St. James County, LA tax sales
How tax lien sales work in St. James County, seat of Convent: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Louisiana tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Louisiana holds no tax deed sale and no parish publishes a tax deed calendar.
- Registration
- Register as a buyer with the Sheriff's Office before the auction starts.
- County office
- 225-562-2214
On this page
How St. James County sells delinquent taxes
From lien to deed
Louisiana holds no tax deed sale. A certificate holder who has not been paid files an ordinary proceeding under R.S. 47:2266.1 asking the court to recognize the delinquent obligation and the lien, and can do so only after the later of three years from recordation of the tax lien certificate or six months after sending the post-auction notices required by R.S. 47:2156. Those notices cannot go out more than one year before the suit, which makes years three through four the natural filing window. The petition names every owner shown in the conveyance records, and a notice of pendency of action goes into the mortgage records to preserve the lien while the case runs. Judgment is in rem only. It is executed by writ of fieri facias under Code of Civil Procedure Article 2291 and following, and the property is sold at a sheriff's judicial sale.
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- St. James Parish Sheriff's Office, Ex-Officio Tax Collector
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- One annual tax lien auction, held in June at the parish courthouse in Convent.
- Registration
- Register as a buyer with the Sheriff's Office before the auction starts.
- Next expected
- advertised for auction by May 1, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
- Sale list
- Property tax sale notices
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Register as a buyer with the Sheriff's Office before the auction starts. Bidders are told to arrive at the courthouse by 9:00 a.m. so registration is finished ahead of the 10:00 a.m. call. Ask the Civil Division at 225-562-2214 or [email protected] what identification and payment the office wants at registration.
Sale format and venue
St. James County tax sale list and auction calendar
For St. James 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 Property tax sale notices for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Louisiana holds no tax deed sale and no parish publishes a tax deed calendar. The auction platform is still being verified. Confirm the next sale date and registration window with the county before you bid.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Sheriff, executing a district court judgment obtained by the tax lien certificate holder as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in St. James County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Property tax sale notices. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Register as a buyer with the Sheriff's Office before the auction starts. Bidders are told to arrive at the courthouse by 9:00 a.m. so registration is finished ahead of the 10:00 a.m. call. Ask the Civil Division at 225-562-2214 or [email protected] what identification and payment the office wants at registration.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Louisiana 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 lien nobody bids on has its certificate recorded in favor of the political subdivision, which then earns the full 1 percent per month. Any person may buy that lien from the political subdivision on the terms and conditions it sets, taking the same rights as any other certificate holder, and a political subdivision may adopt an ordinance for the public sale of the liens it holds and may sell for less than the full amount owed. There is no statewide list and no statewide price. Ask the tax collector and the parish or municipal governing authority which certificates are held and what their ordinance requires.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
County notes
- The Sheriff of St. James Parish serves as ex officio tax collector and runs the annual tax lien auction against the assessment roll prepared by the parish assessor. Town taxes inside Lutcher and Gramercy are billed and collected by those town halls instead.
- Parish taxes are due by December 31 and go delinquent January 1, accruing 1 percent interest per month. Certified delinquent notices are mailed in April and the tax debtor advertisement runs in the News-Examiner in May, ahead of the June auction.
- Two counters handle tax business: the courthouse office at 5800 Highway 44 in Convent and the Vacherie sub-office at 2631 Highway 20, both open 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tax questions go to [email protected] or 225-562-2214.
- Amounts due on a specific parcel can be looked up before the auction on the St. James Parish online property tax payment and search site at snstaxpayments.com/stjames.
- Adjudicated parcels are a separate track handled by St. James Parish Government, which has listed them for online bidding on CivicSource under the St. James Parish Government authority. Confirm the current inventory, deposit and closing terms with the parish, since that path is distinct from the Sheriff's annual lien auction.
- Do not confuse the two courthouse calendars. The Sheriff's sales held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesdays in the first-floor lobby are judicial foreclosure and seizure sales filed by creditors, not tax sales. Only the June auction sells tax liens.
Louisiana rules
- 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.
- 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.
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 St. James County, Louisiana sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the St. James County tax certificate sale?
How often does St. James County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the St. James County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 25, 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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