Florida · Law checked October 19, 2026

Florida tax sale: your deadline, your office, your money

Behind on property taxes in Florida? Your house can be sold at a tax sale — here's how much time you have to stop it. Your house was sold at a tax sale in Florida? The extra money from the sale may be yours to claim — and there's a deadline. Both answers are on this page, from the statute.

Count my Florida deadline

How Florida sells

The machine, in four lines

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

Redemption in Florida runs until the deed is issued — Any time after the certificate is issued and before a tax deed is issued. The certificate holder generally cannot even apply for the deed until 2 years after April 1 of the certificate year (and the right to apply dies 7 years after issuance) — so your practical window is measured in years, but it ends the day the deed issues, without a separate warning clock. Statute-verified

What it costs to redeem: The face amount of the certificate + interest at the rate bid at the sale (up to 18%) or the 5% mandatory minimum, whichever is greater + all costs and charges.

Source: Fla. Stat. §197.472; §197.502

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: The §197.222 installment program is a prepayment plan for current taxes (elect by April 30, four quarterly installments with discounts) — it is not a plan for taxes already delinquent.

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): Yes — homestead tax deferral (Fla. Stat. §§197.2425–197.312): defer the part of homestead tax above 5% of household income (3% interest measure for seniors); owners 65+ under the income threshold may defer all of it. The deferred amount is a lien, due on sale or change of use.

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the Clerk of Court.

Your claim window: 120 days from the date of the clerk's mailed Notice of Surplus Funds from Tax Deed Sale. The claim is a written, notarized claim. Recorded government liens are paid first, then liens by priority, then the former owner. Statute-verified

If nobody claims it: If no claims arrive within the 120 days, the funds are processed under Florida's unclaimed-property law (Chapter 717) — where a slower claim may still be possible.

Finder-fee protection: Do not let anyone quote you a 'standard 12%' for a tax deed claim: the 12% cap (Fla. Stat. §45.033) governs foreclosure-sale surplus assignments, a different sale. Section 197.582 sets no percentage cap for tax-deed claims — which is exactly why the self-file path matters.

Source: Fla. Stat. §197.582

The county figure rule. This page gives you the law — the window, the formula, the office. The exact payoff or surplus figure lives in the County tax collector (certificates); Clerk of Court (tax deed sale)'s books and changes as interest runs. Ask that office for the figure, in writing, and keep the letter.

Included in the $49 TaxSaleDecoded Kit

  • The surplus claim pack: how to prove the house was yours (deed records, address history, ID), the claim-form path in your state, and what to do when the county says it has no record of your money
  • The redemption playbook: your state's window and cost formula worked step by step, who to pay, how to prove you paid, and the traps in the payoff figure (added fees and interest)
  • The heirs page: the house was a parent's — what changes, which papers prove you are an heir, and the point where it stops being simple
  • The scam shield: how surplus-recovery companies work, the fee caps your state sets for them, and the assignment papers you should never sign
  • The lookback module: what Tyler won, what Pung limited (the extra money is the sale price minus the debt — not your home's value), and the dated state lookbacks, including Illinois claims that die in July 2028

Get the TaxSaleDecoded Kit — $49

One payment of $49. No subscription. The kit is a web page you can return to and print — the claim pack, the redemption playbook, the heirs page, and the scam shield.

All 50 states · The surplus, explained · Redemption, explained