Estill County, KY tax sales
How tax lien sales work in Estill County, seat of Irvine: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Kentucky tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Tax sale scheduled for August 25, 2026.Tuesday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Register with the Estill County Clerk to take part.
- County office
- (606) 723-5156
On this page
How Estill County sells delinquent taxes
From lien to deed
Kentucky holds no county tax deed auction. Title moves only through a lawsuit. The owner of a certificate of delinquency may sue to collect the debt, to enforce the KRS 134.420 lien, or both, at any time after one year has passed from the date the taxes became delinquent, and the action must be brought within eleven years of that date. A third-party purchaser has extra duties first: a notice to the delinquent taxpayer within 50 days of receiving the certificate, that notice repeated every six months, and a further notice to the taxpayer and every mortgagee at least 45 days before filing suit.
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Estill County Clerk
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- Register with the Estill County Clerk to take part.
- Next expected
- between mid July and late August, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Register with the Estill County Clerk to take part. The clerk's registration form, a list of the priority certificates you are claiming, a list of the current year certificates you want to buy, and the registration fees are due no later than 15 days before the sale, and deposits are due no later than 5 days before. Deposits run 100 percent of the value of each priority certificate plus 25 percent of the value of the current year certificates on your list, and clerk recording and assignment fees are added at settlement. County registration applies even if you only want one or two certificates. Anyone planning to buy more than 3 certificates in one county, more than 5 statewide, or to invest more than $10,000 must also hold a Kentucky Department of Revenue certificate of registration. That application carries a $250 fee payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer, goes to the Office of Property Valuation, P.O. Box 1727, Frankfort, Kentucky 40602-1727, and does not let you buy until 60 days after the department receives it.
Sale format and venue
Estill County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Estill County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.
Get the advertised list
Use Certificates of Delinquency Offered for Sale for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Tax sale scheduled for August 25, 2026. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Estill County Clerk as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Estill County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Certificates of Delinquency Offered for Sale. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Register with the Estill County Clerk to take part. The clerk's registration form, a list of the priority certificates you are claiming, a list of the current year certificates you want to buy, and the registration fees are due no later than 15 days before the sale, and deposits are due no later than 5 days before. Deposits run 100 percent of the value of each priority certificate plus 25 percent of the value of the current year certificates on your list, and clerk recording and assignment fees are added at settlement. County registration applies even if you only want one or two certificates. Anyone planning to buy more than 3 certificates in one county, more than 5 statewide, or to invest more than $10,000 must also hold a Kentucky Department of Revenue certificate of registration. That application carries a $250 fee payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer, goes to the Office of Property Valuation, P.O. Box 1727, Frankfort, Kentucky 40602-1727, and does not let you buy until 60 days after the department receives it.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Kentucky due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.Set a walk-away number
Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
unsold certificates
A certificate that goes unpaid at the annual sale may be paid to the county clerk at any time afterward by any person, unless it is under a payment plan with the Department of Revenue or the county attorney or is known to be in litigation. You need a current Department of Revenue certificate of registration if you will hold more than three certificates in this county, more than five statewide, or invest more than 10,000 dollars statewide in the calendar year, and you register with the county clerk and pay the county fee if you have not already done so that year. Separately, 90 days after the sheriff files the tax claims, any person may pay a certificate the taxing jurisdictions still own. Certificates that arrive too late for one year's sale are held for the next one.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
County notes
- The Estill County Sheriff collects current year property taxes and turns the uncollected bills over to the County Clerk in April. From that point the Clerk holds, sells and assigns the certificates of delinquency, so the Clerk's office at 130 Main Street in Irvine is the only office that sells liens in this county.
- Estill County publishes its bill list through Kentucky's DTax listing service rather than on the Clerk's own pages, and the Clerk's site links to it under Delinquent Taxes. The listing carries a standing caution that the Clerk's office is the sole determinant of the actual dollar amount applicable to each bill at the time of sale, so confirm payoff figures with the office before you fund a deposit.
- The Estill list runs a few hundred bills and most of them are small, with many under $100. Fixed costs matter more than usual here: the clerk charges $5 per priority certificate and $10 per current year certificate at the sale, against a $250 annual registration ceiling, so a thin buy list carries a heavy per certificate overhead.
- Prior year certificate holders take their own properties first, before anyone else picks. A new buyer in Estill is choosing from what is left once those priority claims are allocated, so build a want list several times longer than the number of certificates you actually plan to acquire.
- The Clerk does not post the sale time, the room, or the county registration cutoff online. Call the Clerk at (606) 723-5156 for the advertised deadline and the meeting location, and watch the newspaper notice that must run at least 30 days before the sale. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the office fax is (606) 723-5108.
- Estill County has no unmined coal or oil and gas delinquent bills posted alongside its property list, so its sale sits in the ordinary late summer window rather than the September or October window Kentucky allows counties that carry those bill types.
Kentucky rules
- Redemption
- Kentucky's redemption window is a property of where the parcel is in the process, not a single statewide clock, and it runs in four tracks. Track one, and by far the most common, is an outstanding certificate of delinquency: the delinquent taxpayer or anyone holding a legal or equitable estate in the property may pay the third-party purchaser the total amount due at any time, and the purchaser may accept payment from anyone at any time. No statute closes that window, so it stays open until a court forecloses. Track two is a foreclosure sale that brought less than two thirds of the property's appraised value, where the defendant and the defendant's representatives may redeem within six months of the day of sale. Track three is a foreclosure sale that brought two thirds or more of the appraised value, where no right of redemption exists at all; the purchaser takes the property outright. Track four is land the state, county, and taxing districts acquired through a KRS 134.546 action, which the taxpayer may redeem at any time before the commissioner delivers a deed to a purchaser. A third-party purchaser must also offer a monthly installment plan on written request for certificates bought after June 1, 2012, if the purchaser is one who has to register with the department.
- Surplus proceeds
- If nobody bids at the foreclosure sale, the master commissioner deeds the property to the person or persons the record shows own the certificate or certificates of delinquency, each taking a pro rata interest matching the size of their certificate. Where the state, county, or a taxing district ends up owning the land, the commissioner's designated agent may advertise and sell it at public sale after posting notice at the courthouse door for fifteen days and publishing under KRS Chapter 424, the department keeps an administration fee of 15 percent of the sale price, and the balance is paid to the county and taxing districts within thirty days.
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 Estill County, Kentucky sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Estill County tax certificate sale?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Estill County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 23, 2026 against official county and state sources.
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.
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