From a late bill to a tax sale: the Sacramento County default timeline

An unpaid property tax bill in Sacramento County does not go to auction overnight. In the usual case, a 2026-27 bill left unpaid can't lead to a sale before July 2032, and the owner can stop the whole process by paying at almost any point before the sale. What changes over those years is the price of stopping it.

This is the timeline I used to sketch on the back of a receipt for people at my counter, with the statute numbers added so you can check me.

The first two penalties

The first installment picks up a 10 percent penalty after 5 p.m. on Dec. 10. That rule is in Revenue and Taxation Code section 2617. The second installment gets 10 percent plus a cost after 5 p.m. on April 10, which for this year's bill means April 12, 2027, because April 10 falls on a Saturday.

State law (section 2621) lets the county charge its actual cost, up to $55. Sacramento's Secured Taxes page lists the cost as $15. The county's April 2025 reminder said 10 percent plus $20 per bill. Use whatever your own bill shows.

The county does not mail a reminder for the second installment. I watched a lot of careful people pay in December and assume they were done for the year.

What June 30 does to the bill

Taxes still unpaid when June 30 ends become a prior-year delinquency, which the county calls defaulted. The county's page on prior-year delinquent taxes lists what happens next:

• A one-time $15 redemption fee is added (the amount is set in section 4102).
• Starting July 1, redemption penalties of 1.5 percent a month accrue (section 4103).
• If later bills also go unpaid, each one starts its own 1.5 percent meter on the July 1 after it defaults.

The 1.5 percent is figured on the defaulted taxes, not on the penalties already added, so it does not compound. It also runs every month without a break. Eighteen percent a year for five years comes to 90 percent of the original tax.

How the amount grows: a worked example

Here is a made-up $5,000 bill for 2026-27 that nobody pays. The math uses the rules above and nothing else.

The first line works like this. Two penalties of $250, a $20 cost and the $15 fee bring the $5,000 bill to $5,535 on July 1, 2027. Then 1.5 percent of $5,000 adds $75 a month, or $900 a year. Sixty months of that is $4,500, so the total reaches $10,035 on July 1, 2032. That is the day the county gets the power to sell.

The second line is closer to what I usually saw. Once someone falls behind, next year's bill tends to go unpaid as well. Each later year adds another $5,520 in tax, penalties and cost, plus its own $900 a year from the following July. By July 2032 that owner is looking at $46,635.

The five-year installment plan

California lets anyone pay defaulted taxes in installments instead of all at once (section 4217). Sacramento's payment plan terms work like this:

• You sign a contract and pay a one-time initiation fee. The county's page does not list the amount, so ask.
• The first payment must be at least 20 percent of the original delinquent amount. On the example above, that is roughly $1,100 plus the fee.
• Each later payment, due by April 10, must be at least another 20 percent plus 1.5 percent a month on the unpaid balance.
• Every current-year bill must also be paid by April 10.
• You can start a plan up to 5 p.m. on the last business day of June in the final year before the property can be sold.

While you keep up, the county can't sell the property (section 4218). Miss a payment or a current bill and the plan defaults. Penalties are then recalculated from the original default date as if the plan never existed, and you can't start a new one until after July 1 of the following year. If the property becomes subject to sale on that July 1, a new plan is off the table.

Year five: the power to sell

Section 3691 gives the tax collector the power to sell five years after a property defaults, or three years for nonresidential commercial property. The county's page lists a few narrow cases where a home can be sold after three years, such as a parcel with a nuisance abatement lien.

The county's tax sale page explains how it runs the sales:

• The main auction is online and starts the last Monday in February. Unsold or postponed parcels are usually offered again in May or June.
• The list for a February sale is posted in November or early December. A list of removed parcels is updated daily in the week before the sale.
• Notice goes out by certified mail 45 to 120 days before the sale (section 3701).
• The opening bid is the amount needed to redeem plus costs. Bidders post a $5,000 deposit.
• The owner's right to redeem ends at close of business on the last business day before the sale. Payment at that stage must be in certified funds.

The county does not sell tax lien certificates. What it sells is the property itself.

The timeline, step by step

After a sale: excess proceeds

When a property sells for more than the taxes, fees and sale costs, the difference is called excess proceeds. If more than $150 is left, parties of interest can claim it. That means lienholders of record first, then the former owners (section 4675). The claim must be filed within one year after the tax deed is recorded, and the county charges nothing to file.

These amounts are not small. The county's own lists show what was left over after its two 2026 sales.

Source: Sacramento County Department of Finance excess proceeds lists for the February 2026 and May 2026 sales.

That money sits with the county until someone claims it, and lienholders are paid from it before any former owner sees a dollar.

What an owner can still do

1. Get the exact redemption amount. The secured unit is at (916) 874-6622, and the online lookup needs your 14-digit parcel number.
2. Pay it in full, if you can. Nothing else is added once it is paid.
3. If you can't, start the five-year plan before the June deadline and keep every current bill paid by April 10.
4. If keeping the house no longer makes sense, sell it before the auction. Escrow pays the defaulted taxes out of the sale proceeds, along with any mortgage, and the rest goes to you. Before you pick a route, compare how fast a house can close in Sacramento with the date on your notice. Some owners in this spot also request an offer before the auction date from a cash buyer such as Lorris Home Buyers, which purchases houses as-is.
5. If the house was already sold, file the excess proceeds claim yourself, inside the one-year window.

Mark the last business day of June in year five. Up to 5 p.m. that day you can still set up a plan for 20 percent down. After it, the county can sell and only payment in full will stop it.