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Tax Sale Atlas

Wayne County, IN tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Wayne County, IN tax sale, one of 2,553 counties in 30 states. Indiana sells tax lien certificates paying up to 15%, redeemable for 1 year. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Jul 30, 2026.

How tax lien sales work in Wayne County, seat of Richmond: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Indiana tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Once a year, in early October.
Format
In person
Registration
Early registration is preferred.
County office
(765) 973-9317
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Wayne County sells delinquent taxes

From lien to deed

Indiana holds no general public tax deed auction. Once the redemption period runs out, the certificate holder files a verified petition in the same court that entered the judgment of sale, and the court directs the county auditor to issue the deed. That petition must be filed no later than three months after the redemption period expires, or the purchaser's lien terminates. One narrow exception exists: real property a county, city, or town executive has certified as vacant or abandoned is auctioned separately, and there the county auditor deeds fee simple title straight to the highest bidder with no right of redemption.

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Wayne County Auditor's Office
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Once a year, in early October.
Registration
Early registration is preferred.
Sale list
Wayne County Auditor tax sale page (sale notices, property lists, buyer packets)
When it runs
Once a year, in early October. The Auditor's tax sale page states "Real Property Tax Sale October 07, 2025 - Beginning 10:00 AM Local Time" and "Wayne County Tax Sales are held once a year." As of late July 2026 the county has not yet posted a fall 2026 date. The county also holds a separate Commissioners' Certificate Sale in the spring; the most recent notice reads "NOTICE OF REAL PROPERTY COMMISSIONERS' CERTIFICATE SALE ... Beginning 10:00 AM Local Time, April 16, 2026, Admin Building Commissioners' Chambers."
Registration and deposit

Early registration is preferred. The Auditor's page directs bidders to register through the SRI Indiana tax sale registration site or in person at the Wayne County Auditor's Office, and warns that "No late registrations (after 9:50a.m.) the day of sale will be acknowledged." Prospective buyer information packets are available in the Auditor's Office. Bidders must attend in person: "You must be present to bid and all successful bids must be paid for by 3:00 p.m. on the day of the sale at which time you will receive a Tax Sale Certificate for your lien." Payment is by bank or business check, money order, certified funds, or cash; the county accepts no credit cards and no personal checks. Bidding opens at all back taxes, current year taxes and penalties, any sewer or weed liens, and tax sale costs. For the Commissioners' Certificate Sale, a business entity must give the county treasurer a Certificate of Existence or Foreign Registration Statement under IC 6-1.1-24-5.1.

Sale format and venue
Wayne County runs its annual real property tax lien sale IN PERSON as an oral-bid auction in the Commissioners' Chambers at 401 E. Main St., Richmond, so there is no online bidding platform for the real property lien sale; plan to attend or send a representative. The county's tax sale page is published by the Auditor's Office, which handles registration, buyer packets, and sale questions at (765) 973-9317, and Auditor Mark A. Hoelscher signs the sale notices. Treasurer Beth Fields, (765) 973-9238, collects the delinquent taxes and her page tells buyers that "For tax sale info, the most up-to-date tax sale list, registration, Form 137B, and the lien buyer handout, visit www.sriservices.com. You can pre-register online before the sale." SRI Services, Inc. is the vendor that administers Indiana county tax sales and operates the Zeus auction platform at zeusauction.com. Two cautions on platforms. First, the Commissioners' Certificate Sale notice reserves an online fallback only: "At the discretion of local officials, the tax sale may switch to an online format. If those measures are taking place, the public auction will be conducted as an electronic sale under IC 6-1.1-24-2(b)(10) at www.zeusauction.com commencing on the same date / time listed above," with location updates posted to SRI's site before the sale, so confirm the format with the Auditor's Office before travelling. Second, the Treasurer separately runs an online Mobile Home Personal Property Tax Sale on zeusauction.com; that is a personal property sale, not the real property lien sale, so do not confuse the two. The bidder registration link printed on the Auditor's page points at an SRI legacy address whose host no longer resolves, so register in person at the Auditor's Office or start from sriservices.com and verify by phone. The sale list is published in two local papers, the Palladium Item and the Western Wayne News, updated daily in the Auditor's Office and updated Fridays on the county website; a list by mail requires a self-addressed stamped envelope with extra postage. Properties that do not sell are held for a later public sale. The April 16, 2026 Commissioners' Certificate Sale notice, dated 02/23/2026, listed 31 properties with minimum bids of $100.00 to $500.00, set below the minimum from the preceding annual tax sale under IC 6-1.1-24-6.1(a)(3). Redemption after a certificate sale requires the prior annual-sale minimum bid, ten percent of the certificate price, notice attorney fees and costs under IC 6-1.1-25-4.5, title search costs, later taxes paid by the buyer plus ten percent per annum, and county sale and advertising costs. In person, oral bid at the Wayne County Commissioners' Chambers, Wayne County Administration Building, 401 E. Main St., Richmond, IN 47374
Source: Wayne County Auditor, Wayne County Tax Sale Information· Verified Jul 30, 2026

