Pickens County Delinquent Tax List: Payoff, Auction, and Redemption

The Pickens County delinquent tax list is the roster of properties with unpaid taxes after the January 15 deadline, published by the county’s Delinquent Tax office and advertised in a local newspaper before the annual October auction. If you want to know whether your property is on it, call the Delinquent Tax office directly and reference your Tax Map Number; the newspaper advertisement only captures properties already scheduled for sale.¹

Where to Find the List

Two places. The Pickens County Delinquent Tax office keeps the records and will confirm your status by phone or in person. The county also maintains online tax payment portals you can use to look up an account.¹

South Carolina law also requires the county to advertise properties headed for the tax sale in a newspaper of general circulation. Real property runs once a week for three consecutive weeks; personal property runs two consecutive weeks. Each advertisement must be titled “Delinquent Tax Sale” and list the taxpayer’s name along with a property description.² Don’t rely on the newspaper as your only check. If your taxes are late but your property hasn’t been scheduled for the next auction yet, you won’t appear in those ads even though penalties are still accumulating.

What Each Listing Shows

A listing contains the owner’s name, the Tax Map Number, a brief legal description of the property, the tax years that are unpaid, and the total due. The statute allows the county auditor’s map-block-parcel number to serve as the property description for real estate.²

To match your property to an entry, use the Tax Map Number rather than the street address. Legal descriptions are hard to read without surveyor training, and street addresses may not appear at all. The total shown is not just the original tax bill. It includes penalties, interest, and execution costs that have piled on since the account went delinquent.

Why the Balance Keeps Growing

Missing January 15 doesn’t freeze what you owe. South Carolina adds a 3% penalty shortly after the deadline, which rises to 10% and then 15% over the following months. The tiers are set in state law and apply the same way in every county.

Separate from the penalties, costs accrue at each step of collection. Once the county treasurer issues an execution against the account, the file moves to the Delinquent Tax office, which adds charges for notices, certified mail, title searches, newspaper advertising, and auction expenses. These itemized costs commonly exceed $100 before a property reaches auction.³ A number printed in a notice last month is almost certainly not what you owe today.

How to Pay It Off

Call the Delinquent Tax office first and get a current payoff figure. Give the staff your Tax Map Number so they can pull the exact balance for the day you plan to pay.

Pickens County limits how you can pay delinquent real estate taxes. Personal and business checks are not accepted for real estate after July 31 each year. Acceptable forms are cash, money orders, cashier’s checks, and debit or credit cards processed in person. Mailing a payment is permitted but adds time and risk when the sale date is close.¹

Online payment is available through the county’s portal.⁴ Electronic payments usually include a processing convenience fee. Save the digital confirmation and transaction number. If an auction is bearing down and you need the payment to clear immediately, pay in person with guaranteed funds.

When the Next Auction Happens

Properties that remain delinquent after every notice and deadline has passed are sold at the annual delinquent tax sale. The next sale is Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at the Pickens County Performing Arts Center.¹

Before any property reaches the auction floor, the county must mail delinquent tax notices, send certified mail warning that the property will be seized if taxes are not paid, and publish the newspaper advertisement for the required number of weeks.³ The opening bid at the auction is typically equal to the total delinquent taxes, penalties, assessments, and costs owed on the property.

What a Lapse Will Cost You

Ignoring the list does not make the debt disappear. Penalties begin accumulating on January 16, execution costs stack on through spring and summer, the property is advertised in the fall, and the auction runs in October. An $800 January balance can easily exceed $1,000 by October once penalties, certified mail fees, advertising costs, and auction charges are added.

If the property does sell, you still have twelve months to get it back. But you will be paying the winning bid plus interest rather than your original tax balance, and if bidding was competitive, that figure can run well above what you originally owed.

Redemption After a Sale

A tax sale does not immediately transfer ownership. The original owner, any mortgage holder, or any judgment creditor has twelve months from the date of the sale to redeem the property by paying the full winning bid amount plus interest to the Delinquent Tax office.⁵

The interest is not an annual rate. It is a lump sum calculated on the bid, and it steps up every three months:

Months 1 through 3: 3% of the bid amount
Months 4 through 6: 6% of the bid amount
Months 7 through 9: 9% of the bid amount
Months 10 through 12: 12% of the bid amount

Redeeming in month two costs 3% on the entire bid; waiting until month eleven costs 12%. The interest cannot exceed the amount of the opening bid submitted on behalf of the Forfeited Land Commission.⁵ If no one redeems within the twelve months, the county issues a tax deed to the successful bidder and your legal claim ends.

Mobile Homes Follow a Different Clock

If the delinquent property is a mobile home, the process is faster. Under South Carolina law, a mobile home is treated as personal property for delinquent tax purposes unless the owner has formally de-titled it under Section 56-19-510.⁶ Personal property only requires two weeks of newspaper advertising instead of three, and seizure works differently.

When a mobile home goes delinquent, the Delinquent Tax office mails a notice. If taxes remain unpaid after thirty days, the office takes exclusive legal possession. The home doesn’t have to be physically moved at seizure, but once the county has possession, no one may relocate it without first paying all taxes, penalties, and costs in full. Moving a seized mobile home can trigger a conversion charge. If you own a mobile home and receive a delinquency notice, treat the thirty-day window as the real deadline.

1
Pickens County. Delinquent Tax
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 12-51-40 – Default on Payment of Taxes; Levy of Execution by Distress and Sale; Notice of Delinquent Taxes; Seizure of Property; Advertisement of Sale
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws – Title 12 – Chapter 51 – Alternate Procedure for Collection of Property Taxes
4
Pickens County. Pay
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws – Title 12 – Chapter 51 – Alternate Procedure for Collection of Property Taxes – Section 12-51-90
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws – Title 12 – Chapter 51 – Alternate Procedure for Collection of Property Taxes – Section 12-51-40