How to Buy Tax Lien Properties in Columbus, Ohio

To buy tax lien properties in Columbus, Ohio, you bid at the Franklin County Treasurer’s annual tax lien certificate auction, hold the certificate through a one-year redemption period while interest accrues, and file for foreclosure in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas if the owner never pays. Winning a certificate does not make you the owner. It makes you the holder of a first-priority lien that ranks ahead of private mortgages and most other debts on the parcel, and ownership only follows if the owner defaults through the redemption period and you push the case through foreclosure before your certificate expires.¹

What You Are Actually Buying

A tax certificate transfers the county’s lien on a delinquent parcel to you. You pay the full delinquent tax bill up front, and in exchange you earn interest while the property owner is given a chance to pay you back through the Treasurer. You cannot enter the property, inspect it, or collect rent. You hold the debt.¹

This is different from the county’s direct tax foreclosure actions, where real estate is seized and sold at a sheriff’s sale. With a certificate, the physical property only becomes yours later, through a separate court proceeding, and only if the owner doesn’t redeem.

Research the Properties Before You Bid

The Franklin County Auditor compiles a delinquent tax list that must be published twice within 60 days before the sale. The first publication runs in a newspaper of general circulation; the second can appear in a newspaper or on a county-approved website. The list carries the property description, the owner of record, and the total delinquent taxes, penalties, and interest owed.²

From there, use the Franklin County Auditor’s property search for maps, appraisal history, and property characteristics, and cross-reference the Treasurer’s property database. You need to know what the real estate is actually worth, because if the owner never redeems you may end up owning it. Pay particular attention to anything that signals a former industrial or commercial use; environmental risk is covered below, and it starts with knowing the site’s history.

Registration and Deposits

Franklin County’s most recent tax lien sale was scheduled for November 3, 2025, with a registration deadline of October 10, 2025.³ The Treasurer publishes dates annually. Miss registration by a day and you wait until next year.

To register you must submit an IRS Form W-9, which the county uses to report any interest income you later earn, along with a $500 refundable deposit. Before bidding opens, you also have to post an additional deposit equal to 10% of the total value of certificates you intend to buy. That second deposit must come in as a wire transfer or a cashier’s or certified check payable to the Franklin County Treasurer.³

How the Auction Works

The sale runs online as a competitive bid-down. Bidding opens at 18% annual simple interest, and investors drop the rate in quarter-point increments all the way to zero. The certificate goes to the lowest rate bid.⁴ The Treasurer can also bundle certificates into blocks and sets a certificate period of three to six years for each one, which is the window you have to initiate foreclosure after the redemption year ends.⁵

Expect competitive bidding to compress rates on parcels in desirable Columbus neighborhoods. Smaller balances and rougher locations sometimes attract fewer bidders and clear closer to the 18% ceiling.

Paying After You Win

The remaining balance plus fees is due by wire transfer, and the funds must be in the Treasurer’s account by noon Eastern within three business days of the sale.³ The purchase price covers the full delinquent tax bill on the parcel, which can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand depending on assessed value and how many years went unpaid. Miss the window and you can lose your deposit and your ability to bid in future sales. Once the funds clear, the Treasurer issues the certificate, and the payment is not refundable through the Treasurer’s office after that.

The Redemption Year and Your Minimum Return

For the first year after the sale, the property owner can redeem by paying the full redemption price to the Treasurer, who then forwards it to you.⁶ The Treasurer can also set the owner up on an installment plan during that year, as long as the final payment is due within 12 months of the sale.

Your payout is the certificate purchase price plus the greater of two numbers: simple interest at your winning bid rate, or a flat 6% of the purchase price.⁷ That 6% floor matters. Even if you won the auction at 2%, a redeeming owner still owes you 6% of what you paid. The one exception: if your winning bid was zero percent, the redemption price is the purchase price plus the Treasurer’s sale fee, with no interest floor.

