100 dollars (NRS 361.483), the postponement program reaches only a single family residence owner who meets every test in NRS 361.7376 and carries interest at 6 percent of the amount postponed (NRS 361.7388), and a treasurer or assessor may waive interest or penalty in narrow circumstances (NRS 361.4835).
Frequently Asked Questions
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