Delinquent Property Taxes in South Carolina: A Twelve Month Clock That Steps Up Four Times
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · South Carolina · Last updated October 21, 2026
South Carolina does not bill a redeeming homeowner by the day, it bills in four steps, and the step you pay is set by which three month band of the redemption year your money lands in. Delinquent property taxes are property taxes an owner has not paid by the date the state fixes, after which the county adds penalties and can force a sale of the property to collect them. What goes to auction is the property, sold by the person officially charged with the collection of delinquent taxes for cash on the day (S.C. Code 12-51-50). Nothing is conveyed at the gavel: the bidder leaves with a receipt for the purchase money (S.C. Code 12-51-60), and the tax title is made only once the time to redeem has run out (S.C. Code 12-51-130). That time is twelve months from the date of the delinquent tax sale, and the defaulting taxpayer, any grantee, or any mortgage or judgment creditor may use it (S.C. Code 12-51-90). The interest is a lump sum, three percent of the bid amount in the first three months, six percent in months four through six, nine percent in months seven through nine and twelve percent in the last three, and the band rate relates back to the beginning of the redemption period. It can never exceed the collector's opening bid for the forfeited land commission (S.C. Code 12-51-55). Getting there is quick: penalties of three, seven and five percent land across January, February and March, before the execution issues (S.C. Code 12-45-180). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
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Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
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How long do I have to redeem after a South Carolina delinquent tax sale?
Twelve months from the date of the delinquent tax sale. The defaulting taxpayer, any grantee from the owner, or any mortgage or judgment creditor may redeem each item of real estate in that window by paying the taxes, assessments, penalties and costs together with the statutory interest (S.C. Code 12-51-90). The clock runs from the sale.
How much interest does South Carolina charge to redeem after a tax sale?
A lump sum set by band, not a running rate: three percent of the bid amount in the first three months, six percent in months four, five and six, nine percent in months seven, eight and nine, and twelve percent in the last three. The band rate relates back to the start of the period (S.C. Code 12-51-90).
Does the tax sale bidder own my South Carolina house straight away?
No. On the day of the sale the bidder receives only a receipt for the purchase money (S.C. Code 12-51-60), and the tax title is made only on failure to redeem within the period allowed (S.C. Code 12-51-130). One county delinquent tax department puts it plainly: successful bidders have no ownership rights during the twelve month redemption period.
When do South Carolina property taxes become delinquent each year?
Taxes are due and payable between September 30 and January 15. A three percent penalty is added if they are unpaid before January 16, or thirty days after the notices were mailed if that is later, a further seven percent before February 2, and a further five percent before March 17, when the execution issues (S.C. Code 12-45-70, 12-45-180).
South Carolina delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Two staircases bracket a South Carolina tax sale, and neither one can be pro-rated. Delinquent property taxes are taxes an owner missed by the statutory date, after which the county adds penalties and can sell the property to collect. Going in, the penalties arrive as three fixed steps on three calendar dates, three percent, then seven, then five, reaching fifteen percent before the treasurer's execution issues (S.C. Code 12-45-180). Coming out, the redemption interest arrives as four quarterly steps on the bid amount, three, six, nine and twelve percent, each relating back to the beginning of the twelve month period (S.C. Code 12-51-90). Between those staircases the property is sold but the deed is withheld: the bidder holds a receipt (S.C. Code 12-51-60) and the tax title is made only if nobody redeems (S.C. Code 12-51-130).
A Hartsville bungalow where the ninety-first day doubles the interest
Count bands, not days. Say 3,460 dollars of unpaid taxes, penalties and costs on a bungalow in Hartsville brings the parcel to the Darlington County delinquent tax sale. The collector opens at 3,900 dollars for the forfeited land commission, which includes the taxes for the year the redemption period begins (S.C. Code 12-51-55), and bidding closes at 9,200 dollars. Twelve months now run from that sale date (S.C. Code 12-51-90). Redeem inside the first three months and the interest is three percent of the bid, 276 dollars, on top of the taxes, assessments, penalties and costs. Let the ninety-first day pass and the band becomes six percent, 552 dollars, because the band rate relates back to the start of the period. Whatever the office quotes is for its own records.
