Richland County, SC tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Richland County, seat of Columbia: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how South Carolina tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Annual, in the fall.
- Format
- In person
- County office
- 803-576-2250
On this page
How Richland County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Richland County Treasurer / Tax Collector (Richland County Treasurer's Office), with the Richland County Forfeited Land Commission bidding for the county on parcels that draw no bid
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Annual, in the fall.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Registration is online only, through the county's own Tax Sale Bidder Application at www7.richlandcountysc.gov/TaxSaleBidder. The Tax Sale page states that bidders "can only register online" and that there is "No in-person registration." For the November 3, 2025 sale the fee was $35.00 and every bidder had to be registered and paid by October 24 to be allowed to bid. Bidding itself happens in person: "Bids must be made in person," using the single numbered bidder card issued at registration, and only the bidder or an agent acting on their behalf may bid. Winning bids are payable in full on the day of the sale in cash, certified bank cashier's check, or bank wire. Failure to pay a bid draws a $500.00 fine per bid plus court costs under S.C. Code Section 12-51-70, forfeiture of all the bidder's bids, and a ban from future Richland County tax sales. Sealed bid registrants receive their bidder number by email instead of a mailed card, and a bidder number from the November sale carried over to the FLC sealed bid sale that followed.
Sale format and venue
Richland County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Richland 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 Delinquent tax sale listings (real estate, mobile home and land combined, mobile homes only) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
Annual, in the fall. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Richland County Treasurer / Tax Collector (Richland County Treasurer's Office), with the Richland County Forfeited Land Commission bidding for the county on parcels that draw no bid as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Richland County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Delinquent tax sale listings (real estate, mobile home and land combined, mobile homes only). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Registration is online only, through the county's own Tax Sale Bidder Application at www7.richlandcountysc.gov/TaxSaleBidder. The Tax Sale page states that bidders "can only register online" and that there is "No in-person registration." For the November 3, 2025 sale the fee was $35.00 and every bidder had to be registered and paid by October 24 to be allowed to bid. Bidding itself happens in person: "Bids must be made in person," using the single numbered bidder card issued at registration, and only the bidder or an agent acting on their behalf may bid. Winning bids are payable in full on the day of the sale in cash, certified bank cashier's check, or bank wire. Failure to pay a bid draws a $500.00 fine per bid plus court costs under S.C. Code Section 12-51-70, forfeiture of all the bidder's bids, and a ban from future Richland County tax sales. Sealed bid registrants receive their bidder number by email instead of a mailed card, and a bidder number from the November sale carried over to the FLC sealed bid sale that followed.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the South Carolina 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 properties
South Carolina has no over-the-counter certificate list. Parcels that draw no bid above the mandatory forfeited land commission bid are struck to that county commission, which is made up of the treasurer, the auditor, and the clerk of court or register of deeds. The commission may assign its bid at any time before the title deed is made, for no less than the taxes, penalties, and costs the property sold for. The chairman or a designee may accept sealed bids for assignments for a designated period, after which assignments go first come, first served, and each county keeps a list of available forfeited land commission properties. Several counties run that as a scheduled second sale rather than a standing counter: Charleston County puts the parcels left over from the annual tax sale into a sealed-bid silent auction about a month later and publishes the list only while that sale is open. Ask the delinquent tax office where the list lives and what the commission's current terms are.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- The Treasurer's Office lists "Manage the County's annual Tax Sale" among its duties. The 2025 sale notice is signed by Kendra L. Dove, Richland County Treasurer / Tax Collector, so the delinquent tax function sits under the Treasurer rather than in a separate office.
- Tax sale questions go to [email protected], listed as the Treasurer's "Tax Sale" email on the Delinquent Taxes and Forfeited Land pages. General Treasurer email is [email protected].
- Bidding is in person only. Registration is online only. Those are two separate rules and both are stated on the county Tax Sale page.
- Delinquent listings are published as three weekly-updated Excel files on the Tax Sale page: real estate, mobile home and land combined, and mobile homes only. The 2025 files were dated October 24, 2025.
- The Tax Sale page currently displays a single line saying the 2025 sale and sealed bid auction have ended. The full 2025 sale notice, bidding rules, registration terms, and listing links are still carried in the page source and are the most recent published procedure for this county.
- Forfeited Land Commission inventory is a separate, always-open channel: an XLSX listing, an instructions file, and an offer form on the Forfeited Land Available page. The listing file on that page was dated August 5, 2026.
- The county site blocks plain HTTP fetchers with a 403. Both richlandcountysc.gov and www7.richlandcountysc.gov load normally in a browser, so a 403 from an automated source check is a firewall response, not a dead link.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
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 Richland County, South Carolina sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Richland County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Richland County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 6, 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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