Allen County, KS tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Treasurer's Delinquent Real Estate notice is not an investor auction. Published under K.S.A. 79-2303 for a first Tuesday in September date, it records the sale of that year's delinquent real estate to the county itself and says so in capitals. The document to watch is the separate Allen County Tax Sale property list.
• •Most of the money arrives before the gavel. The County Counselor reported the county collected roughly $580,000 from owners paying off ahead of the June 2026 auction and another $341,000 at the auction itself, so expect the published list to shrink before sale day.
• •The June 2026 list carried 72 tracts, numbered up to 105 with gaps where parcels had already been paid out of the sale. 42 of the 72 were in Iola, with the rest in La Harpe, Moran, Humboldt, Mildred, Kincaid, Savonburg, Gas, Carlyle and one Chanute address, so this is a small-town and rural-lot sale rather than an acreage sale.
• •The case takes about 18 months. The County Counselor described the 2026 foreclosure as a process that began roughly a year and a half before the auction, moving through title work, the petition, a commission resolution and service of summons before any parcel was offered.
• •Redemption in Kansas runs before the sale, not after it. Owners clear a tract by paying the Treasurer, and at the June 2026 sale one owner redeemed two Moran properties that way while his other parcels sold.
• •Neither the Treasurer's page nor the Sheriff's Office site carries a standing sale calendar, and the county publishes no over-the-counter list of unsold parcels. Watch the county's Current Publications page and the Iola Register for the sale bill, and call the Treasurer at 620-365-1409 for the next date.
• •The county's legal work sits with two offices. County Counselor Robert Johnson II prosecutes the tax foreclosure, while County Attorney Brandon Cameron at 620-365-1420 handles criminal matters, so direct tax sale questions to the Counselor or the Treasurer.

Kansas rules

Redemption

Kansas redemption has two stages, and both close before the auction. Stage one is K.S.A. 79-2401a: once the treasurer bids the parcel off to the county in September, the county holds it for three years for a homestead under section 9 of article 15 of the Kansas Constitution and for all real estate not described in K.S.A. 79-2401a(a), two years where the parcel was bid off for both delinquent taxes and special assessments, and one year for an abandoned building or structure and the land accommodating it, meaning one that has been unoccupied for at least a year with a failure to perform reasonable maintenance. During that window the owner pays the county treasurer directly. On the three-year track a PARTIAL redemption is allowed: paying the taxes for one or more years, starting with the earliest year the parcel was carried on the tax-sale book, plus interest at the K.S.A. 79-2004 rate, pushes back the date a foreclosure sale may be commenced by the number of years paid. The Johnson County paragraph applies the same partial payment to the most recent year instead of the earliest, and it does not carry the extension sentence. Stage two is K.S.A. 79-2803: after the petition is filed the treasurer may no longer take ordinary payments, but the owner or holder of record title, their heirs, devisees, executors, administrators, assigns, or any mortgagee or mortgagee's assigns may still redeem at any time BEFORE THE DAY OF SALE by filing an application to redeem with the clerk of the district court and paying the clerk a share of the costs, being whatever the court orders or, absent an order, 5 percent of the lien amount stated in the petition for that parcel plus any charges chargeable separately against it. The treasurer then computes the full taxes, charges, interest, and penalties, issues a redemption certificate in triplicate, and the sheriff strikes the parcel from the order of sale. Once the sale happens the right is gone. Kansas gives no post-sale redemption period and no right to buy the property back after the sheriff's deed. What exists after the sale is a twelve-month window under K.S.A. 79-2804b to open, vacate, modify, or set aside the judgment, the order of sale, or the sale. That is a title challenge, not redemption: it is available to parties attacking the proceedings, it requires grounds, and it does not let a former owner simply pay the taxes and take the parcel back.K.S.A. 79-2401a - Redemption of real estate bid off by county; period of redemptionK.S.A. 79-2401aVerified Aug 23, 2026

Deed deposit

Kansas fixes no statewide deposit percentage and no statutory bidder registration. K.S.A. 79-2804 is silent on deposits, so the terms are whatever the sheriff publishes for that sale. The statute does require one payment at the auction itself: the register of deeds filing fee for the sheriff's deed is collected from the successful bidder at the time of sale and deposited with the register of deeds at recording. Confirm the county's accepted funds, any registration step, and the payment deadline before bidding, and expect certified funds.K.S.A. 79-2804 - Order of sale; publication notice; sheriff's sale; deed, execution and recordationK.S.A. 79-2804Verified Aug 23, 2026

Surplus proceeds

If a parcel sells for more than the judgment lien for taxes, interest, penalty, and charges plus its share of the costs, charges, and expenses of the proceedings and sale, the court orders the excess paid, upon due proof, to the owner or the party entitled to it. The court apportions costs across the parcels sold as soon as practicable after the sale, deducts the total costs from the gross proceeds, and equitably apportions the balance to each parcel that sold for more than its share. The clerk pays that balance to the county treasurer, who prorates it among the state, city, township, school district, and other taxing units in proportion to their interest in the lien, and cancels the taxes charged against the parcel. Tax liens on every parcel sold or redeemed in the action are satisfied and discharged of record.K.S.A. 79-2803 - Judgment; redemption before day of sale; apportionment of costs and surplusK.S.A. 79-2803Verified Aug 23, 2026

Governing statute

K.S.A. Chapter 79, Article 28 (79-2801 et seq.)K.S.A. 79-2801 - Action to enforce lien for unredeemed real estate bid in by countyK.S.A. 79-2801Verified Aug 23, 2026

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.

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