Floyd County GA Tax Sale: Bidding, Deeds, and Redemption

The Floyd County, GA tax sale is held on the first Tuesday of each month on the steps of the Floyd County Courthouse in Rome, with bidding open between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.¹ The Tax Commissioner, acting as ex-officio sheriff, auctions properties whose owners have fallen behind on taxes.² Winning does not hand you the keys. Georgia law gives the former owner at least 12 months to buy the property back by paying your bid plus a 20-percent premium, so you need to understand the full process before raising your hand.

Where to Find the List of Properties

Before any parcel goes to auction, the Tax Commissioner must advertise it in the Rome News-Tribune, the county’s legal organ, once a week for four consecutive weeks before the sale date. The notice includes a description of the property, the names of the plaintiff and defendant in the tax execution, and the name of any occupant.³ The parcel may be identified by tax parcel ID and street address rather than a full legal description.⁴

The opening bid covers the delinquent taxes, accrued interest, and the administrative and advertising costs of the sale. Properties come off the list without warning when owners pay up before sale day, so check the most recent week’s advertisement and the Tax Commissioner’s website shortly before you go.

Do Your Homework Before Bidding

Floyd County sells these properties “as is” with no warranty on title. The purchaser is responsible for all transfer costs, recording fees, any outstanding city taxes for properties inside Rome, and any recorded easements or covenants that run with the land.⁵ The Tax Commissioner’s online database lets you search parcels for maps, tax history, and improvements, but that is a starting point.

A parcel listed in the advertisement might carry a federal tax lien, an outstanding mortgage, or code violations the notice never mentions. Run a title search through the Floyd County Clerk of Superior Court records before you commit. Skipping that step is the most expensive mistake new tax-sale buyers make.

Registration and Payment Rules

You need a valid state-issued ID and either a Social Security number or Employer Identification Number to register as a bidder. The Tax Commissioner uses this information for the deed paperwork and IRS reporting.

Floyd County accepts only cash or certified funds such as cashier’s checks. Personal checks and credit cards are not accepted, and winning bidders must pay within two hours of the close of the sale at the Tax Commissioner’s discretion.⁵ Bring enough certified funds to cover the maximum you plan to bid. There is no grace period to run to the bank.

How the Auction Runs

The sale happens on the courthouse steps on the first Tuesday of the month.⁵ If the first Tuesday is New Year’s Day or Independence Day, the sale moves to the following Wednesday.¹ The Tax Commissioner or a deputy conducts the auction, reads a description of each parcel, and opens bidding at the minimum amount needed to satisfy the lien plus costs.

Bidding is verbal and competitive. Once the officer declares a parcel sold, the winning bidder has a binding obligation to pay. After settling with the staff, the buyer receives a preliminary receipt. The official tax deed is prepared and recorded later with the Floyd County Clerk of Superior Court.

What a Tax Deed Actually Gives You

A tax deed does not give you clean ownership. Georgia law grants the former owner and anyone with a recorded interest in the property the right to buy it back. This redemption right lasts at least 12 months from the sale date and continues beyond that until the purchaser formally forecloses it through the statutory notice process.⁶

To redeem, the former owner must pay the purchaser:

The full amount you paid at auction.
A 20-percent premium if redemption happens within the first year or fraction of a year after the sale, plus an additional 10 percent for each later year or fraction.
Any property taxes or special assessments you paid after the sale.
For sales after July 1, 2016, any amounts you paid to a homeowners’ association, property owners’ association, or condominium association since the sale date.

Payment goes directly to the purchaser in U.S. currency. If the former owner redeems more than 30 days after the foreclosure notice described below, they also owe sheriff’s service costs and publication fees.⁷

During the redemption period, you hold a deed but not practical ownership. Do not move in, rent the property, or make alterations. The former owner can still reclaim the parcel, and any money you sink into improvements is money you may never recover.

Foreclosing the Right of Redemption

The redemption right does not expire on its own. After the first 12 months, you have to actively terminate it through the statutory barment process. Until you do, the former owner can still redeem and your title stays unmarketable.

You prepare a written notice identifying the tax deed’s recording information and a deadline date by which the former owner must redeem or lose the right forever. The notice must reach the sheriff at least 45 days before that deadline.⁸ The sheriff then has 15 days to personally serve a copy on three groups of people who live in Floyd County: the defendant named in the tax execution, any occupant of the property, and anyone with a recorded interest or lien.⁹

People who live outside Floyd County get notice by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. If the sheriff cannot serve someone in the county, you must publish the notice once a week for two consecutive weeks in the Rome News-Tribune.⁸ For any tax sale on or after July 1, 1989, the notice must also run once a week for four consecutive weeks in the six months before the redemption deadline.⁹

Every step has to be done correctly. Sloppy service or a missed interested party leaves the title clouded and opens the door to a later challenge. Most buyers hire an attorney for barment because the consequences of getting it wrong are severe.

Watch for Federal Tax Liens

If the IRS has a recorded federal tax lien on the property, the federal government gets its own redemption window of 120 days from the sale, or whatever period local law allows, whichever is longer.¹⁰ Georgia’s 12-month state period usually swallows the federal 120 days, but if a federal lien exists you still need to confirm the IRS window has closed before treating title as settled. A pre-bid title search is the only reliable way to catch this.

Getting Insurable Title After Barment

Even after you successfully foreclose the right of redemption, most title insurance companies will not issue a policy on tax-sale property without a court order confirming your ownership. The standard path is a quiet title action, which Georgia law explicitly makes available to holders of tax deeds.¹¹ You file in Floyd County Superior Court against all potential claimants, and if no one contests and the court is satisfied, the judge issues an order establishing your title free of competing claims.

Budget for this from the start. Attorney fees for an uncontested quiet title action typically run $1,500 to $5,000, plus filing fees and service costs. Add that to the auction price, recording fees for the tax deed, property taxes you pay during the redemption period, and the cost of your title search, and you have a realistic picture of total investment. Buyers who plan only for the auction price tend to be unpleasantly surprised by everything that follows it.

A Note for Former Owners: Excess Funds

If a property sells for more than the taxes, costs, and expenses owed, the surplus does not vanish into the county’s general fund. The officer who conducted the sale must send written notice to the record owner at the time of the sale and to every recorded lienholder within 30 days, and the funds are distributed in the order the interests existed at the time of sale.¹² Former owners who lost property at a Floyd County tax sale should check the Tax Commissioner’s office for unclaimed excess funds.

1
Justia. Georgia Code 9-13-161 – Where and When Sales Under Execution
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Justia. Georgia Code 48-5-137 – Tax Collectors and Commissioners as Ex Officio Sheriffs
3
Justia. Georgia Code 9-13-140 – How Judicial Sales Advertised
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Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-1 – Procedures for Sales Under Tax Levies and Executions
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Floyd County Government. Floyd County May 2025 Tax Sale
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Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-40 – Persons Entitled to Redeem Land Sold Under Tax Execution
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Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-42 – Amount Payable for Redemption
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Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-46 – Form of Notice of Foreclosure
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Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-45 – Notice of Foreclosure of Right of Redemption
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7425 – Discharge of Liens
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Justia. Georgia Code 23-3-61 – Who May Bring Proceeding
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FindLaw. Georgia Code 48-4-5 – Excess Funds After Tax Sale