What Is a Redemption Deed in Arkansas and What Does It Do?

A redemption deed in Arkansas is the document the Commissioner of State Lands issues after someone pays off the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and costs on a parcel that was certified to the State for nonpayment of property taxes. It is proof that the tax debt has been cleared. It is not, by itself, a transfer of ownership.¹

That distinction matters more than it sounds. People sometimes assume the deed moves title from the State back to the owner, or from the owner to whoever paid the taxes. Neither is quite right. The deed documents a payment that cures the tax delinquency, which in turn stops the State from selling the parcel at the Commissioner’s auction. Title questions are handled separately by the underlying ownership records.

Who Receives the Deed

If you are the record owner and you redeem, the Commissioner issues the redemption deed to you. If someone else pays on your behalf, that person does not get the deed. They receive a redemption receipt instead.¹

This is the point most often misunderstood. Paying someone else’s delinquent property taxes in Arkansas does not give you any ownership interest in the land. The receipt confirms your payment and nothing more. If your goal is to acquire tax-delinquent property, redemption is the wrong tool. You have to buy the parcel at the Commissioner’s auction instead.

How to Redeem and Get the Deed

Redemption runs through the Commissioner of State Lands, not the county. You submit a petition to redeem along with full payment of everything owed. The Commissioner provides the petition form on request and quotes you a total. That quoted amount is good for thirty days. Miss the window, or let more costs accrue, and you need an updated petition with a fresh total.¹

Payment made within thirty days of a sale, or within the ten business days after a sale, has to be in cash or certified funds.²

The Commissioner may charge a fee for producing the redemption deed itself, but the fee is capped at actual costs plus three percent. It is a cost-recovery charge, not a revenue item.¹

The Deadlines That Decide Whether You Can Still Get One

Timing controls everything. Once the county certifies the parcel to the Commissioner, legal title to the tax interest vests in the State of Arkansas, though the State does not take physical possession or maintain the property.²

The Commissioner must give the owner at least one year from certification before selling the property at auction. During that pre-sale period, you can redeem by paying all taxes, penalties, interest, fees, and costs due.³

Before an in-person auction, the Commissioner sends notice to the owner and all interested parties at least thirty days ahead of the sale date. That notice explains that redemption remains available by paying the full amount before the close of business on the last business day before the sale.⁴

After the sale, the window shrinks fast. You have ten business days from the sale date to redeem. Weekends and nationally recognized holidays do not count. If no one redeems within those ten business days, the Commissioner issues a Limited Warranty Deed to the auction buyer, and your chance to receive a redemption deed is gone.²

What You Actually Pay

The amount on the petition is rarely just the back taxes. Arkansas adds ten percent simple interest per year of delinquency plus a separate ten percent penalty per year of delinquency. Both accrue from October 16 of the year the taxes first became delinquent. County and Commissioner administrative costs are layered on top.⁵

Because interest and penalty keep running, the longer you wait to request a petition, the larger the quoted total will be. The thirty-day validity on a quote exists for the same reason: a stale number stops being accurate.

Recording the Deed

You do not have to file the redemption deed yourself. After issuing it, the Commissioner forwards the deed to the circuit clerk in the county where the property is located for recording.¹

Once recorded, the deed sits in the county land records as public evidence that the delinquency was cured. Keep your own copy with your property records. If a title question ever comes up, the recorded redemption deed is what you point to.

Don’t Confuse This with Mortgage Foreclosure Redemption

Arkansas has a separate, unrelated redemption right for judicial mortgage foreclosures. In that context, a former owner, their heirs, or legal representatives have one year from the sale date to buy the property back by paying the sale price, interest at the rate the court’s decree set, and foreclosure costs.⁶

That foreclosure right of redemption can also be waived in the mortgage or deed of trust itself, and lenders routinely include waiver language.⁶ None of that touches the tax-sale process. The term “redemption deed” in Arkansas refers specifically to the Commissioner’s tax-redemption document described above. If your property is in mortgage foreclosure rather than tax forfeiture, you are in a different statute entirely and no redemption deed is involved.

If You Are the One Redeeming

Request the petition from the Commissioner of State Lands as soon as you know the parcel has been certified. Pay the full quoted amount within the thirty-day validity period, in the required form if a sale is imminent, and keep the recorded redemption deed with your property records once the circuit clerk returns it. If someone else is offering to pay on your behalf, understand that the receipt they get does not shift ownership to them. The deed, and the title it protects, stays with you.

1
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-37-310 – Procedure for Redeeming Parcels Certified to the State
2
Justia. Arkansas Administrative Code, Agency 135, Rule 135.00.21-001
3
Justia. Arkansas Code 26-37-301 – Notice to Owner
4
FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 26 Taxation 26-37-202
5
FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 26 Taxation 26-37-302
6
Justia. Arkansas Code 18-49-106 – Redemption of Real Property