The short answer
Runs BEFORE the sale and ends on the day of the sheriff's sale. One, two, or three years from the county's September bid-off depending on the parcel, then a further right to redeem at the courthouse until the day of sale. Kansas has no redemption period after the sale.
How the clock works
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.
Who can redeem
Before the foreclosure petition is filed: any owner or holder of the record title, the owner's or holder's heirs, devisees, executors, administrators, or assigns, and any mortgagee or the mortgagee's assigns, paying the county treasurer. After the petition is filed and before the day of sale: the same class of persons, paying through the clerk of the district court and then the county treasurer. Nobody may redeem after the sheriff's sale.
What the owner pays to redeem
Before the petition is filed: the amount for which the real estate was bid off to the county plus accrued interest, all delinquent taxes and special assessments and the interest on them that accrued after the sale and remain unpaid at the date of redemption, and the costs and expenses of the sale and redemption, including abstracting costs incurred in anticipation of a tax sale. After the petition is filed: the same taxes, charges, interest, and penalties calculated by the county treasurer as of the redemption date, plus an equitable share of the costs and expenses of the proceedings and sale, being the amount the court orders or, if no order is made, 5 percent of the amount set out in the petition as the lien on that parcel plus any separately chargeable amounts.
How your interest accrues
Not applicable to investors. The delinquency interest under K.S.A. 79-2004, the K.S.A. 79-2968 rate plus five percentage points, is collected by the county treasurer for the county general fund. A buyer at a Kansas tax sale holds no certificate and earns no statutory interest. The return comes from the property itself. The one place an interest rate runs in a buyer's favor is K.S.A. 79-2804c: if the foreclosure sale is later adjudged invalid or void, the county refunds the purchase money plus subsequent taxes and charges the buyer paid, with interest at the K.S.A. 79-2004 rate, in exchange for a quitclaim deed, and that interest stops once the buyer has actual notice that the sheriff's deed was adjudged invalid.
How the sale works
Not applicable. Kansas runs no interest bid-down auction, so there is no zero percent bid and no minimum return floor. Parcels are sold at the sheriff's sale for the highest and best bid obtainable, subject to confirmation by the district court.
What happens when it ends
A parcel becomes eligible for judicial foreclosure when it was bid off to the county at the September delinquent tax sale and remains unredeemed at the end of the K.S.A. 79-2401a holding period for that parcel: three years for a homestead and for every parcel 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. On expiration the board of county commissioners orders the county attorney or county counselor to file a petition in the district court against the owners, supposed owners, and everyone claiming an interest. Filing is discretionary rather than mandatory in three situations: a mineral interest severed from the fee, an aggregate assessed valuation of the real estate subject to sale below $300,000, and an aggregate amount of delinquent taxes including special assessments below $10,000. Once the petition is filed the county treasurer may no longer accept ordinary tax payments on those parcels.
A redeemed certificate, plus your accrued interest, is what makes the wait profitable; see how redemption periods work across states. An unredeemed certificate is instead your path to the property through a tax deed sale, which still does not convey marketable title on its own, so budget for a quiet title action.
Verified Aug 23, 2026 against Kansas statutes.
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.