How the Marion County Tax Sale Works and What to Do If Your Property Is on the List
A step-by-step guide for Indianapolis homeowners facing the 2026 auction, from checking the certified delinquent list to finding free legal help before the clock runs out.
A step-by-step guide for Indianapolis homeowners facing the 2026 auction, from checking the certified delinquent list to finding free legal help before the clock runs out.
The Clock Is Already Running
The envelope arrives looking like ordinary mail. It’s a certified notice from the Marion County Treasurer, or maybe a neighbor mentions they saw your address on a delinquency list in the paper. Either way, the first thing most homeowners feel is a spike of panic followed by a dangerous second thought: I have time to deal with this.
You may have time. But probably less than you think.
Marion County’s annual tax sale runs in late September or October. If you received a spring delinquency notice or recently discovered your property on the certified list, you’re looking at a window of roughly four to five months—at most—before a buyer at the auction acquires a tax sale certificate on your home. Every week that passes without action narrows your options and raises your eventual cost to recover the property.
Here’s the part that surprises people: Indiana offers no homestead exemption that shields a primary residence from tax sale. A house you’ve lived in for twenty years carries no statutory protection simply because it’s your home. The law sees a delinquent tax bill the same way whether the property is a rental warehouse in Lawrence or the house where your family has lived since 1998. I find that genuinely hard to square with how most people think about homeownership, but it’s the reality of Indiana law and it’s worth understanding clearly before you need to.
This article is written for owners who still have time to act. If you’re past the auction already, jump to Sections 7 and 8, which cover your redemption rights. If you’re not sure whether you’re on the list at all, start with Section 3.
Quick Reference—Key Numbers and Dates
Keep this panel handy if you need immediate orientation.
Marion County Treasurer’s Office 200 E. Washington St., Suite 1001, Indianapolis, IN 46204 Phone: 317-327-4444 Online balance lookup: indy.gov (search “pay property taxes”)
2026 Tax Sale Exact date to be confirmed—verify at sri-taxsale.com and by calling the Treasurer’s office directly. Historically scheduled late September or October.
Redemption Period One year from sale date for owner-occupied residential property (Indiana Code 6-1.1-25). Properties certified as vacant or abandoned: 120 days.
Free Legal Help Indiana Legal Services: 317-631-9410 / indianalegalservices.org United Way 211: dial 2-1-1—first call if you’re unsure where to start IUPUI Robert H. McKinney School of Law Community Legal Clinic: 530 W. New York St., Indianapolis
Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership 317-610-4663 / inhp.com
Tax Sale Platform SRI Tax Sale Services: sri-taxsale.com
How to Find Out If Your Property Is on the List
Don’t wait for a second notice. Check your status now.
Online balance lookup. Go to indy.gov and navigate to the property tax payment portal. You can search by property address or by parcel number (found on any previous tax bill or assessment notice). The portal will show your current balance, any delinquent installments, and applicable penalties. If you see a balance marked delinquent from a prior year’s installment, your property may already be in the certification pipeline.
The certified delinquent list published in the newspaper. Under Indiana law, the county is required to publish the certified list of delinquent properties in a newspaper of general circulation before the sale. In Marion County, this has historically been published in the Indianapolis Recorder or the Indianapolis Business Journal, depending on the year; confirm the current year’s publication outlet by calling the Treasurer’s office. The publication must appear at least 21 days before the auction date—so if you see the list in print, the sale is close. Not “coming up soon.” Close. Searching your name or parcel number in that published list confirms that your property is scheduled for auction.
SRI Tax Sale Services platform. Marion County contracts with SRI Tax Sale Services to manage the auction itself. Once the 2026 sale is listed, properties will appear at sri-taxsale.com, searchable by address, parcel number, or owner name. This platform is where investors register to bid, but it’s equally useful for a homeowner checking their own status. The sale typically goes live on the SRI platform several weeks before the auction.
The certified mailing from the Treasurer’s office is not a curiosity. Its arrival means the county has already moved your property into the formal pre-sale process. The timing between receiving that notice and the auction date is typically weeks, not months, depending on when in the certification cycle you receive it. Don’t let the letter sit on the counter.
