New York · Law checked October 19, 2026

New York tax sale: your deadline, your office, your money

Behind on property taxes in New York? 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 New York? 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 New York deadline

How New York sells

The machine, in four lines

A dated second chance in New York: Title 6 reaches back: it applies to tax-foreclosed properties sold on or after May 25, 2023 — the day Tyler was decided. For sales before that date, a claim survives only if an Article 78 case to compel distribution was timely started and is still active.

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

Redemption in New York runs until the deed is issued — The redemption period expires 2 years after the lien date (the later date in the foreclosure notice controls if one is given). Districts may extend the period for residential or farm property, or cut it to 1 year for vacant and abandoned homes. Redemption is a before-judgment right Statute-verified

What it costs to redeem: The delinquent tax liens including all charges authorized by law; interest and penalty rates are set by the tax district — there is no single statewide percentage.

Source: RPTL §1110; §1111

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: No statewide plan was pinned; installment and partial-payment authority in Article 11 is local option and varies by tax district (New York City runs its own programs).

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): None found statewide; senior relief is the 65+ exemption / STAR credit, not a deferral.

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the Court with foreclosure jurisdiction (the enforcing officer pays the surplus into court).

Your claim window: Claim is filed with the court under RPTL §1197. For residential property, if no former owner has claimed by the time the sale is confirmed, the proceeding must remain open at least 3 years from that confirmation, and a claim filed in that period counts as timely. Statute-verified

If nobody claims it: Surplus still unclaimed at the end is deemed abandoned — but it is paid to the tax district to reduce its tax levy, not to the State Comptroller (RPTL §1197(5)).

Source: RPTL §§1196–1197 (L. 2024 ch. 55, Pt. BB)

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 Tax district enforcing officer (county/city)'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