Relevant Laws
S.C. Code 12-45-70 (when property taxes are due and payable)
Provides that all taxes are due and payable between the thirtieth day of September and the fifteenth day of January after their assessment in each year, and that the county treasurer collects them in the manner prescribed by law and gives receipts to the persons paying them. Published by the South Carolina Legislative Services Agency at chapter granularity, so this URL carries the full text of every section in chapter 45 of title 12.
S.C. Code 12-45-180 (the three penalty steps, and the execution)
Adds a penalty of three percent where taxes and assessments are not paid before the sixteenth day of January or thirty days after the mailing of tax notices, whichever occurs later, an additional seven percent if not paid before the second day of the next February, and an additional five percent if not paid before the seventeenth day of the next March, at which point the county treasurer issues the tax execution to the officer authorized to collect delinquent taxes under chapter 51. The United States postmark is the determining date for mailed payments.
S.C. Code 12-45-75 (county option instalment payment of property tax)
Lets a county governing body allow by ordinance each taxpayer owning a parcel of taxable real property the option to pay in five instalments of sixteen and two-thirds percent of the estimated obligation, due February 15, April 15, June 15, August 15 and October 15, with the remaining balance due on or before January fifteenth of the following taxable year. The election is made in writing to the county treasurer no later than January fifteenth and no earlier than December first, and is not allowed for taxes paid through an escrow account.
S.C. Code 12-51-40 (notice, levy, seizure and advertisement before the sale)
Directs the officer collecting delinquent taxes to mail a notice of delinquent property taxes on April first or as soon after that as practicable, to take exclusive possession if the taxes remain unpaid after thirty days from that mailing by certified mail, return receipt requested, restricted delivery, to post the premises if the certified mail is returned, and to advertise the property once a week before the legal sales date for three consecutive weeks. All expenses of the levy, seizure and sale are added and collected as additional costs.
S.C. Code 12-51-50 (the sale, and what payment the sale takes)
Provides that the property duly advertised must be sold by the person officially charged with the collection of delinquent taxes at public auction at the courthouse or other convenient place within the county, on the advertised date, for legal tender payable in full by cash, cashier's check, certified check or money order on the date of the sale, and that no further items of the same taxpayer are sold once enough has been raised to cover the delinquency.
S.C. Code 12-51-55 (the mandatory opening bid, which also caps the interest)
Requires the officer to submit a bid on behalf of the forfeited land commission equal to all unpaid property taxes, penalties and assessments, including special taxing district and assessment district assessments, and costs, including taxes levied for the year in which the redemption period begins. That figure is the ceiling on redemption interest under section 12-51-90. The commission is not required to bid on property known or reasonably suspected to be contaminated.
S.C. Code 12-51-60 (the bidder gets a receipt, not a deed)
Requires the successful bidder to pay the full amount of the bid on the day of the sale, after which the person officially charged with the collection of delinquent taxes furnishes the purchaser a receipt for the purchase money. It also requires that, once a tax deed has been issued, the defaulting taxpayer and the owner of record immediately before the end of the redemption period be notified in writing of any excess due, by the same certified mail method used to take possession.
S.C. Code 12-51-90 (twelve months to redeem, and the four quarterly interest steps)
Gives the defaulting taxpayer, any grantee from the owner, or any mortgage or judgment creditor twelve months from the date of the delinquent tax sale to redeem each item of real estate by paying the taxes, assessments, penalties and costs together with interest under subsection (B). Subsection (B) sets the lump sum interest by band of the redemption period and relates the band rate back to the beginning of the period: three percent of the bid amount in the first three months, six percent in months four, five and six, nine percent in months seven, eight and nine, and twelve percent in the last three months, and provides that in every redemption the interest due must not exceed the forfeited land commission bid under section 12-51-55. Subsection (C) makes the tax deed incontestable on procedural or other grounds after the twelve months pass unredeemed and a further twelve months elapse.
S.C. Code 12-51-96 (extra conditions for a mobile or manufactured home)
Provides that a mobile or manufactured home subject to redemption must not be removed from its location at the time of the sale for twelve months unless the landowner requires the move, and that in addition to the other payments the defaulting taxpayer or lienholder must pay rent to the purchaser at redemption of up to one twelfth of the taxes for the last completed property tax year, exclusive of penalties, costs and interest, for each month between sale and redemption, never less than ten dollars a month.