Appearing on the certified list is not the same as having lost your property. It means the process is underway, and homeowners who take action after seeing the list but before auction day still have a full set of options. Those who wait until after the auction have fewer—and those options cost more.
How a Property Gets to the Auction Block—The Marion County Timeline
Understanding how delinquency becomes an auction tells you exactly how much time you had and how much you have left.
Marion County property taxes are due in two installments each year: May 10 and November 10. Miss one payment and a penalty begins to accrue immediately. Miss the spring installment entirely and carry that balance through the fall, and you’re now more than one cycle behind.
A property generally doesn’t reach the tax sale after a single missed payment—which is worth knowing, because the process is more forgiving at the front end than people assume. The typical path runs like this: a homeowner misses the May 10 installment, fails to catch up by November 10, misses the following May 10 installment as well. By early summer of the second year, the county has certified that balance as eligible for the tax sale. By the time the auction occurs in late September or October, the original delinquency is 15 or more months old. But the fees layered on top have made the balance substantially larger than the original tax bill.
The county is required under Indiana Code 6-1.1-24 to publish the certified list of delinquent parcels in a newspaper of general circulation at least 21 days before the sale. That publication is both a legal notice to the public and a practical warning to homeowners: auction day is three weeks away, not three months. Administrative and publication fees are added to the delinquent balance at each stage of the process. These are real costs, not paper charges. They compound the original bill and become part of the total the homeowner must pay to stop the sale.
What the Fees and Penalties Actually Add Up To
Indiana imposes a 10 percent penalty on any delinquent tax installment at the time of the sale. That rate applies to the amount of taxes owed, not the assessed value of the property. Additional installment penalties may have already accrued on earlier delinquent amounts. Marion County also adds administrative fees and publication costs to the delinquent balance, typically running in the range of $150 to $300. Confirm the exact current figure directly with the Treasurer’s office, as the county sets some of these charges by practice rather than by statute and they can vary year to year.
Here’s a worked example using round numbers to illustrate the structure.
A homeowner owes $3,000 in delinquent taxes from missed installments. At time of sale, a 10 percent penalty adds $300. Administrative and publication fees add approximately $200 (confirm with Treasurer). The total balance at auction day is approximately $3,500.
The minimum bid at the auction is set at the total amount owed to the county—taxes, penalties, and fees. A buyer who purchases the tax sale certificate pays at least that amount. That purchase price becomes the baseline for what the homeowner must later pay to redeem the property. The number on the certified list is not the final number. By auction day, penalties and fees will have added hundreds of dollars to the original bill. And if the homeowner needs to redeem after the auction, the cost climbs further still, as explained in Section 8.
This is why acting before the auction is always cheaper than acting after it. The math is unambiguous on this point.
Your Options Before Auction Day
If your property is on the certified list and the auction hasn’t happened yet, you have two primary options: pay the full delinquent balance, or explore a payment plan agreement.
Under Indiana Code 6-1.1-24-1.5, county treasurers are authorized to offer payment plan agreements that can remove a property from the certified list before the sale. Whether Marion County is currently offering these agreements, and what the application process looks like at the Treasurer’s office, should be confirmed by calling 317-327-4444 directly. The terms and availability of payment plans can change by year and by circumstance. If you’re in this situation, ask specifically about a “payment plan to remove from the tax sale list” and get any agreement in writing. That difference between an informal promise and a documented plan is the difference between being removed from the sale and learning a week before auction day that nothing was filed. I can’t emphasize that enough.
Paying the full balance is the cleanest option if you can manage it. Paying the full delinquent balance—taxes, penalties, and fees—before the auction date removes your property from the sale. The Treasurer’s office can give you a payoff figure that reflects what is owed as of a specific date.
A few practical mechanics worth knowing: as the auction date approaches, the Treasurer’s office typically requires certified funds (cashier’s check or money order) rather than personal check. Confirm the accepted payment forms and the cutoff for online payment to clear before calling your bank. Online payment does not clear instantly. If you’re within days of the auction, don’t rely on an online payment processing in time. Appear in person at the Treasurer’s office, 200 E. Washington St., Suite 1001, with certified funds and get a receipt.
