Miami-Dade Delinquent Property Tax List: Search, Pay, and Redeem

The Miami-Dade delinquent property tax list is the public record of parcels whose property taxes went unpaid past March 31, and you can search it through the Tax Collector’s online portal at county-taxes.net/fl-miamidade using the property’s 13-digit folio number.¹ If the parcel appears, you have a narrow window to pay the full balance before a tax certificate is sold to an investor.

How to Search the List

The online portal is linked directly from the Tax Collector’s delinquent taxes page and returns the most precise result when you search by folio number. The folio is formatted 99-9999-999-9999 and appears on prior tax bills and assessment notices. Each parcel in the county has its own.²

Don’t have the folio? Look it up on the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s site by owner name or address.³ Use the owner’s full legal name as it reads on the deed; nicknames and abbreviations return empty results. When several parcels share similar addresses or owners, the folio is the only reliable way to confirm you’re looking at the right one.

What Each Listing Shows

An entry on the list identifies the property owner, gives a legal description of the parcel, and names the tax year that went unpaid. It also breaks down the money: the original tax billed in November, the interest that has accrued since April 1, the advertising fee for newspaper publication, and the total payoff. That total moves. Interest keeps accruing, so a figure quoted in April will be smaller than the one quoted in May.

Both real estate and tangible personal property taxes appear. Real estate covers homes, vacant lots, and commercial buildings. Tangible personal property covers business equipment and fixtures, and it runs on the same delinquency clock.

When Taxes Land on the List

Property taxes in Miami-Dade are due November 1 and can be paid through March 31 without penalty. Pay early and Florida rewards you: a 4% discount in November, 3% in December, 2% in January, 1% in February. March payments carry no discount but no penalty either. On April 1 the taxes become delinquent and start accruing charges.⁴⁵

Interest, Advertising, and Fees

Delinquent property taxes carry 18% annual interest, calculated from the first day of each month. For the first 60 days after April 1, a flat 3% minimum applies instead of the monthly accrual. Pay on April 2 and you already owe at least 3% on top of the tax. After that 60-day window, the full 18% annual rate takes over and compounds monthly until a tax certificate is sold.⁶

On top of interest, the Tax Collector adds advertising fees for publishing the parcel in the newspaper and administrative costs. Your payoff on any given day is the base tax plus accrued interest plus those extras. The longer you wait, the more layers stack up. Once a certificate sells, redeeming it means paying the certificate holder’s interest too.

When and Where the List Is Published

Florida law requires the Tax Collector to advertise delinquent properties once a week for three consecutive weeks before selling tax certificates. Advertising and sale must happen on or before June 1, or the 60th day after delinquency, whichever is later. The published list shows each delinquent parcel in the order it was assessed, the amount owed through the sale date, and the advertising and sale expenses.⁵

The county designates a newspaper each year through a Board of County Commissioners resolution. For the 2024 publication cycle covering 2023 tax year delinquencies, the board selected The Miami Times.⁷ The designated newspaper can change from year to year through competitive bidding, so check the Tax Collector’s site or recent county commission resolutions for the current publisher.

How to Pay Off a Delinquent Balance

Payment rules depend on how you pay. By mail, the Tax Collector accepts only cashier’s checks, money orders, and certified funds. No personal checks. Write your folio number and phone number on the payment and send it to the Tax Collector at 200 NW 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33128. Postmarks are not honored for delinquent taxes, so the payment has to physically arrive before the deadline.¹

In person, the Tax Collector’s office accepts cashier’s checks, money orders, certified funds, cash, credit cards, debit cards, and mobile wallets. Online payments run through the Tax Collector’s portal and typically carry a convenience fee. Whichever method you use, pay the full balance. Partial payments won’t stop a certificate from being sold.¹

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

If the taxes stay unpaid through the advertising period, the Tax Collector sells a tax certificate at auction. This does not mean someone buys your property. A tax certificate is a lien: the investor pays your delinquent bill, and in return holds a certificate that earns interest until you pay them back.⁸

The auction is a reverse bid on the interest rate. Investors compete by bidding down the rate they’re willing to accept, starting from the statutory ceiling of 18% per year. The certificate goes to whoever bids the lowest rate. If two bidders offer the same rate, the Tax Collector picks the winner by a method such as first bid received or a random-number generator. Certificates no one bids on are struck to the county at the full 18%.⁹⁶

The Tax Deed Sale

Two years after April 1 of the year the certificate was issued, the certificate holder can apply for a tax deed. That’s when the property itself goes up for auction, and it’s a far more serious step than the certificate sale. The owner receives notice and a final chance to redeem before the deed auction takes place.¹⁰ This is where people lose homes. Two years feels long, but certificate holders track these deadlines carefully.

Homestead Exception

One narrow carve-out: if the delinquent taxes on a homesteaded property total less than $250, the certificate can’t be sold at public auction and instead goes to the county at 18%, and the certificate holder cannot pursue a tax deed as long as the homestead exemption stays in place and the total stays under $250.⁹ Most Miami-Dade annual tax bills clear $250 easily, so this protection rarely applies.

Redeeming a Certificate That Already Sold

You can redeem a certificate any time after it’s issued and before a tax deed is finalized. Redemption means paying the face amount of the certificate plus accrued interest, costs, and charges. Even if the winning bidder took a rate below 5%, a mandatory 5% minimum of the certificate’s face value applies. The Tax Collector also charges a $6.25 processing fee per certificate redeemed.¹¹

When multiple years of taxes went unpaid, each year is its own certificate with its own interest calculation, and each has to be redeemed separately. Stacked certificates from different years at different rates can push the total up quickly, which is the main reason to clear a delinquency before it becomes several.

1
Miami-Dade County Tax Collector. Delinquent Taxes (2025 and Prior Years)
2
Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. Folio Numbers
3
Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. Property Search Help
4
Miami-Dade County Tax Collector. Real Estate Taxes
5
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 197 – Tax Collections, Sales, and Liens
6
Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 197.172 – Interest Rate Calculation and Minimum
7
Miami-Dade County. Resolution 241038 – Newspaper for Publication of Delinquent Tax Lists
8
Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 197.432 – Sale of Tax Certificates for Unpaid Taxes
9
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 197.432 – Sale of Tax Certificates for Unpaid Taxes
10
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 197.502 – Application for Tax Deed by Holder of Tax Certificate
11
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 197.472 – Redemption of Tax Certificates