Past Due Taxes

• When properties are one year or more behind on their tax payments, the county may list them in a tax lien sale. Tax lien sale notices are published in the local newspaper several weeks before the sale, and property owners can remove their properties from the sales auction by paying all past due tax amounts plus any fines or fees currently outstanding.
  
  

Tax Lien Auction

• Tax lien auctions are live, in person, oral auctions held regularly by each county at a specified time and date. Tax auctions auction off liens to properties who are one year or more past due on taxes. Investors bid enough to cover the past due tax amounts and any additional fines or fees that may be due. If more than one investor is interested in the same property, a verbal bidding is conducted and the tax lien is awarded to the highest bidder.
  
  

Three-Year Redemption

• In Alabama, winning bidders at a public tax auction receive a certificate of sale, or tax lien certificate. The tax lien holder must retain that lien for three years, during which the property owner may pay it back in full with 12 percent interest. During this three year redemption period the property owner retains full ownership and possession of the property.
  
  

Foreclosure

• At the end of the three-year redemption period, if the property owner has not repaid the lien with interest, the lien holder can turn the tax certificate into the Judge of Probate and receive a property deed in exchange. This property deed grants full ownership of the property to the tax lien investor, who can then rent, resell, or otherwise do as they'd like with the property.