New York tax sale statutes

The governing law

New York is a tax deed state under Article 11 of the Real Property Tax Law, the Uniform Delinquent Tax Enforcement Act. Outside New York City, the county, or a city or village that enforces its own taxes, holds the delinquent tax lien itself and forecloses it in rem in state supreme court or county court. The owner and anyone with an interest can redeem until the redemption period ends, two years after the lien date by default, or three or four years for residential or farm property where the tax district has adopted a local law. A parcel still unredeemed goes to judgment and the county takes title in fee simple absolute. Investors buy only after that, when the county resells the foreclosed parcel, usually at a public auction often run by a contractor such as Auctions International. Since 2024, RPTL 1195 to 1197 require the county to account for any surplus over the taxes and charges and pay it into court for the former owner and lienholders. New York City does not hold these auctions: it sells tax liens in bulk to a single authorized buyer. A few jurisdictions that kept their own charters, such as Nassau County, which sells tax liens at auction, and Suffolk County, which takes tax deeds under its own act, follow local procedures instead.