Partial payment does not stop the sale. The county requires the full balance—taxes, penalties, and all fees—to remove a property from the auction. A good-faith partial payment will not pause the process. No exceptions. This is the last moment at which the homeowner’s cost to resolve the situation is at its lowest. Every day past auction day adds to what you’ll owe. For broader context on homeownership finances in our home & property coverage, you’ll find related guides on topics that often surface alongside tax delinquency questions.
What Happens If Your House Sells at Auction—And Whether You Can Still Get It Back
If auction day arrives and your property sells, the situation is serious but not necessarily over.
At the tax sale, the buyer doesn’t receive title to your home. They receive a tax sale certificate—essentially a lien instrument that gives them the right to eventually petition for a tax deed if the homeowner doesn’t redeem. During the period between the sale and the expiration of the redemption window, you continue to own the property and may continue living there. The redemption period under Indiana Code 6-1.1-25 depends on a critical distinction: if the property is owner-occupied residential property, you have one year from the date of sale to redeem. If it has been certified as vacant or abandoned, you have 120 days.
That distinction matters enormously. If you receive any court filing or notice related to your property after a tax sale, treat it as urgent and contact Indiana Legal Services or a private attorney immediately. The 120-day clock, if it applies, moves fast. The vacant-property classification is also locally significant in ways that aren’t always obvious. Neighborhoods like Martindale-Brightwood, Haughville, and parts of Warren Township have substantial inventories of properties that cycle through the tax sale with no redemption. Homeowners who are actually living in their properties and can document occupancy have strong grounds to assert the one-year redemption period—but “strong grounds” only helps you if you raise them.
During the full redemption period—whether 120 days or one year—you can’t be removed from your home simply because the tax sale certificate changed hands. The purchaser has no right of possession during the redemption window. Your tenancy and occupancy rights remain intact until the redemption period expires and a court issues a tax deed.
Exactly What You Pay to Redeem
If your property sold at auction and you’re within the redemption window, here’s the formula for what you owe and to whom.
To redeem, the homeowner must pay to the Marion County Treasurer: the amount the purchaser paid at auction (their minimum bid, which included the original delinquent taxes, penalties, and fees); 10 percent of that purchase amount for each year, or fraction of a year, of the redemption period that has elapsed; any subsequent property taxes the purchaser paid on the property after the sale; and applicable fees, potentially including a deed fee if the purchaser has already initiated a tax deed petition.
Using the worked example from Section 5: the homeowner owed roughly $3,500 at auction day. A purchaser acquires the tax sale certificate with a minimum bid of approximately $3,500. If the homeowner redeems at 11 months—still within the one-year window—the purchase price paid by the buyer is $3,500, plus a 10 percent redemption premium (one year or fraction) of $350, plus subsequent property taxes the buyer paid on the property after the sale (confirm current amount with Treasurer’s office), plus applicable fees (varies). The estimated total redemption cost falls in the $5,000–$6,000 range, though you should confirm the exact formula and current figures with the Treasurer or under IC 6-1.1-25-2.
That’s meaningfully more than the $3,500 it would have cost to stop the sale before auction day, and substantially more than the $3,000 original delinquent bill. The numbers compound in the wrong direction at every stage.
Pay redemption at the Marion County Treasurer’s Office, 200 E. Washington St., Suite 1001. Call 317-327-4444 ahead of your visit to confirm what documentation you need to bring and to get a current payoff figure. The redemption amount changes as additional taxes come due and as the calendar moves. Once the redemption payment is confirmed, the Treasurer issues a redemption certificate, which is recorded and extinguishes the purchaser’s tax sale certificate. Your title is cleared.
