Phillips County, KS tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Phillips County runs no standing tax deed auction and posts no sale calendar. Delinquent parcels are cleared through a judicial tax foreclosure filed in the district court, and a rural county of this size files one only when enough parcels accumulate.
• •Start with the Treasurer at 785-543-6895, 301 State St., Suite D in Phillipsburg. That office holds the delinquent tax roll and can tell you which parcels are far enough behind to be foreclosed.
• •The County Counselor files and prosecutes the foreclosure. Thomas H. Sullivan of Sullivan Estate Law serves in that role at 785-543-2914, 773 3rd St., Phillipsburg, and is the office to ask whether a tax foreclosure case is pending.
• •The Sheriff's Office at 785-543-6885, 301 State St., Suite G, conducts the auction under the court's order of sale. Ask there for the date, time and location once a case reaches judgment.
• •Redemption is paid to the Clerk of the District Court at 785-543-6830, 301 State St., Suite E, once the foreclosure is filed, and it closes on the day of the sale rather than after it.
• •There is no post-sale redemption in Kansas, but K.S.A. 79-2804b gives interested parties twelve months to move to open or vacate the judgment or sale. Treat that as title risk and budget for a quiet title action before most lenders or title insurers will treat the Sheriff's deed as clean.
• •Watch the local newspaper for the sale bill. The Phillips County Review, at 683 Third Street in Phillipsburg, 785-543-5242, is the county's hometown paper.
• •The parcel reaches this point because the Treasurer bid it off to the county at the September sale under K.S.A. 79-2302. That step is a bookkeeping entry with no investor participation and issues no certificate, so the sheriff's auction is the only way to buy in Phillips County.

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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