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Tax Redemption Sample Timeline
May 6, 2015 Total Due
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Tax Bill Mailed The County Treasurer’s office mails the 2014 tax bills at the beginning of May 2015, with half due at the beginning of June and the other at the beginning of September. |
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May 30, 2015
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First Installment Paid The property owner pays the first installment on time. The next installment isn’t due until September 6. |
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September 7, 2015
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Second Installment Missed The property owner missed the second installment due date. The Treasurer’s office applies a 1½% per month penalty. |
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October 7, 2015
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Next Interest Increase Another 1½% is added. This is the last interest increase that is applied, because the next scheduled increase is too close to the date of the tax sale. |
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October 17, 2015
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Treasurer’s Final Notices Sent The Treasurer’s office notifies the taxpayer that they have delinquent taxes that are about to be sold. |
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December 4, 2015
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Tax Sale The Treasurer’s office adds the cost of the tax sale to the amount owing, and auctions that total to the lowest bidder. Registered tax buyers bid their percentage fee to pay the outstanding balance, in exchange for an unrecorded lien on the property. Bids start at 18% and can go to 0%. This is a penalty that is applied immediately after the tax sale and every six months thereafter. In this example, the bidding went down to 2%. The winning (lowest-bidding) tax buyer then pays the tax balance in the Treasurer’s office, and the lien is turned over to the County Clerk’s office for collection. All taxes are sold at the sale; if nobody bids on a property, the County of Lake, as Trustee, becomes the default tax buyer at 18%. Since this is a residential property, the owner has a minimum 2½ years to redeem. Any other kind of property has a minimum of 2 years. |
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January 15, 2016
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Tax Buyer’s Initial “Take Notice” Sent Within 4½ months of the tax sale, the tax buyer must send a legal notice called a “Take Notice” to the person in whose name the taxes were last assessed. The cost of this mailing is added to the redemption amount. |
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March 2, 2016
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Tax Buyer Extends the Final Redemption Date The tax buyer has the option at any time to extend the final redemption date, up to a maximum of 3 years for any kind of property. He can only extend the time period; he cannot reduce it. |
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June 4, 2016
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Tax Sale 2nd Six-Month Penalty Applied The owner has not redeemed the taxes, so another installment of the tax buyer’s bid penalty is now added. |
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September 22, 2016
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Tax Buyer Buys Subsequent Year’s Taxes The owner of the property has not paid the 2015 taxes either. If there were no tax buyer on the property, these taxes would be sold at the next tax sale. But the current tax buyer is given the option to buy subsequent years’ taxes (with accrued interest) after the second installment is delinquent but before the tax sale, at a 12% per year penalty. This is called “subtaxing,” No matter how many years are subtaxed, the redemption must be made in one payment; the years cannot be split up and paid at separate times. |
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December 4, 2016
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Tax Sale 3rd Six-Month Penalty Applied Another installment of the tax buyer’s original bid penalty is added. |
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June 4, 2017
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Tax Sale 4th Six-Month Penalty Applied Another installment of the tax buyer’s original bid penalty is added. |
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September 21, 2017
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Tax Buyer Buys Subsequent Year’s Taxes The owner of the property has not paid the 2016 taxes, so the tax buyer subtaxes them just as he did the 2015 taxes. |
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September 22, 2017
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First Subtax Year’s Penalty Increases The tax buyer subtaxed the 2015 taxes on September 22, 2016, so the annual 12% penalty is applied the following year on the same day. |
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December 4, 2017
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Tax Sale 5th Six-Month Penalty Applied Another installment of the tax buyer’s original bid penalty is added. |
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May 1, 2018
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Tax Buyer Files Court Petition for Tax Deed If the taxes are not redeemed by the end of the redemption period, the tax buyer can obtain the deed to the property instead. This process must begin within 3-6 months BEFORE the redemption period expires, and it starts with the tax buyer filing a petition with the Circuit Court for the tax deed to the property. Any legal costs the tax buyer pays in order to obtain the tax deed can be posted to the redemption account. The only limitation is that posting cannot occur within 30 days of the final redemption date. |
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May 3, 2018
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Tax Buyer Subtaxes EARLY! Normally, the tax buyer cannot subtax until the second installment of the current year’s taxes is delinquent. However, there is one exception. If the tax buyer has begun the tax deed process, they are allowed by law to subtax the current year’s taxes as soon as those taxes are available to pay. In other words, as soon as tax bill hits the mail at the beginning of May, even before the homeowner receives it, the tax buyer can pay those taxes at an additional 12% penalty! |
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May 20, 2018
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Tax Buyer Adds Legal Costs In order to obtain the tax deed, the tax buyer must notify the property owner and any other financially interested party in three ways: certified mail from the Circuit Court Clerk; being personally served by the Sheriff’s office; and notice being published in a local newspaper. As you can see, this adds quite a lot to the redemption amount! |
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June 4, 2018
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Tax Sale 6th Six-Month Penalty Applied Another installment of the tax buyer’s original bid penalty is added. |
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September 21, 2018
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Second Subtax Year’s Penalty Increases The tax buyer subtaxed the 2016 taxes on September 21, 2017, so the annual penalty is applied the following year on the same day. |
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September 22, 2018
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First Subtax Year’s Penalty Increases The tax buyer subtaxed the 2015 taxes on September 22, 2016, so the annual penalty is applied the following year on the same day. |
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October 1, 2018
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New Charge Blackout Period Begins No new costs or subtaxes can be applied within 30 days of the last date to redeem. However, penalties on already posted sold taxes and subtaxes can still increase according to their schedule. |
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| November 2, 2018 |
Redemption Period Expires If the taxes are not paid and the last date to redeem passes, the tax buyer can apply to the Circuit Court for an Order directing the County Clerk’s office to issue a tax deed to the tax buyer. The tax buyer then records that deed in the Recorder of Deeds’ office, and becomes the new owner of the property. If the County of Lake, as Trustee, is the tax buyer, once the County obtains the tax deed the property is offered for sale through a closed bid process in the County Clerk’s office. |