St. Charles County, LA tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Sheriff and Ex-Officio Tax Collector runs the tax sale here, as in most Louisiana parishes. There is no separate parish treasurer collecting property tax.
• •The Sheriff advertises the delinquent tax and statutory imposition list in the parish legal journal, the St. Charles Herald-Guide, in the weeks before the June auction, and the same notice warns mortgage creditors to protect their rights before the sale.
• •The 2026 auction is the first in St. Charles Parish written as a lien sale. The 2025 notice offered the immovable property itself for the taxes due; the 2026 notice offers the tax lien and promises a recorded tax lien certificate to the winning bidder.
• •Property owners have three years to redeem from the date the sale is filed with the Clerk of Court, per the Sheriff's Office.
• •The Sheriff's Office site carries the standing tax sale rules but not the current year's date or parcel list, so the legal notices in the parish journal are the announcement to watch. Call Tax Collection and Licenses at (985) 783-0215 to confirm the date for a given year.
• •Tax notices and payment history for individual parcels can be searched through the parish's online property tax portal, which is useful for pre-bid diligence but does not list the parcels going to auction.

Louisiana rules

Max interest rate

12% per year, bid down in 1.2% steps to an 8.4% floorLouisiana Revised Statutes 47:2154 - Tax lien auctions; time of auction; priceLa. R.S. 47:2154Verified Aug 24, 2026

Minimum return

5% floor at redemptionLouisiana Revised Statutes 47:2127 - Time for payment; interest and penalty; notificationLa. R.S. 47:2127Verified Aug 24, 2026

Redemption

Louisiana replaced redemption with extinguishment of the lien, and the shape is different from a redemption clock. There is no date on which the owner's right lapses by itself. Any person may pay the termination price to the tax collector at any time. The holder cannot even start the enforcement suit until the later of three years from recordation of the certificate or six months after the R.S. 47:2156 notices went out, and once suit is filed the right to pay survives until the close of business on the thirtieth day after the last party was served. After that the tax collector stops accepting payment, and the lien can be extinguished only by the holder's own act or by court order: a party holding an interest may still file a contradictory motion before the judicial sale and ask the court to set the termination price, which the court fixes within 30 days and which must then be paid within 30 days more. The pressure on the holder comes from the other end. R.S. 47:2155(C) makes the right to sue peremptive at seven years from recordation, suspended while a political subdivision holds the certificate or a recorded bankruptcy stay is pending, after which the lien is extinguished and the inscription cancelled. Redemption periods that the constitution used to provide remain peremptive under R.S. 47:2241, but the amended constitution no longer provides any.Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2266.1 - Procedure to recognize amounts due under tax lien certificateLa. R.S. 47:2266.1Verified Aug 24, 2026

Surplus proceeds

R.S. 47:2267(B)(1) ranks the proceeds. The sheriff deducts the costs of the sale and any commission, then pays the plaintiff certificate holder the judgment plus judicial interest through the date of sale and reasonable costs and attorney fees, then any other tax lien certificate holders whose rights have not perempted, then holders of recorded mortgages, liens and privileges, and finally each owner according to their interest. The certificate holder is paid immediately even if the remaining parties are still arguing, and a dispute over the surplus cannot delay the sheriff's deed. Proceeds that cannot be delivered go into the registry of the court, and surplus left unclaimed for one year falls under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act of 1997, R.S. 9:151 and following. The constitution now requires this: La. Const. art. VII, sec. 25(A)(1)(d) makes a procedure for claiming excess proceeds a minimum feature of the scheme.Louisiana Revised Statutes 47:2267 - Procedure to enforce tax lien; proceeds of judicial saleLa. R.S. 47:2267Verified Aug 24, 2026

Governing statute

La. Const. art. VII, sec. 25Louisiana Constitution article VII, section 25 - Tax Administration (as amended by Acts 2024, No. 409, effective January 1, 2026)La. Const. art. VII, sec. 25Verified Aug 24, 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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