Commissioners' Certificate Sale: how it works
Commissioners' certificate sale (county executive sale of county-held certificates)
When a parcel draws no bid at the treasurer's tax sale, the county executive acquires a lien for the minimum sale price and the auditor issues it a tax sale certificate, giving the county the same rights as a purchaser. The county executive may then adopt a resolution offering those certificates to the public at a separate advertised sale, and may price them below the minimum bid that failed at the tax sale. Notice runs once a week for three consecutive weeks, with the final advertisement at least 30 days before the sale date. This is a scheduled public sale rather than a walk-in over-the-counter list, and the redemption period on a certificate bought this way is 120 days.
Does Indiana publish a lands-available list?
Indiana keeps no separate lands-available list. Once a county takes title by tax deed, the county executive may dispose of the property under IC 36-1-11, transfer it to the redevelopment commission, or hold and maintain it for later sale.
This route skips the live auction, which means these are the parcels nobody bid on, so the due diligence matters even more. Every state names this inventory differently, and the state-held and struck-off land table maps each local name to the same mechanism. The over-the-counter guide has the cross-state playbook.
Verified Jul 29, 2026 against Indiana 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.