S.C. Code 12-51-100 (what happens on the day you redeem)
Requires the person officially charged with the collection of delinquent taxes, on the real estate being redeemed, to cancel the sale in the tax sale book and note the amount paid, by whom and when, and to notify the successful purchaser by mail to return the tax sale receipt so the purchase price plus the interest provided in section 12-51-90 can be refunded.
S.C. Code 12-51-120 (the certified notice before the period closes)
Requires the collector, neither more than forty-five days nor less than twenty days before the end of the redemption period, to mail a notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, restricted delivery to the defaulting taxpayer and to a grantee, mortgagee or lessee of record, stating that the property has been sold for taxes and the total amount of taxes, assessments, penalties, costs and interest at the applicable rate on the bid price needed to redeem by a stated date. Return of that certified mail undelivered is not grounds for the tax title to be withheld.
S.C. Code 12-51-130 (the tax title, and the overage)
Requires the collector, on failure to redeem within the time allowed, to make a tax title to the purchaser or the purchaser's assignee within thirty days or as soon after as possible, and treats delivery of that title to the clerk of court or register of deeds as putting the purchaser in possession. Where the sale produced more cash than the full amount due in taxes, assessments, penalties and costs, the overage goes first to outstanding municipal tax liens and any remainder belongs to the owner of record immediately before the end of the redemption period, payable ninety days after execution of the deed unless a judicial action is instituted by another claimant, and escheats to the general fund if neither claimed nor assigned within five years of the auction.
S.C. Code 12-51-160 (two years to attack a sale, and the deed as evidence)
Makes the deed of conveyance prima facie evidence of good title in the holder, that all proceedings have been regular and that all legal requirements have been complied with, and provides that an action for the recovery of land sold under the chapter, or for recovery of possession, must not be maintained unless brought within two years from the date of sale as provided in section 12-51-90(C).
S.C. Code 12-49-10 and 12-49-1120 (the tax lien, and notice to mortgage holders)
Section 12-49-10 makes taxes, assessments and penalties a debt payable to the county and a first lien in all cases whatsoever upon the property taxed, attaching at the beginning of the fiscal year during which the tax is levied, and section 12-49-20 attaches a first lien as of December thirty-first for taxes to be paid during the ensuing year. Section 12-49-1120 requires at least forty-five days written notice before the sale to a mortgagee on the mortgagee list filed with the tax collector.
Treasurer of Horry County, Delinquent Tax Department: the county timeline
A county delinquent tax office page showing how the statutory scheme is administered in practice. It states that taxes are considered delinquent March 17th, that delinquent tax notices are mailed April 1st or as soon thereafter, that certified notices follow thirty days later, that levy notices are posted usually May to October, that advertising runs for three consecutive Thursdays before the sale, that the sale time, date and location are advertised in November, and that the redemption period is twelve months from the date of the sale. The dates in the second half of that timeline are this county's own, since the statute fixes no sale month.
Treasurer of Horry County: bidder tax sale information
A county bidder information sheet stating that the office does not issue tax lien certificates at the sale or at any time during the year, that the delinquent tax collector presents the opening bid on behalf of the forfeited land commission consisting of all delinquent taxes, penalties and costs plus the current year's taxes, that a redeemed bidder is refunded the bid amount plus interest on the bid amount at three percent the first quarter, six percent the second, nine percent the third and twelve percent the final quarter capped at the opening bid, and that during the twelve month redemption period successful bidders have no ownership rights, cannot enter the premises and cannot contact the owner. The title search and deed preparation charge it lists is this county's figure.
South Carolina Department of Revenue: Property Tax
The state revenue agency's own page on property tax, which states that property tax is administered and collected by local governments with assistance from the Department, and that real and personal property owned by individuals, corporations, partnerships and other businesses in the state is subject to it. It is the authority for the point that the office a homeowner deals with on a delinquency is a county office, not a state one.
Regional Variances
South Carolina delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
Hybrid, and not the usual redeemable deed shape. The property itself is sold at public auction by the person officially charged with the collection of delinquent taxes, for cash or certified funds in full on the day (S.C. Code 12-51-50), but the winning bidder receives only a receipt for the purchase money (S.C. Code 12-51-60). No lien and no certificate is issued. The tax title is made only on failure to redeem within the period allowed (S.C. Code 12-51-130).
