Hardin County, IL tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Hardin County, seat of Elizabethtown: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Illinois tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Hardin County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Hardin County Treasurer's Office, with Treasurer LeAnn Davis serving as ex officio Hardin County Collector
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The Hardin County Collector's annual tax sale date is not published online, and the county has no working government website, so the date has to be confirmed by phone with the Treasurer's office. Under Illinois law it moves each year because it follows the second installment due date and the circuit court's judgment and order of sale. The county tax agent's separate Hardin County auction of trustee property and assignable certificates does run on a published calendar, in late October or early November. ILTaxSale.com lists prior Hardin sales on 10/27/2023, 11/01/2024 and 11/07/2025, and shows the next one as "11/06/2026", with the note that the "Catalog will be available approximately 30 days prior to the auction."
Registration and deposit
There are two separate routes and they register differently. For the county tax agent's Hardin County auction, bidding is by sealed bid. The catalog sets a minimum bid on each item, "Your bid must be equal to or greater than the minimum bid", you get one chance to bid, you do not appear in person, and "Bids received after the deadline will not be accepted." Payment in full by certified funds or personal check must accompany the bid. Bid forms and the mailing address come from the front page of the county catalog; catalogs cost $5 to $25, download from the county page, and print copies are usually available at the Treasurer's office. Recent Hardin catalogs link to ILTaxSaleBids, where you create an account to buy catalogs, place bids and track them. For the County Collector's annual tax sale, register with the Hardin County Treasurer's office before the sale and ask for the deposit amount, the registration deadline and the bidding format, because no platform is confirmed for that sale.
Hardin County is a county of roughly 4,100 people and publishes very little online, so plan on confirming the annual tax sale by phone at (618) 287-2207. The sale activity that is published runs through the County Tax Agent, Joseph E. Meyer & Associates, whose Hardin page carries the auction calendar, catalogs, results and a "List of Assignable Certificates" priced at $25. That page is headed as a tax deed auction of county trustee property, so it is not the collector's annual certificate sale; treat the two as separate. The 11/07/2025 results sheet names the preparer as "County Tax Agent, PO Box 96, 141 St Andrews Ave, Edwardsville, IL 62025, (618) 656-5744" and states that "All requests to purchase property require county approval." Parcels that go unsold stay in county inventory for a later auction, and in some counties can be bought for a short window after the sale. Hardin does not appear on the R.A.M.S. Auctions client county list, so the collector's annual sale is not run on that system. Two lookalike domains can mislead: hardincountyil.org is a privately owned information site that states it is not owned or operated by any government agency, and hardincountyil.gov, the domain behind the Treasurer's email address, currently resolves to a parked page rather than a county website.
Register on Online auctionTax deed sale
- Run by
- Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions.
- Frequency
- as ordered by the circuit court
- Typical timing
- Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. Public Act 104-0553 created this route for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026, so the earliest Illinois judicial tax deed auctions fall in 2027, after the 1 year short redemption track runs.
Registration and deposit
Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.
Bidding opens at the tax deed judgment amount plus 0.75 percent per month since judgment, plus publication and selling officer costs. The petitioning certificate holder is entered as a credit bidder at that minimum. Surplus above the minimum goes to the county treasurer for the former owner to claim.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
Certificates nobody bids on at the annual sale are forfeited to the county as trustee for the taxing districts. The county may then assign a forfeited certificate to any party or sell property it has acquired, which many counties handle through a delinquent tax agent rather than a public counter. Counties may also offer county-held certificates at a scavenger sale with a minimum bid of $250, or half the tax when total liability is under $500. Ask the county collector and the county clerk which program the county runs and who may buy.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Hardin County
- Hardin County has no working government website. The Treasurer's public page is hosted by the Illinois County Treasurers Association, and the county website field on that page is blank.
- Treasurer LeAnn Davis was elected in 2022 and the tax deputy is Paige Hubbs. Office hours for property taxes are Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:00, the office fax is (618) 287-7833, and the email listed is [email protected].
- Mail reaches the Treasurer at PO Box 38, Elizabethtown, IL 62931. The physical courthouse address shown for county auctions is Hardin County Courthouse, 102 E. Market Street, Elizabethtown, IL 62931.
- The Hardin auctions published by the county tax agent are sealed bid only, covering real estate, mobile homes and mineral rights parcels. The 11/06/2026 listing shows a minimum bid of $830.00.
Illinois statewide rules
- Redemption
- Property sold at an Illinois tax sale may be redeemed at any time before the redemption period expires. Public Act 104-0553 set the standard period at 3 years from the date of sale for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026. Certificates issued between January 1, 2024 and July 9, 2026 run on the earlier 2.5 year (30 month) track, and on that track the certificate holder could file a written notice with the county clerk extending redemption to a date no later than 3 years from the sale. A short 1 year period applies when the parcel was, on the date of sale, vacant non-farm property, commercial or industrial property, or improved with a structure holding 7 or more residential units. Certificates the county holds or assigns as trustee run on their own schedule under Section 21-385, and an assignee must file notice within 60 days of assignment setting a redemption deadline no later than 3 years from the assignment.
- Deed deposit
- Illinois does not fix a statutory deposit percentage. Deposit and payment terms are set in the court's order authorizing the auction and by the selling officer, so read the notice of tax deed auction for each sale. A purchaser who fails to complete the sale forfeits any deposit already made to the county surplus equity fund, and the court orders a new auction of the property.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any amount by which the winning bid exceeds the minimum bid is surplus. Within 30 days after the court confirms the sale the selling officer deposits the surplus with the county treasurer, who notifies everyone who received the Section 22-10 take notice that the owner at the time of the sale may file a claim for it. A county running its own tax deed auction deposits surplus with the treasurer within 30 days of the sale and notifies interested parties within 60 days. Separately, a previous owner who lost equity through a tax deed can claim an award from the county surplus equity fund, capped at the value of the property when the deed issued less mortgages, liens, and the taxes the purchaser paid.
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 Hardin County, Illinois sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Hardin County follows Illinois's tax lien state system.
When is the Hardin County tax certificate sale?
- The Hardin County Collector's annual tax sale date is not published online, and the county has no working government website, so the date has to be confirmed by phone with the Treasurer's office. Under Illinois law it moves each year because it follows the second installment due date and the circuit court's judgment and order of sale. The county tax agent's separate Hardin County auction of trustee property and assignable certificates does run on a published calendar, in late October or early November. ILTaxSale.com lists prior Hardin sales on 10/27/2023, 11/01/2024 and 11/07/2025, and shows the next one as "11/06/2026", with the note that the "Catalog will be available approximately 30 days prior to the auction.". Registration and bidding happen on the county's online platform. Always confirm the exact date with the Tax Collector before the sale.
How often does Hardin County hold tax deed sales?
- as ordered by the circuit court. 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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