Warren County, IL tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Warren County, seat of Monmouth: 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 Warren County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Warren County Treasurer & Collector (the Warren County Treasurer serving as ex officio County Collector)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The Treasurer's published 2025 pay 2026 timeline sets the sale in January: "1/13/27 Annual tax sale of delinquent taxes at 12:30 p.m.", preceded by "1/6/27 Judgment day at 10:00 A.M.", "12/23/2026 Publication date", and "12/10/2026 Tax sale registration begins". A separate narrative line on the same page still reads "The Warren County Tax Sale is held on the 3rd Monday of October each year", which does not match the dated timeline, so confirm the operative date for the current cycle with the Treasurer's office before planning a trip.
Registration and deposit
Register through the Warren County Treasurer & Collector's office. The county's timeline shows "12/10/2026 Tax sale registration begins" for the 1/13/27 sale, roughly five weeks ahead. No online registration form or bidder packet is posted on the county site, so call 309-734-8536 for the registration form, deposit terms, and buyer number. Under R.A.M.S. 2 the vendor states that registration and tax sale list procedures are unchanged from the older in-room system, that on sale day each registered buyer brings a USB drive holding one file with their percentage bids for each parcel, that each parcel "will be awarded to the lowest bid" with a random draw among tied lowest bids, and that the county-assigned buyer number must appear in the bid filename. The vendor also quotes 35 ILCS 200/21-205: "All bidders are required to personally attend the sale".
The annual tax sale is conducted in person at the county level, not online. R.A.M.S. 2 collects percentage bids from registered buyers on USB drives at the sale and processes them in a few minutes, and the vendor cites 35 ILCS 200/21-205 requiring bidders to personally attend. Warren County posts no online bidding portal, and the delinquent list for the annual sale is advertised by newspaper publication (the timeline shows a 12/23/2026 publication date) rather than as a downloadable list, so request the sale list from the Treasurer's office. Redemption is handled elsewhere: "All redemptions made after the sale are made directly to the Warren County Clerk's office." Separately, unsold parcels move into the Warren County Trustee program, and the Treasurer's office runs an annual sealed-bid sale of trustee parcels (the timeline lists "7/17/26 Sealed bid auction"), with auction books sold at the Treasurer's office and catalogs and past results published on the trustee agent's Warren County page. Third-party auction-calendar and tax-lien-listing sites republish Warren County dates and locations; treat only the Treasurer's page and a phone call to the office as authoritative. R.A.M.S. 2 (Randomized Auction Management System) by Joseph E. Meyer & Associates. The Treasurer's own tax calendar labels the sale "1/13/27 Tax Sale: RAMS 2". R.A.M.S. 2 automates bid processing at the live sale; it is not an online auction site.
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. 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 Warren County
- County seat is Monmouth. The Treasurer & Collector is at the Warren County Courthouse, 100 W. Broadway, Monmouth, IL 61462, open Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, phone 309-734-8536, fax 309-734-0313. Danielle B. Cox is the Warren County Treasurer.
- Post-sale redemption goes to the Warren County Clerk & Recorder (Randi Reynolds), 100 West Broadway Ave, 2nd Floor, Monmouth, IL 61462, phone (309) 734-8592. The Clerk's own page carries no published redemption instructions, so call for a redemption estimate.
- Parcel-level tax and payment records are searchable at the Warren County Property Tax Inquiry site, https://warrenil.devnetwedge.com/, which supports parcel, name, address, sales, advanced, and mobile home searches. Current-tax payments run through the Catalis portal at pay-warrencountyil.com (2.48% plus $1.25 convenience fee).
- For the 2025 pay 2026 cycle the Treasurer lists first installment due 7/30/26 and second installment due 10/30/26, with 1.5% monthly interest from 8/30/26, a certified-letter step postmarked 11/24/2026 that adds a $10.00 fee and stops accepting personal checks, then registration opening 12/10/2026, publication 12/23/2026, judgment 1/6/27 at 10:00 A.M., and the annual sale 1/13/27 at 12:30 p.m.
- Mobile home taxes are billed and sold on their own track: mailed 4/27/26, due 7/15/26, with a $25.00 monthly delinquent fee capped at $100.00. The trustee's Warren County page shows past sealed-bid sales covering real estate and mobile homes.
- The trustee agent's Warren County page lists prior sealed-bid sales on 10/20/2023, 10/25/2024, 08/01/2025, and 07/17/2026, the last of which matches the Treasurer's own "7/17/26 Sealed bid auction" line, and offers a paid list of assignable tax lien certificates for the county.
- R.A.M.S. 2 was built as a pandemic-era replacement for the older R.A.M.S. system, in which "Purchasers attend the sale in person and bid via our networked computers". Both are in-person. Joseph E. Meyer & Associates operates them from 141 St. Andrews Ave, Edwardsville, IL 62025.
- Caution on platform naming: rams2.com resolves to an unrelated login page for a product called RAMS 2.0 operated by a company named UFP and is not the Illinois tax sale system. The Illinois system is documented at ramsauctions.com.
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 Warren County, Illinois sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Warren County follows Illinois's tax lien state system.
When is the Warren County tax certificate sale?
- The Treasurer's published 2025 pay 2026 timeline sets the sale in January: "1/13/27 Annual tax sale of delinquent taxes at 12:30 p.m.", preceded by "1/6/27 Judgment day at 10:00 A.M.", "12/23/2026 Publication date", and "12/10/2026 Tax sale registration begins". A separate narrative line on the same page still reads "The Warren County Tax Sale is held on the 3rd Monday of October each year", which does not match the dated timeline, so confirm the operative date for the current cycle with the Treasurer's office before planning a trip.. 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 Warren 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.
Explore all 102 Illinois counties
Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.