Pickens County, SC tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Pickens County runs Delinquent Tax as its own department, separate from the Treasurer. The Treasurer sits at 222 McDaniel Avenue, B-6, phone (864) 898-5883, and its page carries no tax sale information, so send sale questions to the Delinquent Tax Office at B-15.
• •The auction is live and in person at the Pickens County Performing Arts Center, 314 W. Main Street, Liberty, SC 29657, which is a different town from the county seat of Pickens. Doors open at 9:00 and bidding starts at 10:00 a.m.
• •Registration is not available on sale day. The original signed bidder registration form must reach the Delinquent Tax Office by 5:00 on the Monday before the sale.
• •The property list is advertised for three weeks before the sale in local newspapers and on the county website, and the office posts an unofficial updated list by 6:00 p.m. on the Friday before the auction. Expect parcels to drop off as owners pay.
• •Parcels that draw no bid go to the Forfeited Land Commission. The Delinquent Tax page links a separate FLC list of those properties.
• •The county page describes a one year redemption period, after which a redeeming owner's payment returns the bidder's money with interest. Rates and mechanics follow S.C. Code Title 12, Chapter 51.
• •Past sale results are posted as PDFs on the Delinquent Tax page, covering 2025 back through 2014, which is a useful read on typical bid levels and clearing rates.
• •The office states it accepts cash, money order, cashier's check and debit or credit card, and that personal and business checks are not accepted for real estate after July 31.

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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