Delinquency dates
Taxes are due and payable between September 30 and January 15 (S.C. Code 12-45-70). The first penalty attaches if they are unpaid before January 16, or thirty days after the notices were mailed, whichever is later (S.C. Code 12-45-180). County delinquent tax offices commonly publish March 17 as the delinquency date instead, because that is when the treasurer's execution reaches them.
Penalty before the sale
Three one-off steps and no interest: three percent, then an additional seven percent if unpaid before February 2, then an additional five percent if unpaid before March 17, when the execution issues (S.C. Code 12-45-180). Every expense of levy, seizure and sale is then added as costs, including possession, advertising, storage, boundary identification and certified mailings (S.C. Code 12-51-40).
Time before the sale
Months, not years. Delinquent notice mailed April 1 or as soon after as practicable, exclusive possession taken by certified restricted delivery mail thirty days after that mailing, posting if the mail is returned, then advertising once a week for three consecutive weeks before the legal sales date (S.C. Code 12-51-40). The statute fixes no sale month, so the date is the county's.
Redemption period and clock
Twelve months, running from the date of the delinquent tax sale rather than from the delinquency, the execution or any notice (S.C. Code 12-51-90). The defaulting taxpayer, any grantee from the owner, or any mortgage or judgment creditor may use it. There is no carve out for a legal residence, a homestead, farmland, a minor or an owner with a disability; mobile and manufactured homes keep the same twelve months with extra conditions (S.C. Code 12-51-95, 12-51-96).
Redeemer's charge
A quarterly staircase, not a monthly rate, not an annual rate and not bid down at the auction. One lump sum of interest set by band and computed on the bid amount: three percent in the first three months, six percent in months four, five and six, nine percent in months seven, eight and nine, twelve percent in the last three, with the band rate relating back to the beginning of the period. It must never exceed the forfeited land commission opening bid (S.C. Code 12-51-90, 12-51-55).
Other redemption costs
The taxes, assessments, penalties and costs themselves, on top of the band interest (S.C. Code 12-51-90), with costs defined broadly to cover taking possession, advertising, storage, identifying boundaries and certified mailings (S.C. Code 12-51-40). The statute sets no dollar figure for sale costs, so the amount is a county figure. Deed preparation, documentary stamps and recording fees fall on the purchaser, not the redeemer (S.C. Code 12-51-130).
Notice to the owner
Mailed delinquent notice on April 1 or soon after, certified mail with return receipt requested and restricted delivery thirty days later, posting on the premises if that mail is returned, and newspaper advertising once a week for three consecutive weeks (S.C. Code 12-51-40). Then a second certified notice between forty-five and twenty days before the period ends, stating the total and the date (S.C. Code 12-51-120). Mortgagees on the county list get forty-five days (S.C. Code 12-49-1120).
Where to redeem
With the person officially charged with the collection of delinquent taxes, the office that held the sale, and not with the bidder (S.C. Code 12-51-90). That office then refunds the bidder the purchase price plus interest (S.C. Code 12-51-100). In county practice it is usually a delinquent tax department within the county treasurer's office, and the Department of Revenue confirms that property tax is administered and collected by local governments.
Surplus proceeds
Claimable, and called the overage. Surplus above the taxes, assessments, penalties and costs goes first to outstanding municipal tax liens, then belongs to the owner of record immediately before the end of the redemption period, payable ninety days after execution of the deed unless another claimant starts a judicial action. It escheats to the general fund if neither claimed nor assigned within five years of the auction (S.C. Code 12-51-130). The collector must notify the owner in writing of any excess (S.C. Code 12-51-60).
Payment plan
A county option instalment plan that runs before delinquency, not during redemption. Where the county governing body has adopted it by ordinance, five instalments of sixteen and two-thirds percent fall due February 15, April 15, June 15, August 15 and October 15, with the balance by January 15, elected in writing to the treasurer between December 1 and January 15 and unavailable for escrowed taxes (S.C. Code 12-45-75). Chapter 51 offers no instalment route once the execution has issued.
Frequently Asked Questions
Other South Carolina guides
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Adverse Possession in South Carolina: Ten Years Against a Presumption
Asset Protection Planning in South Carolina (2026)
Dealing With Debt Collectors in South Carolina (2026)
Expunging a Criminal Record in South Carolina (2026)
Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in South Carolina
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