Tax Lien Sale

When you purchase a tax lien, you pay the unpaid taxes on a property. This purchase does not give you ownership of the property or any legal rights to it. Most people take part in the sale because the interest rates are higher than those offered by savings accounts or CDs. Fewer than 1% of tax liens result in a deed. If you want to acquire property, contact the Public Trustee about foreclosure sales.

Buying a tax lien does not give you ownership, possession, use, improvement rights, or access to the property. Instead, you receive a Tax Lien Sale Certificate of Purchase, which is a recorded lien that earns interest.

Approximately two weeks after the sale, you will receive a copy of your Certificates of Purchase.

What if the Property Lien Purchased is Delinquent Again?

If the following year’s taxes become delinquent, we will offer you the option in August to endorse those taxes onto the certificates you already hold. This option allows you to pay the additional delinquent taxes and add them to your existing Tax Lien Certificate of Purchase without attending another tax lien sale. You will earn the same interest rate on the additional taxes as you did on your original purchase. We will notify you by mail in August if your certificates qualify for endorsement.

How do I Receive the Accrued Interest from the Purchased Lien?

When the property owner redeems the taxes, you will receive a check for the amount you paid plus the interest earned. The Treasurer’s Office prefers to keep all original Certificates of Purchase. However, if you have the original certificate, you must return it to our office before we issue payment. Once we receive the certificate, we will send you a check that includes the taxes you purchased and the interest accrued from the sale date through the redemption date. We do not refund any premium bids paid.

Please contact our office by email at trsweb@elpasoco.com if you want to receive redemption payments by ACH.

The redemption period lasts three years from the year of the original tax sale. For example, certificates sold in 2022 qualify for a Treasurer’s Deed application in 2025. You do not need three consecutive years of unpaid taxes. Colorado law only requires that the original tax lien remain unpaid for the full three-year redemption period.

Interest Earned

Each January, we will send you a 1099 form that shows the interest you earned during the previous year on redeemed Certificates of Purchase. We must report all interest paid to investors to the Internal Revenue Service each year. Please notify us if you have a change of address so we can send your 1099 form and your redemption checks to the correct address.