DeKalb County, IL tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the DeKalb County, IL tax sale, one of 2,553 counties in 30 states. Illinois sells tax lien certificates paying up to 9%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Jul 30, 2026.
How tax lien and tax deed sales work in DeKalb County, seat of Sycamore: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Illinois tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction.
- Format
- In person
- County office
- 815-895-7112
On this page
How DeKalb County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- DeKalb County Treasurer / Collector (the DeKalb County Treasurer serves as both Treasurer and Collector, and the office states "A tax sale is held at the end of each tax year to sell the tax on all parcels that remain unpaid")
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Once per year in late October.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Bidders must have the current year DeKalb County Tax Buyer Registration form on file with the Treasurer's Office 10 business days before the sale. For the sale the page describes, forms were due October 10, 2025. Request the form from the Collector's Office at treasurer@dekalbcounty.org or 815-895-7112, roughly two weeks after the second installment due date. Registration must include a $500.00 deposit that is applied to purchases, refunded if you attend without buying, and forfeited if you do not attend. One buyer per registration may bid. First-time buyers must pay the deposit and the list fee in certified funds (cash, cashier's check, money order, or letter of credit with a check); repeat buyers may use personal, business, or cashier's checks. Taxes must be paid immediately after the sale closes.
Sale format and venue
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions.
- Frequency
- as ordered by the circuit court
- Typical timing
- Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.
Sale format and venue
DeKalb County tax sale list and auction calendar
For DeKalb County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.
Get the advertised list
Use County Trustee assignable certificate and surplus parcel catalog (Joseph E. Meyer and Associates) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions. as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in DeKalb County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from County Trustee assignable certificate and surplus parcel catalog (Joseph E. Meyer and Associates). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Illinois due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Illinois before you price the title work.Set a walk-away number
Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
unsold liens and deeds
Certificates nobody bids on at the annual sale are forfeited to the county as trustee for the taxing districts. The county may then assign a forfeited certificate to any party or sell property it has acquired, which many counties handle through a delinquent tax agent rather than a public counter. Counties may also offer county-held certificates at a scavenger sale with a minimum bid of $250, or half the tax when total liability is under $500. Ask the county collector and the county clerk which program the county runs and who may buy.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Illinois calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
County notes
- Treasurer / Collector is Becky Springer. Office hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Treasurer's Helpline is 815-895-7337 and email is Treasurer@dekalbcounty.org.
- Redemption is handled by the DeKalb County Clerk, phone 815-895-7149, per the Treasurer's tax sale FAQ.
- County Trustee is J. Meyer and Associates (Joseph E. Meyer and Associates), phone 618-656-5744, for over the counter and assignment certificate purchases and the annual summer surplus property catalog sale.
- The Treasurer's tax sale FAQ still displayed an October 27, 2025 date when checked on 2026-07-29 and states that all listed dates are subject to change, so the current cycle date should be confirmed with the office before publishing a year specific date.
- The county page does not state a starting bid rate or bid down mechanic, so no county specific rate was captured; the statewide rule applies.
- Third party aggregators such as hometaxsale.com publish DeKalb County sale summaries but do not run the sale and were not used as sources.
Illinois rules
- Redemption
- Property sold at an Illinois tax sale may be redeemed at any time before the redemption period expires. Public Act 104-0553 set the standard period at 3 years from the date of sale for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026. Certificates issued between January 1, 2024 and July 9, 2026 run on the earlier 2.5 year (30 month) track, and on that track the certificate holder could file a written notice with the county clerk extending redemption to a date no later than 3 years from the sale. A short 1 year period applies when the parcel was, on the date of sale, vacant non-farm property, commercial or industrial property, or improved with a structure holding 7 or more residential units. Certificates the county holds or assigns as trustee run on their own schedule under Section 21-385, and an assignee must file notice within 60 days of assignment setting a redemption deadline no later than 3 years from the assignment.
- Deed deposit
- Illinois does not fix a statutory deposit percentage. Deposit and payment terms are set in the court's order authorizing the auction and by the selling officer, so read the notice of tax deed auction for each sale. A purchaser who fails to complete the sale forfeits any deposit already made to the county surplus equity fund, and the court orders a new auction of the property.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any amount by which the winning bid exceeds the minimum bid is surplus. Within 30 days after the court confirms the sale the selling officer deposits the surplus with the county treasurer, who notifies everyone who received the Section 22-10 take notice that the owner at the time of the sale may file a claim for it. A county running its own tax deed auction deposits surplus with the treasurer within 30 days of the sale and notifies interested parties within 60 days. Separately, a previous owner who lost equity through a tax deed can claim an award from the county surplus equity fund, capped at the value of the property when the deed issued less mortgages, liens, and the taxes the purchaser paid.
A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does DeKalb County, Illinois sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the DeKalb County tax certificate sale?
How often does DeKalb County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the DeKalb County tax sale list?
Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state sources.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.
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