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Tax Sale Atlas

Vernon County, LA tax sales

How tax lien sales work in Vernon County, seat of Leesville: 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
No fixed annual calendar.
Format
County site
County office
337-238-1311
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 25, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Vernon 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)

Online auction
Run by
Vernon Parish Sheriff and Ex-Officio Tax Collector
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Once a year in late June, online.
Next expected
advertised for auction by May 1, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
Delinquent tax list and tax sale notice, Vernon Parish Sheriff, 2025 edition
When it runs
Once a year in late June, online. The Sheriff's published tax sale notice states that he will sell "AT CIVICSOURCE.COM, WITHIN THE LEGAL HOURS FOR JUDICIAL SALES BEGINNING AT 8:00" a.m. on the 24th day of June, "AND CONTINUING UNTIL SAID SALES ARE COMPLETED, TAX SALE TITLE TO ALL IMMOVABLE PROPERTY ON WHICH TAXES ARE NOW DUE TO THE VERNON PARISH SHERIFF." Bidding runs from that 8:00 a.m. start until every parcel has been offered.
Registration and deposit

Bidding is online through CivicSource, so open and fund a CivicSource account before sale day. CivicSource describes a Louisiana position as an interest bearing investment carrying a 5 percent penalty and a 12 percent annual return, 1 percent per month until paid, repayable within three years, and states that "the lowest percentage of ownership bid wins." Payment is due "within 24 hours of winning," online or by wire transfer, and all sales are final with no refunds. If the debt goes unpaid for three years and the buyer keeps the property taxes current during that time, the buyer receives ownership in the amount equal to the winning bid.

Sale format and venue
The Sheriff sells tax sale title, not the property itself, and what gets bid down is the share of the parcel. The published notice states that on sale day the Sheriff will sell "THE LEAST QUANTITY AS UNDIVIDED INTERESTS OF SAID PROPERTY OF ANY TAX DEBTOR WHICH ANY BIDDER WILL BUY FOR THE AMOUNT OF THE STATUTORY IMPOSITIONS FOR WHICH THE SALE IS MADE, TOGETHER WITH INTEREST, FEES AND COSTS DUE BY SAID TAX DEBTOR," so a winning bidder can end up holding a small undivided share of a parcel alongside the delinquent owner rather than the whole of it. The sale is "WITHOUT APPRAISEMENT, FOR CASH OR OTHER PAYMENT METHODS ACCEPTABLE TO THE TAX COLLECTOR, IN LEGAL TENDER MONEY OF THE UNITED STATES." Tax sale title stays redeemable at any time during the applicable redemptive period by paying the price given, including costs and a five percent penalty, "WITH INTEREST AT THE RATE OF ONE PERCENT (1%) PER MONTH UNTIL REDEEMED," so the return is a flat penalty plus a monthly accrual rather than a simple annual rate. Delinquent taxes also carry interest from January 1 of the year of delinquency at one percent per month until paid. The 2025 sale enforced taxes assessed in 2024, and individual amounts due ranged from a few hundred dollars into the thousands. Parcels are advertised by section, township and range with conveyance book and page references and acreage rather than by street address, so anyone bidding on rural acreage should pull the referenced conveyance records and locate the tract on the ground before the sale.
Register on Online auction

Vernon County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Vernon 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Adjudicated property listings on CivicSource, Louisiana for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.
  2. Register to bid

    Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.
  3. Sale day

    No fixed annual calendar. Bidding runs on County site; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.
  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Vernon Parish Police Jury as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Vernon County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Adjudicated property listings on CivicSource, Louisiana. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.
  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Each adjudicated parcel is listed with a starting bid built from the parish's projected sale costs, itemized on the listing and covering items such as a 30 year title abstract, attorney title examination, interested party research, notice and advertising, closing documentation and owner's title insurance. A bidder places an $850 deposit to start the auction, after which research and noticing are performed and the actual costs set the final starting bid. The bidding format is high dollar wins.

  3. 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.
  4. 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

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

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Vernon Parish Sheriff and Ex-Officio Tax Collector

337-238-1311

1203 South Fourth Street, Leesville, LA 71446. Mailing address P.O. Box 649, Leesville, LA 71496

County notes

  • The Sheriff's Office set the 2026 tax sale for June 24 and reported more than 300 parcels in the parish carrying delinquent taxes going into it. The office directs property tax questions to the parish tax office at 337-238-7221.
  • Vernon Parish legal advertising, including the annual delinquent tax list and sale notice, runs in the DeRidder News Leader under its Vernon Parish legals listing and is posted on the statewide Louisiana Public Notices site. That is where to find the current year's list, since the Sheriff's Office does not maintain a standalone tax sale page.
  • Bid4Assets hosts the Vernon Parish Sheriff's real property foreclosure auctions, which are mortgage and judgment sales identified by court docket number and scheduled on their own dates. Those are not the annual tax sale. The tax sale runs on CivicSource.
  • The parish holds adjudicated property, meaning parcels that drew no bid at a past tax sale and passed to the parish. The Vernon Parish Police Jury lists them for sale on CivicSource, and the City of Leesville lists its own adjudicated parcels there as well.
  • The Vernon Parish Police Jury office is at 300 S. 3rd Street, Leesville, mailing P.O. Box 1548, Leesville, LA 71496, phone 337-238-0324.
  • Assessments and property search are handled by the Vernon Parish Assessor at 301 E. Courthouse St., Leesville, phone 337-239-2167, open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Sheriff handles collection and the tax sale.

Louisiana rules

Max interest rate
12% per year, bid down in 1.2% steps to an 8.4% floor
Minimum return
5% floor at redemption
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.
Governing statute
La. Const. art. VII, sec. 25

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.

See the full Louisianarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Vernon County, Louisiana sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax lien certificates. In Louisiana investors buy the lien, not the property; the The parish sheriff runs the sale.

When is the Vernon County tax certificate sale?

Once a year in late June, online. The Sheriff's published tax sale notice states that he will sell "AT CIVICSOURCE.COM, WITHIN THE LEGAL HOURS FOR JUDICIAL SALES BEGINNING AT 8:00" a.m. on the 24th day of June, "AND CONTINUING UNTIL SAID SALES ARE COMPLETED, TAX SALE TITLE TO ALL IMMOVABLE PROPERTY ON WHICH TAXES ARE NOW DUE TO THE VERNON PARISH SHERIFF." Bidding runs from that 8:00 a.m. start until every parcel has been offered. Registration and bidding happen on the county's online platform. Always confirm the exact date with the The parish sheriff before the sale.

How often does Vernon County hold tax deed sales?

Vernon County holds its tax deed sale once a year. No fixed annual calendar. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Louisiana's redemption rule: No fixed window. The lien can be extinguished until 30 days after the last party is served in the enforcement suit, and the holder cannot file that suit until 3 years after the tax lien certificate is recorded. Call the Vernon Parish Police Jury as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Vernon County tax sale list?

Vernon County posts its tax sale list at civicsource.com. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

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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