Iowa tax lien & tax deed sales

A parcel may be redeemed at any time before the right of redemption expires. After one year and nine months from the date of sale, the certificate holder may serve a notice of expiration of the right of redemption on the person in possession, the person in whose name the parcel is taxed, and every mortgagee, contract vendor, recorded lessor, and other party of record. The right of redemption then ends 90 days after that service is complete, which means the affidavit of service has been filed with the county treasurer. Three shortened tracks exist: nine months from a public bidder sale under section 446.18, and three months from an abandoned-property or public nuisance sale under section 446.19A or 446.19B. After the treasurer delivers the deed, redemption is possible only through an equitable action in district court, and only by a person who could have redeemed during the 90-day window.Iowa Code 447.9 - Notice of expiration of right of redemption, county right of redemptionIowa Code 447.9Verified Jul 29, 2026

Pays: The amount the parcel sold for including the certificate of purchase fee, plus 2 percent per month from the month of sale counting each fraction of a month as an entire month, plus every subsequent-year tax payment the holder made with the same 2 percent per month from the month of that payment. The interest is rounded to the nearest whole dollar and is never less than one dollar. The cost of serving the notice, certified mail, any publication, and a record search are added to the redemption amount; when the certificate holder is not a county, the record search must be done by an Iowa title guaranty participant or an Iowa-licensed attorney and the search cost added cannot exceed 300 dollars. The assignment transaction fee is never added to the redemption amount.

Iowa property taxes are payable in halves. The first half is due before September 1 following the levy and becomes delinquent from October 1; the second half is due before March 1 and becomes delinquent from April 1. Delinquent installments draw interest of 1.5 percent per month, counting each fraction of a month as an entire month, with the amount computed to the nearest whole dollar and never less than one dollar. Taxes are a lien on the parcel against all persons except the state, which is what makes an Iowa certificate senior collateral. Parcels still delinquent go to the annual June tax sale.Iowa Code 445.37 - When delinquentIowa Code 445.37Verified Jul 29, 2026

Iowa has no over-the-counter list in the Florida sense, but two routes reach parcels after the June sale. First, when parcels remain unsold for want of bidders the treasurer adjourns the sale to a date not more than two months out, gives notice at the time of adjournment, and repeats at intervals of not more than two months until the next annual sale, so an investor can buy at an adjourned sale. Second, parcels that draw no bid at the public bidder sale are struck to the county, and the county may assign a certificate it holds for the total amount due on the date of assignment, or compromise that amount and assign, by written agreement filed with the treasurer. The assignment transaction fee on a county-held certificate is 10 dollars; an ordinary investor-to-investor assignment carries a 100 dollar fee, or 10 dollars if the assignor is an estate. A certificate cannot be assigned to a person entitled to redeem that parcel, other than a municipality.Iowa Code 446.31 - Assignment, presumption from deed recitalsIowa Code 446.31Verified Jul 29, 2026

Iowa keeps no Lands Available for Taxes list. A certificate held by a county is not subject to the three-year cancellation in section 446.37, so a county can hold it indefinitely. Once the county assigns it, the three-year cancellation clock restarts from the date the treasurer records the assignment, or one year for a public nuisance certificate issued under section 446.19B.