Mississippi Tax Sale Guide: The Two-Year Redemption Window and Your Options (2026)

A Mississippi tax sale does not take your house on the day it happens. If your house went to the county's August tax sale, you still live in the house and still hold a two-year right to redeem it. Plenty of owners land here after a job loss, a death in the family, or a tax bill that arrived at the wrong address.

This guide explains how the sale works, what redemption costs month by month, and which notices the chancery clerk must send. It also covers houses struck off to the state and the three paths open to you: redeem, sell, or let the period run out.

How does a Mississippi tax sale work?

In a Mississippi tax sale, the county tax collector sells each tax-delinquent parcel to whoever pays the most in cash, subject to the owner's two-year right to redeem. The sale happens on the last Monday in August, and some counties add an April sale (Miss. Code Ann. § 27-41-59). The starting amount is the unpaid taxes plus interest, fees, and penalties.

The purchaser does not get your house on sale day. The tax collector's list of sales gives the purchaser a title that has no right of possession and stays subject to your right of redemption (§ 27-41-79). County sale sites and tax sale purchasers usually call it a tax lien, because a redemption payment cancels it.

What the 2026 sales looked like

Hinds County, which includes Jackson, Mississippi, held its 2026 sale online on August 31, 2026. The sale covered 16,062 parcels with combined starting amounts of $21,728,520.27, or about $1,353 per parcel (Tax Sale Resources, August 2026).

On the Coast, Harrison County runs its sale entirely online through GovEase, starting at 8:30 a.m. and continuing daily until every parcel is sold. The parcel list runs in the Gazebo Gazette two weeks before the sale (Harrison County Tax Collector, accessed September 2026).

Money paid above the face amount

A purchaser who pays more than the face amount earns no interest on the extra and does not get it back (Harrison County Tax Collector, accessed September 2026). The extra does not raise your cost to redeem, because § 27-45-3 sets that amount no matter what the purchaser paid.

The Mississippi tax sale timeline, from February to maturity

The Mississippi tax sale timeline runs about two and a half years from the missed payment to the purchaser's right to a deed. Property taxes are due February 1 (§ 27-41-1). After that, unpaid taxes carry interest of one-half of one percent a month until the sale (§ 27-41-9).

The table uses the Hinds County sale of August 31, 2026. The chancery clerk's notice states your exact deadline.

Next year's taxes still come due each February 1 while the clock runs. If those go unpaid, the house can be sold again the next August, adding a second redemption bill.

How long is the Mississippi tax sale redemption period?

The Mississippi tax sale redemption period is two years from the day of the sale (Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-3). During those two years, you keep living in the house. You redeem by paying the chancery clerk of the county where the land sits.

Who can redeem

The statute lets three groups redeem:

• The owner
• Anyone acting for the owner with the owner's consent
• Any person with an interest in the land

That last group can include heirs who share title to a family house. If a relative died owning the house, our guide to selling an inherited house in Mississippi covers how heirs get the authority to act.

The statute also gives a longer window to a minor who inherited the land, who can redeem within two years after reaching adulthood. A person of unsound mind gets two years after being restored to sanity.

What you get when you redeem

Once you pay, the chancery clerk signs a sealed release that works as a quitclaim of the purchaser's claim under the sale (§ 27-45-3).

What redemption costs: a worked example

Redeeming costs the taxes the house sold for, the costs of the sale, 5% damages on those taxes, and interest of 1.5% a month on the taxes and costs from the sale date. Costs added after the sale, such as notice fees, carry the same 1.5% monthly interest from the date they were added.

The statute charges interest for each month "or any fractional part thereof." In plain terms, redeeming one day into a new month costs a full month of interest. That works out to 18% a year.

The table uses an illustrative $1,500 tax bill, close to the Hinds County 2026 average of about $1,353 per parcel. The $100 in sale costs is also illustrative.

Late in the period, notice fees join the bill: $50 for the clerk's title search, $3 to issue and mail the notice, $45 for service, and the newspaper's cost (§ 27-43-3). The clerk also charges $7 for each lien found of record (§ 27-43-11).

The chancery clerk's notice before time runs out

Mississippi law requires the chancery clerk to warn the record owner before the redemption period ends. The clerk must issue the notice no more than 180 days and no fewer than 60 days before the deadline (§ 27-43-1). The notice names the sale, the purchaser, and the date title becomes absolute unless you redeem.

How the notice reaches you

For an owner who lives in Mississippi, the notice goes out several ways (§ 27-43-3):

• The sheriff or a constable serves it in person, or leaves it with a household member 16 or older
• If no one can be found, the officer posts it on a door of the house
• The clerk mails a copy by registered or certified mail
• The clerk publishes your name, address, and the legal description in a county newspaper at least 45 days before the deadline

An owner who lives out of state gets the mailed notice but no sheriff's service. If both attempts fail, the clerk must search again and send a second notice.

What a missed notice means

Section 27-43-3 draws a firm line. If the clerk fails to send the notice the statute requires, the sale is void, and the purchaser's money is refunded. If the clerk and sheriff did everything required, the sale stands even if you never actually saw the notice.

Mortgage lenders and other lienholders of record get their own certified-mail notice (§ 27-43-5). A missed lienholder notice voids the tax title only as to that lienholder (§ 27-43-11).

Your three options inside the two-year window

An owner inside the two-year window has three realistic paths: redeem, sell and pay off the sale at closing, or let the period run out and lose the house. Each one gets more expensive, or less available, as the months pass.

Option 1: Redeem

Redeeming makes sense when you want to keep the house and can raise the payoff. The statute describes redemption as paying the full amount, so ask the clerk before counting on a partial payment.