The one-year redemption period is not negotiable. If it expires without payment, the purchaser can petition the court for a tax deed, and at that point you lose the property. Indiana courts have very limited discretion to extend the redemption period once it has expired. If you’re approaching that deadline and don’t have the full redemption amount, contact Indiana Legal Services immediately. There may be procedural grounds that affect your specific situation, but you need an attorney, not more time to research. If a lien instrument has already been recorded against your property by the purchaser, the guide on how to fight a mechanics lien filed against your Indianapolis property explains the related procedural landscape, though a tax sale certificate operates under different statutes.
Free Legal Help Available in Indianapolis
Indiana Legal Services is the primary free civil legal aid organization serving income-eligible Hoosiers. They handle property tax issues including representation in tax sale matters and redemption proceedings. Call 317-631-9410 to go through intake. You’ll be screened for income eligibility and case type. Don’t wait until a week before the auction; their capacity is real and they need time to work with you effectively. Their Indianapolis office is your first call if you can’t afford a private attorney.
The IUPUI Robert H. McKinney School of Law Community Legal Clinic at 530 W. New York St., Indianapolis operates community legal clinics that provide free civil legal assistance to low-income Indianapolis residents. The scope of property tax representation available through their clinic should be confirmed by contacting them directly, as clinic offerings vary by semester and staffing.
Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership operates at 317-610-4663 and inhp.com. They focus on affordable homeownership in Indianapolis and offer financial counseling and homeownership support services. Whether they specifically address tax delinquency and tax sale counseling in their current offerings should be confirmed by calling their main line. If they can’t help directly, their counselors can point you to the right resource.
Start with United Way 211 if you don’t know where to start. Dial 2-1-1. United Way of Central Indiana’s 211 service connects callers to local assistance resources and can direct you to housing counselors, legal aid, and emergency financial assistance programs specific to your situation. It’s the most appropriate first call for a homeowner who’s overwhelmed and doesn’t know which of the above options fits their circumstances.
Free legal services organizations have limited capacity and sometimes long intake queues. If you know your property is on the certified list, make these calls now—not after you’ve spent another month trying to sort it out on your own.
If the Property Does Not Redeem—What Comes Next
When the redemption period expires without payment, the tax sale certificate holder petitions the court for a tax deed. Once that deed is issued, title transfers. At that point, the original owner has lost the property entirely.
In Marion County, a significant portion of unredeemed post-sale properties are acquired by Renew Indianapolis, the city’s land bank. Renew Indianapolis determines whether each acquired property will be rehabbed and sold to an owner-occupant, returned to productive use through a community partner, or—where rehabilitation isn’t economically viable—demolished. The land bank’s inventory has historically been concentrated in Center Township, Decatur Township, and Warren Township, where decades of disinvestment have produced substantial numbers of properties cycling through the tax sale with no redemption.
For neighbors watching a vacant structure deteriorate next door, a Renew Indianapolis acquisition is generally preferable to the property sitting as a blighted shell under an out-of-state investor who does nothing with it. That’s not a guarantee of a good outcome, but it’s usually a better one.
If you’re renting a property from a landlord and you receive any notice—from the Treasurer’s office, from a court, or from someone claiming to have purchased the property at tax sale—don’t ignore it and don’t assume your lease protects you automatically. Your tenancy doesn’t end at the moment of the tax sale, and a purchaser can’t simply lock you out. But your rights and your timeline become complicated quickly, and you need information specific to your situation. Call Indiana Legal Services at 317-631-9410 or dial 211 immediately. Don’t wait for an eviction notice.
One More Thing Before You Set This Down
The Marion County tax sale is the mechanism by which a house—a real house, with a mortgage paid down over years, with a family’s history in it—transfers to a stranger for the cost of a delinquent tax bill. That outcome isn’t inevitable if a homeowner acts while the window is open.
The window in 2026 closes in late September or October. Check the SRI Tax Sale Services platform and call the Marion County Treasurer at 317-327-4444 to confirm the exact date once it’s published. If your property is on the list, the single most useful thing you can do today is get a current payoff figure from the Treasurer’s office. The number will probably be higher than you expect. Knowing it precisely is the only way to figure out what your realistic options are.
If you can’t pay it, Indiana Legal Services can help. Call them at 317-631-9410.
