Forfeited Land Commission: how it works
Forfeited land commission bid assignments and resales
A parcel that draws no bid above the mandatory forfeited land commission bid is struck to that commission, a county body made up of the treasurer, the auditor, and the clerk of court or register of deeds. The commission may assign its bid at any time before the title deed is made, for consideration of no less than the taxes, penalties, and costs the property was sold for. The chairman or a designee may accept sealed bids for assignments for a designated period, after which assignments are made first come, first served, and each county keeps a list of available forfeited land commission properties at a location the commission sets. Once title has passed to the commission, it sells the land on the terms it judges best for the county, with any payment term capped at ten years and secured by a first mortgage on the property sold. An immediate family member of a commission member may not buy from that commission unless the sale runs through a competitive bid process or a public listing open for at least ten days. In practice several counties run the assignments as a scheduled second sale: Charleston County places the parcels that went unsold at the annual tax sale into a sealed-bid silent auction about a month later and posts the list and instructions online only while that sale is open.
Does South Carolina publish a lands-available list?
South Carolina keeps no statewide lands available list. Forfeited land commission holdings are held and sold county by county, and a commission may refuse to accept title to a parcel if taking it would be against the public interest. Property assigned or sold by a commission still carries whatever title defects came with the tax sale, so a county, a commission, or a purchaser may bring an action in the court of common pleas to bar all other claims to the property.
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 6, 2026 against South Carolina 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.