Lake County, IL tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Lake County, IL tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Illinois sells tax lien certificates paying up to 9%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Oct 12, 2026.
How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Lake County, seat of Waukegan: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Illinois tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next tax deed sale
- Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction.
- Format
- In person
- County office
- 847-377-2323
On this page
How Lake County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Office of the Lake County Collector (the Lake County Treasurer serving as ex officio County Collector; Treasurer Holly Kim)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The Treasurer's Tax Sale Proceedings page states:.
- Registration
- Register with the Lake County Treasurer / County Collector before the sale.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Register with the Lake County Treasurer / County Collector before the sale. For the TY2025 sale the Proceedings page states "The first day to register is October 1, 2026 and registration ends October 23, 2026 by 5:00 pm CST," and the packet adds that no postmark date will be honored. The application form states "By Illinois State Statute, all tax buyers must register with the Lake County Treasurer's office 10 business days prior to the tax sale." Deposits must be certified funds: returning buyers who participated in a sale in the last three years post $500, applied toward the first purchase; first-time buyers must post a certified check for the full amount they plan to purchase, separate from any list fee. An extra $100 buys the delinquent tax sale list, which Joseph E Meyer & Associates then emails in the requested format; the packet says three updated lists go to buyers who pay between October 16 and November 13, 2026. All buyers and their appointed representatives must be 18 or older at registration, each buyer may designate at most two representatives, and each application must include a single-entity bidding verification. Mail the application to Lake County Collector, Attn: Tax Sale, 18 N. County Street, Room 102, Waukegan, IL 60085.
Sale format and venue
Tax 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.
When it 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.
Sale format and venue
Lake County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Lake 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. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.
Confirm the advertised parcel list
Use Delinquent real estate tax publication lists by township 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
Ask the Office of the Lake County Collector how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the Office of the Lake County Collector before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the Office of the Lake County Collector as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Lake County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
Open Delinquent real estate tax publication lists by township. 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.Confirm 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.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Illinois due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Illinois before you price the title work.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 liens and deeds
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. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Illinois calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
County notes
- The sale is a live in-person event at the County Administration Building in Waukegan, tenth floor, with sealed bids handed over on a USB flash drive under RAMS 2. There is no online bidding portal for this county.
- Joseph E Meyer & Associates is the auctioneer that emails registered buyers the biddable parcel file, uploads the flash drives, and emails winning-bid lists within 24 hours of the sale closing.
- Interest is bid down from a 9% maximum per six-month period to as low as 0%, and identical low bids are resolved by random electronic selection.
- Winning bidders pay $124 per parcel in fees plus a $20 Surplus Equity Fee on top of taxes, interest, and statutory costs.
- Certificates are picked up at the Treasurer's office in Room 102 within 15 business days of notice and are never mailed.
- Redemption is handled by the Lake County Clerk's office, not the Treasurer.
- The delinquent list is published by township in Tribune Publishing and Shaw Media Group papers, and the township PDFs are posted on the Treasurer's Publications page.
Illinois 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. Once 30 days have passed 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 Lake County, Illinois sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Lake County tax certificate sale?
How often does Lake County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Lake County tax sale list?
Verified Oct 12, 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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