Illinois · Law checked October 19, 2026

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

Behind on property taxes in Illinois? 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 Illinois? 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 Illinois deadline

How Illinois sells

The machine, in four lines

A dated second chance in Illinois: The Surplus Equity Fund pays awards to owners whose tax deeds were recorded between July 10, 2024 and July 10, 2026 — measured at roughly the property's value at deed time, minus mortgages, liens, and taxes (a broader measure than the constitutional floor). Claims are filed in circuit court NO LATER THAN July 10, 2028. This is a real, expiring right: if your deed was recorded in that window, the fund page on this site is your starting point.

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

Your window: 2½ years for certificates sold before July 10, 2026; 3 years for certificates sold on or after July 10, 2026. Shorter — 1 year — for vacant non-farm land, buildings with 7+ residential units, and commercial or industrial property, counted from the certificate sale date. Statute-verified

What it costs to redeem: The certificate amount (tax, interest, penalties, costs) + the penalty bid — bid down from a maximum of 18% per 6-month period, and charged again each 6 months — + later taxes and costs the buyer paid.

Source: 35 ILCS 200/21-350; §21-355

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: No general state installment right for delinquent taxes found — property taxes are billed in installments, but catching up is county practice (Cook County's treasurer runs a free payment-plan calculator for balances over $100).

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): Yes — the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax Deferral (320 ILCS 30): age 65+, defer up to $7,500 per year at 3% simple interest, repaid on sale, death, or transfer.

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the County treasurer.

Your claim window: For sales under the reformed system (PA 104-0553): the surplus is held by the county treasurer and the owner has 3 years from the treasurer's notice to claim it. Enter the date on the treasurer's notice in the checker for the exact count. Being double-checked

If nobody claims it: Surplus still unclaimed after the 3-year claim window is turned over as unclaimed property, per summaries of the 2026 Act.

Source: 35 ILCS 200/21-302; PA 104-0553

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 collector (county treasurer); redemption is made with the County Clerk'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