Idaho tax sale statutes

The governing law

Idaho is a tax deed state, and the county takes the property before any investor sees it. There is no tax lien certificate: a delinquency has the force of a sale to the county tax collector as grantee in trust for the county. Three years after the delinquency, if it is still unpaid, the tax collector must issue a tax deed to the county itself. What an investor bids on is the county reselling that land, and state law makes the sale mandatory rather than optional. The board of county commissioners must hold a public auction within fourteen months of the tax deed, advertise it in a newspaper at least ten days beforehand, and sell to the highest bidder over a minimum bid set to cover the taxes, interest and costs. The buyer takes no redemption risk: the former owner's right to redeem ends the moment the commissioners enter into a contract of sale. Anything the sale raises above the taxes and costs is apportioned to the parties in interest rather than kept by the county.