Escambia County, AL tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Escambia County, AL tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Alabama sells tax lien certificates paying up to 12%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Oct 6, 2026.
How tax lien sales work in Escambia County, seat of Brewton: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Alabama tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next tax deed sale
- Not scheduled.
- Registration
- The county publishes no bidder registration form, deposit amount or deadline.
On this page
How Escambia County sells delinquent taxes
From lien to deed
Alabama holds no routine county tax deed auction under the tax lien regime. A holder of all the sold, unexpired, outstanding tax lien certificates on a parcel may file an action in circuit court to foreclose the right to redeem and quiet title, but only once four years have passed since the tax lien auction and no later than ten years after it. The holder must mail a notice of intent at least 30 days and no more than 180 days before filing, to the owner of record, every recorded lienholder, the tax collecting official, and anyone else who may reasonably be believed to hold an interest.
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Escambia County Tax Collector (Tim Pettis, Tax Collector)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Annual tax lien auction in spring.
- Registration
- The county publishes no bidder registration form, deposit amount or deadline.
- Next expected
- between March 1 and June 15, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
Escambia County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Escambia County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.
Confirm the advertised parcel list
Use Escambia County state-held tax delinquent property transcript (Alabama Department of Revenue, PDF) as a starting reference. Check which sale or list it covers; a Lands Available or office information page is separate from an auction parcel list. Ask the sale office for the advertised parcels for the auction you plan to attend.Register to bid
Sale day
Not scheduled. No auction platform is on record here for Escambia County. Confirm the next sale date, the platform or venue and the registration window with the Circuit court of the county before you bid.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the Circuit court of the county as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Escambia County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
Open Escambia County state-held tax delinquent property transcript (Alabama Department of Revenue, PDF). Confirm whether this reference contains the auction parcels or covers a different list. Get the advertised parcel list from the county before you price a bid, and recheck it before the sale.Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Alabama due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.Set a walk-away number
Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
unsold certificates
Liens that draw no bid at the auction stay with the county. At any time after the auction date the tax collecting official may sell an unsold lien at private sale for no less than all taxes, interest, penalties, costs and fees due, plus any amount owed to a prior certificate holder. The rate is agreed with the tax collecting official and cannot exceed 12 percent, so over-the-counter liens often carry the full rate. Ask the county for its list of unsold liens.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Alabama calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
(251) 867-0209 (Brewton); (251) 368-8086 (Atmore satellite office)
Post Office Box 407, Brewton, AL 36427. County Courthouse: 314 Belleville Ave, P.O. Box 856, Brewton, AL 36427. Atmore satellite office: 8600 Highway 31, Atmore, AL 36502.
Official websiteCounty notes
- Escambia County is a tax lien county by the Tax Collector's own election under Code of Ala. 40-10-180(b), covering delinquent taxes for the year 2020-2021 forward.
- Property taxes are due October 1 and become delinquent January 1. Courthouse hours are 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
- The county names no online auction vendor for its lien sale; call the Tax Collector at (251) 867-0209 for the auction date, location and bidding format, or watch the county newspaper legal notices in the weeks before the spring sale.
- Named contacts for lien purchases are Tim Pettis (Tax Collector), Amanda Carpenter and Rhonda Benjamin. Shirley Hubert is Office Manager at the Atmore satellite office.
- Parcel data for the county is hosted on Delta Computer Systems (Online Property Information, AL30) rather than a county-run GIS.
- Escambia County, Florida runs a separate tax certificate sale; make sure listings and platforms you find refer to Escambia County, Alabama.
Alabama rules
- Redemption
- A tax lien can be redeemed at any time before the circuit court enters judgment in a foreclosure action, and the holder cannot file that action until four years after the auction or the tax official's private sale. If the holder does not commence a foreclosure action within ten years of the auction or sale, the certificate expires and the lien becomes void. A certificate holder has no right to enter or possess the property, make repairs, or charge rents before it receives the circuit clerk's deed. In a county that uses the Article 1 property tax sale instead, land sold to a purchaser other than the state may be redeemed within three years from the date of sale, and land bid in for the state may be redeemed at any time before title passes out of the state.
- Surplus proceeds
- In a court-ordered auction the proceeds pay the cost of the auction first, then the certificate holder up to the redemption amount plus taxes it paid before filing and the court-allowed costs and fees. Any surplus goes to the owner or the owner's heirs or successors as the court determines, and Alabama's unclaimed property law applies to whatever is left. In a county that instead uses the Article 1 property tax sale, the excess over the decree is held in a separate county account for three years for a party who redeems, and Section 40-10-28 opens later windows in which the owner or a redeeming party can claim it.
A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Escambia County, Alabama sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Escambia County tax certificate sale?
How often does Escambia County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Escambia County tax sale list?
Verified Oct 6, 2026 against official county and state sources.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the office that runs the sale before you bid.
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Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.