Foreclosing to Take the Property

If the redemption year ends with the debt unpaid, you can file a request for foreclosure with the Treasurer at any point before the certificate period expires. A private attorney can file the notice of intent on your behalf.⁸ The case goes to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

Calendar the certificate expiration date the day you receive the certificate. If the certificate period runs out before you file, the lien is canceled, the certificate is voided, and your entire investment is gone. Nobody will remind you.⁵

In its foreclosure judgment, the court totals the redemption prices, 18% interest on amounts you paid during the foreclosure filing, any delinquent taxes not already covered, and the fees and court costs of the proceeding. Then it chooses between two paths. If the appraised value exceeds the redemption price, the court orders a public auction. If the appraised value is less, the court can transfer title directly to you, free and clear of subordinate liens.⁹

Public auctions can run in person or online. Online auctions last seven days, and a second auction is held within 30 days if the property doesn’t sell the first time.⁹ The full foreclosure typically takes several months. Legal fees and court costs fall on you. Once the deed is recorded with the Franklin County Recorder, you are the owner.

Risks to Check Before You Bid

Environmental Contamination

Under federal law, the current owner of a contaminated property can be held liable for cleanup costs regardless of who caused the problem.¹⁰ A 2018 federal appeals court decision confirmed that acquiring property through a tax sale does not shield the buyer from this liability. Remediation on a former gas station or industrial site can exceed the property’s value. Run every parcel you’re serious about through the Ohio EPA’s contamination databases.

Owner Bankruptcy

If the owner files bankruptcy, the automatic stay halts foreclosure proceedings.¹¹ Your certificate remains valid, but your timeline stretches while the bankruptcy case moves. The redemption period itself can also be extended for the length of any installment plan the Treasurer sets up with the owner.⁶

Federal Tax Liens

A local property tax lien ranks ahead of a federal tax lien, even one filed earlier.¹² Your lien position is secure. The federal lien can still cloud the title and complicate any later sale or financing once you own the property.

Property Condition and Title

You have no right to enter the property before buying, so you cannot inspect it. It may have code violations, structural problems, or sit in a floodplain. Properties acquired through tax foreclosure also commonly carry title defects, and many title insurers will not write a policy on a property that came through a tax sale without a quiet title action, which adds time and legal cost before you can cleanly resell or refinance.

Federal Tax on Your Interest

Interest you earn on certificates is ordinary income in the year you receive it.¹³ That is why Franklin County collects a W-9 at registration. If your interest in a year exceeds $10, the county issues a Form 1099-INT, and you owe the tax whether the form arrives or not.¹⁴ Track redemptions year-end. If you eventually foreclose and take title, the cost basis and holding-period questions get more involved, and that is a conversation to have with a tax professional before you file.

One Boundary Worth Knowing: The Land Bank

Not every tax-delinquent property in Columbus goes through the certificate auction. The Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation, known as COCIC, is Franklin County’s land bank. It targets properties that are both tax-delinquent and vacant or abandoned, acquiring them through a separate foreclosure process to demolish blighted structures or partner with nonprofits and developers.¹⁵ Those parcels are pulled out of the certificate pipeline. If you want to buy tax-delinquent real estate directly rather than through a lien, COCIC runs its own property sales on different terms from the Treasurer’s auction.

1
Franklin County Treasurer. About the Franklin County Treasurer
2
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5721.03 – County Auditor to Compile Delinquent Tax List and Delinquent Vacant Land Tax List – Publication
3
Franklin County Treasurer. Franklin County Treasurer – Buyer Information
4
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5721.32 – Sale of Tax Certificates by Public Auction
5
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5721 – Delinquent Lands
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5721.38 – Right to Redeem
7
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5721.30 – Tax Certificate Definitions
8
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5721.37 – Filing Request for Foreclosure
9
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5721.39 – Judgment of Foreclosure
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 9607 – Liability
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6323 – Validity and Priority Against Certain Persons
13
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 403, Interest Received
14
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-INT, Interest Income
15
Franklin County Treasurer. Land Bank Program