Iowa’s tax sale redemption period is generally about two years from the date of the sale. More precisely, the tax sale certificate holder cannot start the final countdown until 21 months have passed, and once they serve the required expiration notice you have 90 more days to pay the treasurer. Miss that 90th day and the certificate holder can take a tax deed to your property. Some categories of sales run on much faster clocks, and interest of 2% per month is running the entire time.1Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Chapter 447 – Redemption
The Two Phases of the Redemption Clock
The timeline has two distinct parts.
The first is a waiting period. For a standard Iowa tax sale, the certificate holder has to wait one year and nine months — 21 months — from the sale date before they can do anything to force you out.2Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.9 – Notice of Expiration of Right of Redemption During those 21 months you can walk into the treasurer’s office at any time and redeem.
The second phase starts when the certificate holder serves you with a notice that your right of redemption is about to expire, and files an affidavit of service with the treasurer. From that filing, a strict 90-day countdown runs.3Justia Law. Iowa Code 447.12 – When Service Deemed Complete Your payment has to be physically in the treasurer’s hands, or entered through the county’s authorized online system, by the close of business on day 90. A postmark does not save you. If day 90 falls on a weekend or holiday, you get until the close of the next business day.
The certificate holder is not required to serve that notice the moment 21 months hits. Some wait. That extends the time you can still redeem, but it also lets more interest pile up.
Faster Deadlines for Some Properties
Two categories of sales run on compressed timelines. If your property was sold under one of them, do not assume you have two years.
- Public bidder sales under Iowa Code 446.18: when a parcel goes unsold at the regular annual tax sale and is offered again, the certificate holder can serve the 90-day expiration notice after just nine months instead of 21.4Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 446.18 – Public Bidder Sale
- Public nuisance sales under Iowa Code 446.19B: in counties that have adopted the ordinance, delinquent taxes on abandoned residential or commercial properties considered public nuisances can be sold separately, and the 90-day notice can be served after just three months.5Justia Law. Iowa Code 446.19B – Public Nuisance Tax Sale
A nuisance-sale property can reach the point of no return in as little as six months from the sale date. If you are not sure which type of sale hit your parcel, the county treasurer can tell you.
What You Have To Pay
Redeeming means making the certificate holder whole. Under Iowa Code 447.1, you owe the original sale price, which already covers the delinquent taxes, fees, and certificate purchase fee, plus interest at 2% per month running from the month of sale.1Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Chapter 447 – Redemption Any fraction of a month counts as a full month. Redeeming on the second of the month costs the same as redeeming on the last.
If the certificate holder paid later years’ property taxes to keep the parcel from going to another sale, you have to reimburse those payments too, with the same 2% monthly interest running from each payment date.1Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code Chapter 447 – Redemption The minimum interest charge is one dollar, and interest rounds to the nearest whole dollar.
Two percent a month is 24% a year. On a $5,000 sale amount, that is $100 a month in interest before you add subsequent taxes. To avoid an extra month being tacked on, get your payment to the treasurer on or before the last business day of the current month. The treasurer calculates the exact total, accepts payment, and issues a certificate of redemption showing what you paid and when.6Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.5 – Certificate of Redemption
Who Can Redeem
You do not have to be the owner. Iowa law requires the certificate holder to serve the expiration notice on everyone with a recorded interest in the property, and any of those people can redeem: mortgage holders, contract sellers, tenants with a recorded lease, and other parties with an interest of record.2Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.9 – Notice of Expiration of Right of Redemption A bank holding your mortgage has its own right to step in and pay if you cannot. The treasurer will confirm that whoever is paying actually has a right to redeem before processing payment.6Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.5 – Certificate of Redemption
The Notice You Should Receive
Before the certificate holder can claim a tax deed, they have to give proper notice. The notice must state the sale date, describe the property, name the purchaser, and warn that the right of redemption will expire in 90 days. Service must go by both regular mail and certified mail to each interested party’s last known address, and also to the city where the property is located. Service is deemed complete when the notice is deposited and postmarked.2Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.9 – Notice of Expiration of Right of Redemption
If mail service cannot be completed, the fallback is publication once in an official county newspaper, and the affidavit filed with the treasurer must explain why mail did not work.7Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.10 – Service by Publication Federal due process adds a floor: in Jones v. Flowers, the U.S. Supreme Court held that when mailed notice is returned unclaimed, the government must take additional reasonable steps to reach the owner if doing so is practicable, such as resending by regular mail or posting on the property.8Justia. Jones v. Flowers, 547 U.S. 220 A deed obtained without a genuine attempt at actual notice can be challenged.
When the Deadline Can Be Extended
Legal Disability
Iowa gives extra time to property owners with a legal disability. Before the treasurer delivers the tax deed, a legal representative can redeem through the normal process. Even after the deed is delivered, the person or their representative can file an equitable action in the district court where the property sits, at any time during the disability or within one year after the disability is removed.9Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.7 – Redemption by Persons with a Legal Disability The court sets the redemption amount, can award the deed holder the value of any improvements made after the deed was issued, and if the disability claim is valid, declares the treasurer’s deed void.
Active-Duty Military
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act protects property that a servicemember owned before entering active duty. Such property cannot be sold to enforce a tax assessment except by court order, and only if the court finds military service does not materially affect the servicemember’s ability to pay.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3991 – Taxes Respecting Servicemembers on Active Duty Proceedings can be stayed during service and for up to 180 days after discharge, and a servicemember has the right to redeem during service or within 180 days after separation. This federal protection cannot shorten Iowa’s redemption period.
Bankruptcy
Filing a bankruptcy petition may extend a redemption deadline that has not yet expired, but not by much. Under 11 U.S.C. 108(b), the deadline is extended to the later of the original date or 60 days after the order for relief.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 108 – Extension of Time Courts are split on whether the automatic stay independently freezes the redemption clock. The safer working assumption is that bankruptcy buys at most 60 extra days, not an indefinite freeze. If you are facing both, get legal advice quickly.
A Narrow Exception After Day 90
For most sales, the 90-day cutoff is firm. There is one narrow exception. When the county itself holds a public bidder certificate, the treasurer has discretion to accept a redemption at any time before the tax deed is actually issued, even after the 90 days have technically run.3Justia Law. Iowa Code 447.12 – When Service Deemed Complete If the county is the certificate holder and no deed has issued yet, it is worth calling the treasurer’s office even if you think you are late.
What Happens If You Do Not Redeem
Once the 90 days run out without payment, the certificate holder can obtain a tax deed from the treasurer. That deed transfers ownership. Your claim to the property is extinguished and the certificate holder becomes the new owner.12Iowa Legal Aid. What You Need to Know about Property Taxes
After the deed issues, your options narrow sharply. Iowa courts can still void a tax deed on grounds such as defective notice or procedural failures in the sale, but you are litigating rather than redeeming.13Iowa Judicial Branch. Case No. 21-1437, Gary Kluender, Jr. v. Plum Grove Investments, Inc. And the law in effect at the time of the sale governs, not any later amendments.14Iowa Legislature. Iowa Code 447.14 – Law in Effect at Time of Sale The much better play is redeeming before day 90.