Tax Sale & Excess Proceeds

 

Fresno County’s next Tax Sale is scheduled for Thursday, March 14, 2024, through Friday, March 15, 2024. It will be held on the Internet.  The list of properties will be available in February 2024.

The Fresno County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector does not maintain a permanent tax sale mailing list.  Our Internet Auctions site is hosted by Realauction.com LLC.  

 

Tax Sale

Fresno County conducts the Tax Defaulted Tax Sale via public auction on the internet in accordance with Division 1, Part 6, Chapter 7 (beginning with section 3691) of the California Revenue and Taxation Code. No part of the County’s tax-sale process is intended to alter or deviate in any way from that statutory scheme.

The right of redemption by a party of interest or former owner terminates at the close of business (5:00 p.m. Pacific Time) on the last business day prior to the commencement date of the tax sale. The last business day prior to the commencement date of the tax sale is Wednesday, March 13, 2024.

Fresno County’s live public auction or tax sale will take place on the Internet with Realauction, LLC.  Only one parcel at a time will be offered at live auction.  It begins at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time (11:00 a.m. Eastern Time) on Thursday, March 14th, 2024.  If all the parcels on the tax sale list have not been offered at live auction by 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on March 14, 2024, then the sale will continue beginning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time (11:00 a.m. Eastern Time) on Friday, March 15, 2024, until 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time) that day.

Parcels will be offered at live auction in the order of their item numbers on the tax sale list. Please note that item numbers might not be consecutive. The offering for each parcel at live auction will end after one minute with no bids, or no further bids, or such longer time as the Tax Collector deems necessary. Each new bid on a parcel that is placed with less than 30 seconds remaining on the auction clock will automatically extend the bidding period for that parcel by one full minute.

The Fresno County’s tax sale website is planned to go live by February 15, 2024.

Official Tax-Defaulted Properties Tax Sale Auction Site

 

Tax Sale FAQs

TAX SALE IS NOT LIKE A USUAL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION

The tax sale of these properties should not, in any way, be equated to real estate sales by licensed salespeople, brokers and realtors. The County of Fresno does not take possession of these properties at any time. The tax sale is a statutory process, not a contractual process. The Fresno County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector does not inspect these properties and cannot guarantee the condition of the property nor assume any responsibility for conformance to codes, permits or zoning ordinances. You should inspect the property before investing. The burden is on the purchaser to thoroughly research, before the tax sale, any and all matters relevant to their decision to purchase, rather than on the County, whose sole interest is the recovery of back taxes. Under California Revenue and Taxation Code section 3692.3, the County of Fresno and its employees acting in their official capacity are not liable for any known or unknown conditions of the property. No representation by the County of Fresno or any of its employees excuses you from your burden to thoroughly research, before the tax sale, any matters relevant to your decision to purchase a property.

 

NO REPRESENTATION BY COUNTY REGARDING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

The County of Fresno has no obligation to make any representation regarding the presence or absence of hazardous materials on the properties available for tax sale. You are solely responsible to research and to investigate thoroughly the suitability, desirability, and condition of any property that you choose to bid on. Under California Revenue and Taxation Code section 3692.3, the County of Fresno and its employees acting in their official capacity are not liable for any known or unknown conditions of the property. No representation by the County of Fresno or any of its employees, vendors, or agents excuses you from your sole responsibility to research and to investigate thoroughly the condition of any property that you choose to bid on.

 

ALL SALES ARE FINAL.  RESEARCH BEFORE YOU INVEST.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Bidders Acknowledgments - Information and Warnings(PDF, 131KB)


Excess Proceeds

If you consider yourself to be a party of interest (as defined below) related to specific property that has been sold at Public Auction, you may complete a claim form and state the basis for your status as a party of interest.

California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 4675 defines parties of interest in part as (paraphrased). Parties of interest and their order of priority are:

(a) First, lienholders of record prior to the recordation of the tax deed to the purchaser in the order of their priority, and,

(b) Then, any person with title of record to all of any portion of that property prior to the recordation of the tax deed to the purchaser.

The law protects parties of interest by requiring that any assignment, to another person, of the right to claim excess proceeds, can be made only by means of a dated, written document. The document must specifically state that the right to claim excess proceeds is being assigned, and that each party to the transaction has informed the other of the value of the right being assigned and that the party of interest has been advised of his or her right to file a claim for the excess proceeds on his or her own behalf. In addition, Fresno County requires the document to be notarized and requires a copy of a photo identification card for both the assignee and the assignor.

The law requires that a claim be filed within one year of the date of the Tax Collector's recording of the deed to the purchaser. By law, we cannot accept claims after one year from the recorded date, nor can we begin processing of claims until one year has passed from the same date.

The Tax Collector will submit a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors regarding the disposition of the excess proceeds. If the Board's review results in the approval of the claim, a county check will be issued in payment. However, the law does not allow the issuing of the check prior to 90 days following the action taken by the Board of Supervisors.