Option 2: Sell, and let the payoff clear at closing

Selling works when the house is worth more than you owe on it and keeping it no longer fits. Your buyer's closing attorney or title company typically orders the redemption figure from the chancery clerk. At closing, that amount is paid from the sale proceeds, and the clerk's release clears the purchaser's claim.

What is left after the payoff, any mortgage, and closing costs goes to you. In Jackson, MS, the Redfin median sale price was $139,907 over the three months ending August 2026 (Redfin, August 2026). Separately, the Zillow Home Value Index for the city was $86,367 in August 2026 (Zillow ZHVI, August 2026). Either way, a $2,000 redemption bill is a small slice of what the house can be worth.

Option 3: Let the period run out

If nobody redeems, the purchaser can demand a tax deed from the chancery clerk once the two years end. That deed vests "a perfect title with the immediate right of possession" in the purchaser (§ 27-45-23). The equity in the house goes with it.

A court can undo that deed only on narrow grounds, such as taxes paid before the sale or a sale held at the wrong time or place. A missed clerk's notice is the other main exception.

When nobody buys: houses struck off to the state

When nobody pays the taxes and costs on a parcel at the sale, the tax collector strikes it off to the state (§ 27-41-59). The same two-year redemption right applies, and you still redeem through the chancery clerk.

After the two years

Within 30 days after the period ends, the chancery clerk certifies unredeemed state parcels to the Secretary of State (§ 27-45-21). That filing vests title in the state, and the Secretary of State's Public Lands Division takes over the land.

A former owner can apply to buy the land back through that office. According to the Division's FAQ, a sale to the prior owner is priced at the highest of three amounts (Mississippi Secretary of State, 2026):

• 25% of market value, set by the county tax assessor or an appraisal
• The back taxes and all fees
• The amount the applicant offers

The Division says the process, which needs the Governor's approval, normally takes about 60 to 90 days from application to land patent. Redeeming through the chancery clerk before maturity is usually simpler and cheaper.

Selling a Mississippi house after a tax sale

You can sell a Mississippi house after a tax sale at any point before the redemption period ends. The statute lets anyone acting with your consent redeem, and in practice the sale proceeds do the redeeming.

What the closing needs

Mississippi closings run through a closing attorney or a title company by common practice. The title search will show the tax sale, and the closing agent then typically needs:

• A written redemption figure from the chancery clerk, good through the closing date
• Payoffs for any mortgage or other liens
• Current-year taxes, prorated or paid at closing
• A second redemption figure if a later year's taxes were also sold

The closing follows the redemption payoff at the chancery clerk. Once the clerk's release is recorded, the purchaser's claim is gone, and the deed to your buyer can record cleanly.

Where Propcash fits

Propcash is a direct cash homebuyer based in Nashville. We buy houses as-is, and we can make one cash offer that shows the chancery clerk's payoff in the math. Sellers pay no fees or commissions, and you pick the closing date.

You can get a cash offer on a Mississippi house with a tax sale on it. If redeeming and keeping the house is the better move, we will say so. If listing would likely net you more and you have time, we may point you to a local agent. We may receive compensation from agents we refer. See our Mississippi cash buyer page for more.

If a mortgage lender has also started a foreclosure, our guide on how to stop foreclosure in Mississippi explains that separate, much shorter timeline.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do you have to redeem a house after a tax sale in Mississippi?

Mississippi gives the owner two years from the date of the tax sale to redeem, under Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-3. You redeem by paying the chancery clerk in the county where the house sits, not the purchaser. A minor who inherited the land, or a person of unsound mind, gets two years after reaching adulthood or being restored to sanity.

How much does it cost to redeem a house after a Mississippi tax sale?

You pay the taxes the house sold for, the costs of the sale, 5% damages on those taxes, and interest of 1.5% per month on the taxes and costs from the sale date. A partial month counts as a full month. On an illustrative $1,500 tax bill with $100 in sale costs, the total runs about $1,819 at six months and $2,251 at 24 months, before notice fees.

Can you sell a house after it was sold at a Mississippi tax sale?

You can sell a house after a Mississippi tax sale at any point during the two-year redemption period. The purchaser has no right of possession during that time, and you still hold the right to redeem. At closing, the closing attorney or title company typically gets the redemption amount from the chancery clerk and pays it from your sale proceeds. The clerk then issues a release of the purchaser's claim.

What happens if you do not redeem within two years?

When the two years end without redemption, the purchaser can demand a tax deed from the chancery clerk. Under Miss. Code Ann. § 27-45-23, that deed gives the purchaser a perfect title and the immediate right of possession. A court can set it aside only on narrow grounds.

What if the chancery clerk never sent me a notice?

The chancery clerk must issue notice to the record owner between 180 and 60 days before the redemption period ends. If the clerk fails to send the required notice, Miss. Code Ann. § 27-43-3 makes the sale void. If the clerk and sheriff did everything the statute requires, the sale stands even if you never actually received the notice.

How do you get back a house that was struck off to the state?

During the two years, you redeem a house struck off to the state the same way as any other: through the chancery clerk. After the period ends, the clerk certifies the unredeemed land to the Secretary of State, and title vests in the state. A former owner can then apply to buy it back through the Secretary of State's Public Lands Division.

Data Sources: Miss. Code Ann. Title 27, chapters 41, 43, and 45 (read September 2026); Harrison County Tax Collector; Tax Sale Resources; Mississippi Secretary of State; Redfin; Zillow. Propcash is a direct cash homebuyer, not a law firm. Confirm exact figures with the chancery clerk and consult a Mississippi attorney about your situation.