Fairfield County, SC tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Fairfield County sells redeemable tax deeds at a live, in person auction. The Notice to Bidders describes a physical tax sale room with a bidder capacity and bidder check-in immediately before the sale, and names no online bidding platform.
• •Bidder registration runs October 19 through October 28, 2026 at the Tax Collector's office, costs $20.00 per bidder and is nonrefundable, and requires a Bidder Registration Form, an IRS Form W-9, and a valid driver's license or a copy of a government issued photo ID. Registration closes early if the room fills.
• •An opening bid is entered on behalf of the Forfeited Land Commission equal to all delinquent taxes, penalties, costs, and the current year's taxes, so that amount is the floor price on every parcel.
• •Winning bids must be paid by cash, cashier's check, certified check, or money order by the end of the sale date or by noon the day after the sale. Failure to remit on time brings a $300.00 charge for each bid.
• •Redemption runs twelve months from the sale date. Interest paid to the bidder is 3 percent of the bid in months one through three, 6 percent in months four through six, 9 percent in months seven through nine, and 12 percent in months ten through twelve, and it cannot exceed the Forfeited Land Commission opening bid under S.C. Code Ann. 12-51-55. A bidder may not redeem a property on which that bidder placed the bid.
• •Keep every bidder receipt. Fairfield County requires the original receipt back at the Delinquent Tax Office before a redemption refund is issued, and charges $20.00 to reprint a lost receipt.
• •Buying land with a mobile home on it does not include the mobile home, which is taxed separately. On a life estate bid you buy only the defaulting taxpayer's life estate interest, which ends at that person's death.
• •The county states that its tax deeds are quit claim deeds that do not guarantee clear title and encourages grantees to have an Action to Quiet Title performed.
• •Parcels that draw no bid are struck to the Fairfield County Forfeited Land Commission, whose members are the County Auditor, the Register of Deeds, and the County Treasurer. The commission sells those parcels on its own schedule and reached investors through an online auction run by Terry Howe and Associates, Inc. from July 3 to July 15, 2026. Watch that channel alongside the November sale.
• •Current-year property tax payment runs through the Treasurer's Office at 803-712-6517; delinquent accounts and the tax sale run through the Delinquent Tax Collector at 803-712-6522.

South Carolina rules

Redemption

The redemption clock runs twelve months from the date of the sale. Neither more than forty-five days nor less than twenty days before it ends, the delinquent tax officer must mail a notice by certified mail, return receipt requested and restricted delivery, to the defaulting taxpayer and to any grantee, mortgagee, or lessee of record, stating the amount needed to redeem and the date the tax title passes. Certified mail returned undelivered is not grounds to withhold the tax title. If nobody redeems, the officer makes a tax title to the purchaser within thirty days or as soon after that as possible. Personal property sold at a delinquent tax sale has no redemption period at all. A mobile or manufactured home runs on the same twelve-month clock, but it must not be moved from its location during that year without notice to the purchaser and the delinquent tax collector, and the redeeming owner or lienholder also owes the purchaser rent of up to one twelfth of the last completed tax year's taxes for each month between sale and redemption, with a ten dollar monthly minimum. If the official in charge discovers before the tax title passes that a required step was not properly performed, the official may void the sale and refund the bidder the amount paid plus the interest the county actually earned on it.S.C. Code Ann. 12-51-90, the twelve-month redemption right and the quarterly interest scheduleS.C. Code Ann. 12-51-90Verified Aug 6, 2026

Deed deposit

South Carolina fixes no percentage deposit. The successful bidder pays the full amount of the bid on the day of the sale in legal tender, meaning cash, a cashier's check, a certified check, or a money order. If a defaulting taxpayer has more than one item advertised, the officer stops selling once enough has been raised to cover the delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties, and costs.S.C. Code Ann. 12-51-50, public auction of the advertised property and accepted tenderS.C. Code Ann. 12-51-50Verified Aug 6, 2026

Surplus proceeds

If the sale produces more cash than the taxes, assessments, penalties, and costs, the overage first pays any outstanding municipal tax liens on the property. What remains belongs to the owner of record immediately before the end of the redemption period, to be claimed or assigned according to law. Those sums are payable ninety days after execution of the deed unless another claimant files a judicial action inside that window, and they escheat to the general fund of the governing body if neither claimed nor assigned within five years of the sale. Once a tax deed has been issued, Section 12-51-60 requires the delinquent tax collector to notify the defaulting taxpayer and that owner of record in writing that an excess is due, mailed the same certified way the officer took possession, and the cost of that notice counts as a cost of the sale.S.C. Code Ann. 12-51-130, delivery of the tax title, purchaser-paid costs, and the overage rulesS.C. Code Ann. 12-51-130Verified Aug 6, 2026

Governing statute

S.C. Code Ann. Title 12, Chapter 51South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 12, Chapter 51 (Alternate Procedure for Collection of Property Taxes)S.C. Code Ann. Title 12, Chapter 51Verified Aug 6, 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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