Wayne County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Wayne 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Wayne County Auditor tax sale page (sale notices, property lists, buyer packets) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Early registration is preferred. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    Once a year, in early October. 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.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Wayne County Auditor's Office as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Wayne County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Wayne County Auditor tax sale page (sale notices, property lists, buyer packets). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Early registration is preferred. The Auditor's page directs bidders to register through the SRI Indiana tax sale registration site or in person at the Wayne County Auditor's Office, and warns that "No late registrations (after 9:50a.m.) the day of sale will be acknowledged." Prospective buyer information packets are available in the Auditor's Office. Bidders must attend in person: "You must be present to bid and all successful bids must be paid for by 3:00 p.m. on the day of the sale at which time you will receive a Tax Sale Certificate for your lien." Payment is by bank or business check, money order, certified funds, or cash; the county accepts no credit cards and no personal checks. Bidding opens at all back taxes, current year taxes and penalties, any sewer or weed liens, and tax sale costs. For the Commissioners' Certificate Sale, a business entity must give the county treasurer a Certificate of Existence or Foreign Registration Statement under IC 6-1.1-24-5.1.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Indiana due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  4. 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

Parcels that draw no bid at the treasurer's tax sale pass to the county executive, which acquires a lien for the minimum sale price and receives a tax sale certificate. The county executive may then adopt a resolution and offer those certificates at a separate advertised public sale, often called the commissioners' certificate sale, priced 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. This is a scheduled sale rather than a walk-in list, and redemption on a certificate bought this way is 120 days. Check the county auditor page for the next commissioners' certificate sale date.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Indiana calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Wayne County Auditor's Office

(765) 973-9317

401 East Main Street, Richmond, IN 47374

Official website

County notes

  • The Auditor's Office is on the second floor of the Wayne County Annex Building at 401 East Main Street, Richmond, open Monday 8:30am to 5:00pm and Tuesday through Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm.
  • The Auditor's page displays (765) 973-9318 as the Auditor's listed line, while the same page tells bidders to direct sale questions to (765) 973-9317. Call either and ask for the tax sale clerk.
  • Auditor contact email is listed as mhoelscher@co.wayne.in.us on the tax sale page and mhoelscher@waynecounty.in.gov on the Auditor's home page; the county is mid-migration between the co.wayne.in.us and waynecounty.in.gov domains.
  • Treasurer's Office: Beth Fields, (765) 973-9238, 401 East Main Street, Richmond, IN 47374, second floor of the Wayne County Annex Building. Redemption questions after a sale go to the Auditor's Office.
  • A Commissioners Deed Sale scheduled for April 17, 2025 was cancelled per a notice on the Auditor's tax sale page.
  • Property research links used by the county: Beacon parcel data at beacon.schneidercorp.com for Wayne County, and tax balances at waynecounty.properlytaxes.com.

Indiana rules

Max interest rate
15% of the amount paid maximum, as a flat statutory penalty
Minimum return
10% statutory penalty at redemption
Redemption
The standard period is one year after the date of the treasurer's tax sale. Several tracks run 120 days instead: a certificate bought at the county executive's certificate sale, a lien the county executive holds that was never sold on, a sale to a purchasing agency qualified under IC 36-7-17 or IC 36-7-17.1, a certificate the county executive assigns to another political subdivision, and a parcel that was not offered at the tax sale at all. Property on the county auditor's vacant and abandoned list carries no right of redemption after its sale. A county treasurer may also extend redemption by agreement with the owner, in which case the extended period ends one year after the date of that agreement.
Surplus proceeds
The treasurer applies the payment first to the taxes, assessments, penalties, and costs in the minimum bid, then to other delinquent property taxes, then deposits the remainder in a tax sale surplus fund. The owner of record at the time the parcel was certified for sale, or the purchaser on a redemption, may file a verified claim against that fund. Unclaimed surplus transfers to the county general fund three years after it was received.
Governing statute
IC 6-1.1-24

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.

See the full Indianarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Wayne County, Indiana sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax lien certificates. In Indiana investors buy the lien, not the property; the County Treasurer runs the sale.

When is the Wayne County tax certificate sale?

Once a year, in early October. The Auditor's tax sale page states "Real Property Tax Sale October 07, 2025 - Beginning 10:00 AM Local Time" and "Wayne County Tax Sales are held once a year." As of late July 2026 the county has not yet posted a fall 2026 date. The county also holds a separate Commissioners' Certificate Sale in the spring; the most recent notice reads "NOTICE OF REAL PROPERTY COMMISSIONERS' CERTIFICATE SALE ... Beginning 10:00 AM Local Time, April 16, 2026, Admin Building Commissioners' Chambers." The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Indiana's redemption rule: 1 year from the date of sale. Call the Wayne County Auditor's Office as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Wayne County tax sale list?

Wayne County posts its tax sale list at co.wayne.in.us. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

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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Call Wayne County Auditor's Office