Tax Liens Held by a Political Subdivision: how it works
Tax liens held by a political subdivision
When a lien draws no bidder, R.S. 47:2154(E)(1) has the tax collector record the tax lien certificate in favor of the political subdivision, and that certificate earns the full 1 percent per month. R.S. 47:2246 then lets any person buy that lien from the political subdivision on the terms and conditions the political subdivision sets, and the buyer takes exactly the same rights as any other certificate holder. R.S. 47:2201(A)(3) is the enabling half: a political subdivision may adopt an ordinance governing the public sale of the tax liens it holds, and R.S. 47:2207.1 has it execute the sale and file the act of sale in the mortgage records. A political subdivision may sell for less than the full delinquent obligation without that counting as a donation of public property. There is no statewide list, no statewide price and no fixed discount. Ask the tax collector and the parish or municipal governing authority which certificates are held and what their ordinance requires.
Does Louisiana publish a lands-available list?
Louisiana keeps no lands available list in the Florida sense. Its nearest equivalent is adjudicated property: parcels whose tax sale title passed to a political subdivision before January 1, 2026 under the now repealed R.S. 47:2196. Those are still sold and donated under Part IV of Chapter 5, and R.S. 47:2201(B) lets a political subdivision convert adjudicated title into a tax lien certificate issued to itself, with the period of adjudication counting toward the three years a holder must wait before suing. Where a tax sale party or tax lien auction party acquires an interest through one of these sales or donations, R.S. 47:2209 treats it as a redemption or extinguishment rather than a purchase, so prior mortgages, liens, privileges and encumbrances survive with their original rank.
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 Aug 24, 2026 against Louisiana 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.