Riverside County, CA tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Riverside County, seat of Riverside: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 27, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how California tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Riverside County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
Details are being verified for this county.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Riverside County Treasurer-Tax Collector (Office of the Treasurer-Tax Collector, County of Riverside)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Annual internet tax sale, normally held in late April or early May over roughly six days. The county's TC-223 sale page states the sale ran "Thursday, April 23, 2026, through Tuesday, April 28, 2026" and that "The Auction will start at 8:00 am PT (11:00 am ET) on Thursday, April 23, 2026, and will end Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at the time shown on each auction item." Prior sale results on the county site show the same window in earlier years: April 28, 2026 (TC 223), April 29 and April 30, 2025 (TC 221, TC 222), April 30, 2024 (TC 220), May 2, 2023 (TC 219), and April 26, 2022 (TC 218).
Registration and deposit
Register free with Bid4Assets and fund a bid deposit before the sale. The county's TC 223 Terms of Sale state: "Before bidding on any property, you must follow the instructions at www.Bid4Assets.com/Riverside to register as a bidder. A single refundable deposit of $5,000.00 (plus a $35.00 processing fee) will be required to bid on the parcels offered for sale by the County." Deposits must be a wire transfer, certified check, or cashier's check in Bid4Assets custody by the published deadline (Monday, April 20, 2026 for TC 223, three days before the auction opened). Winning bidders' deposits are credited toward the purchase. Bidding moves in $100 increments. Bidders without internet access can request an Offline Bidding Form from Bid4Assets at 877-427-7387. Payment in full was due to Bid4Assets by 1:00 PM PT on Friday, May 1, 2026, by wire, certified check, or cashier's check only, plus a $35.00 processing fee per item; no personal checks, money orders, or credit cards. A non-performing winning bidder forfeits the entire $5,000.00 deposit. Deed vesting information must be submitted to Bid4Assets within 48 hours of the close of the auction. The county's general procedural document adds that "Registration requirements vary from sale to sale and are announced approximately six to eight weeks prior to a scheduled sale."
California is a deed state and Riverside sells the deed, not a lien. The Treasurer-Tax Collector's tax sale page is explicit: properties "become subject to the County Tax Collector's power to sell because of a default in the payment of property taxes for five or more years. These properties may be purchased at one of our many online public auctions; there are no tax lien certificates or over the counter sales." The sale is conducted entirely online. Terms of Sale, section III: "This tax sale shall be conducted online by an independent contractor at its website, www.Bid4Assets.com/Riverside." The right of redemption terminates at 5:00 PM PT on the last day before the sale under R&T 3707 (Wednesday, April 22, 2026 for TC 223), and the terms note there is no extended right of redemption in California. Tax deeds to purchasers are recorded within 60 days of the close of the auction under R&T 3712. Parcels that draw no bid by 9:00 AM PT on the second day may be reduced to a lower minimum bid; the county published separate lists of parcels offered at $100 and at $500. All properties sell AS IS under R&T 3692.3, and some liens, bonds, or assessments levied by other agencies can survive the sale. California Documentary Transfer Tax of $0.55 per $500 applies above $100 of consideration, with an additional $0.55 per $500 inside the City of Riverside. Excess proceeds claims run under R&T 4675 and 4676. The county also runs a separate sealed-bid tax auction and, for unpaid personal property taxes, unsecured seizure-and-sale auctions under R&T 2951-2963 held on site or online. Caution on links: the vanity URL the county prints in its Terms of Sale (www.Bid4Assets.com/Riverside) currently returns a not-found page, and the TC 223 storefront (bid4assets.com/storefront/RiversideCountyApr26) is now inactive because the sale closed. The working county storefront entry point is https://www.bid4assets.com/riversidecounty, which loads as "Riverside County, CA Tax Defaulted Properties Auction" and identifies the seller as County of Riverside, California, Treasurer-Tax Collector. Bid4Assets' own tax sale calendar lists "Riverside County, CA Tax Defaulted Properties Auction, April 23rd - 28th," matching the county's TC 223 dates exactly.
Register on Bid4AssetsCounty offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Riverside County Treasurer-Tax Collector
Riverside County Treasurer, P.O. Box 12005, Riverside, CA 92502-2205 (public counter at the County Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon Street, 4th Floor, Riverside, CA 92501)
Official websiteNotes for Riverside County
- Office head is Matthew Jennings, Treasurer-Tax Collector of Riverside County, named on the TC 223 Terms of Sale and the excess proceeds notice.
- Fax is (951) 955-3923 and email is [email protected] per the county Contact Us page.
- The street address 4080 Lemon Street, 4th Floor, Riverside, CA 92501 comes from the TC 223 Terms of Sale, which directs in-person cash redemption remittances to that location; the county Contact Us page lists only the P.O. Box mailing address.
- Each sale gets its own county page (TC 223 lives at https://countytreasurer.org/tc-223) carrying the Terms of Sale, parcel list in PDF and XLSX, redemption list, PVID liens list, and the reduced-minimum-bid lists. Expect a TC 224 page for the next sale. Between sales the Tax Sale Information hub strips back to the standing description plus links to results and the power-to-sell inventory.
- Results archive at https://countytreasurer.org/tax-sale-results goes back to 2017 and is the cleanest way to confirm the recurring late-April timing.
- The current inventory PDF and XLSX are dated "as of July 1, 2025" and are posted under the 2025-10 file path, so the county refreshes the power-to-sell inventory annually rather than continuously.
- countytreasurer.org blocks plain HTTP clients with a 403; the pages were read through a real browser session.
California statewide rules
- Redemption
- Tax-defaulted property may be redeemed until the right of redemption is terminated (section 4101). That right terminates at the close of business on the last business day prior to the commencement date of the tax sale, and the start of the auction counts as the sale date no matter when bidding closes. A redemption payment sent by mail must be received in the tax collector's office before that deadline. California has no post-sale redemption period: once the auction opens, a record owner who has not redeemed loses all legal and equitable interest in the property. Two situations revive the right of redemption. The right revives if the property is not sold, and it revives on the next business day if the tax collector approved a credit sale and the buyer did not pay in full by the deadline the tax collector set.
- Deed deposit
- The tax collector may require a deposit and must give public notice before the sale of its amount, payment method, and due date, and of whether it is a condition of bidding or applies toward the purchase price. On a sale the tax collector approves as a deferred-payment transaction, the deposit may be $5,000 or 10 percent of the minimum bid price, whichever is greater. Counties set the specific figure, so confirm it on the county page or auction platform.
- Surplus proceeds
- Sale proceeds first cover statutory distributions, then taxes, assessments, and county costs. Anything left is excess proceeds held in the delinquent tax sale trust fund. A party of interest may file a claim at any time before one year after the tax collector's deed to the purchaser is recorded. Distribution runs first to lienholders of record before the tax deed was recorded, in order of their priority, then to persons with title of record. Excess proceeds not claimed within that year may be transferred to the county general fund.
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 Riverside County, California sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Riverside County follows California's tax deed state system.
How often does Riverside County hold tax deed sales?
- annual. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.
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 county office before you bid.
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