Land · Ohio tax sale guide

Franklin County tax foreclosure sales

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Franklin is the clearest exception to a simple no lien sale frame. The Treasurer sells the delinquent tax lien itself at an annual tax lien sale, tells owners plainly that the Treasurer is not selling the home, and warns that fees and interest of up to 18 percent are added once a lien is sold. The certificate buyer must wait at least twelve months before asking for foreclosure, and foreclosure then runs as a sheriff sale like any other tax case. Sheriff sales themselves run every Friday online, except where a court order sends a property to an in person sale at the courthouse, and the Sheriff notes that tax sales may be held either way.

Selling office: Franklin County Sheriff, Real Estate Sales unit, selling on court order; the County Treasurer runs the separate annual tax lien sale

Next sale: Sheriff sales every Friday at 9:00 a.m.; the next Friday is Friday, November 13, 2026. The Friday pattern and the online venue are stated on the Sheriff Real Estate Sales page. That page does not separate a dated tax only list, so no tax only sale date was verified beyond the weekly Friday pattern. The Auditor forfeited land sale for 2026 was held on Monday, November 2, 2026, which has passed.

The Auditor published full terms for the Monday, November 2, 2026 forfeited land sale, which is the most recent dated tax related sale verified for this county. No sheriff tax sale parcel count was published on the official sources consulted.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Sheriff sales every Friday at 9:00 a.m.; the next Friday is Friday, November 13, 2026
Sale pattern	Sheriff sales are held every Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. online, and are not held on federal holidays. Where a court order requires an in person sale, it is held in the first floor Press Room or Auditorium of the Franklin County Courthouse at 373 South High Street, Columbus.
Advertising and the list	Properties are advertised for three consecutive weeks beginning five weeks before the sale in the Columbus Dispatch, with sale ads running in the Tuesday paper. The Sheriff calls the newspaper advertisement the legal source of information and treats the website list as a courtesy that should be verified against it.
Minimum bid	The Sheriff states that all bids begin at two thirds of the appraised value unless otherwise directed by court order. For a tax foreclosure, Section 5721.19(A) instead sets the floor at the lesser of the auditor fair market value plus costs, or the total taxes, assessments, charges, penalties, interest and costs found due, and the court order for the parcel controls.
Deposit	Minimum deposits are $2,000, $5,000 or $10,000 as set by law, held at RealAuction. Wire deposits must be received by 5:00 p.m. two business days before the Friday auction, and ACH debit deposits by 4:00 p.m. seven days before it. Plaintiffs and judgment creditors named in the court order are exempt from the advertised deposit.
Confirmation and the deed	The balance is due 30 days after confirmation of sale, and all sales are buyer beware. Since September 17, 2025 every bidder must also complete and sign the conveyance form and the rental registration form before final payment will be accepted.
Redemption	For a tax foreclosure the owner may redeem under Section 5721.25 at any time before the entry confirming the sale is filed, on full payment of what is due plus costs and proof of code compliance. For a sold tax lien certificate, the Treasurer advises that a payment plan to redeem may be available within the first year after the lien sale, and the certificate holder cannot foreclose until at least twelve months after that sale.
Format	Online and in person: Official Public Sheriff Sale Website run by RealAuction, at franklin.sheriffsaleauction.ohio.gov, with tax sales and tax lien certificate sales also sold at times on location in the first floor auditorium at 373 South High Street, Columbus
Selling office	Franklin County Sheriff, Real Estate Sales unit, selling on court order; the County Treasurer runs the separate annual tax lien sale

Sources: Franklin County Sheriff, Real Estate Sales. Franklin County Treasurer, Tax Lien Sale, Tax Payer Information. Franklin County Auditor, Forfeited Land Sale Terms. Ohio Revised Code Section 5721.19. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and owners can pay and stop a foreclosure at any point before the sale is confirmed.

Research Franklin County parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcels, the date, and the opening terms. It does not give you the owner, the value, or the rest of the picture: liens, foreclosure status, and parcel history. PropertyRadar is the data platform for that layer. It carries owner records, assessed and market values, foreclosure and tax data, and property history for parcels across Franklin County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Ohio tax foreclosure sales work

Taxes go delinquent and the lien attaches. Ohio real estate taxes are a lien on the property. The county auditor and treasurer certify the delinquent land, and the county prosecuting attorney files a foreclosure action in the court of common pleas under ORC 5721.18. Counties that have adopted it can also run an expedited foreclosure before the county board of revision under ORC 323.66, a track aimed at abandoned land. There is no lien auction to buy into as an individual: Ohio lets its larger counties sell tax lien certificates only in bulk, in large bundles to qualified financial lenders (ORC 5721.30 to 5721.43), and a lender that buys certificates forecloses through this same sheriff sale after at least a year, which is why several counties in this set run a separate certificate foreclosure sale day.
The court orders the sale and the sheriff runs it. Once the court finds the taxes due, it orders the property sold. The county sheriff conducts the sale the way Ohio judicial sales run: advertised in advance, with the sale list posted by the sheriff, and held in person at the place the county designates or online on the Official Public Sheriff Sale Website where the county has moved its sales there (ORC 2329.153).
The first sale has a statutory floor. At the first offering, the property cannot sell for less than the lesser of two amounts: the auditor's fair market value of the parcel plus the costs of the action, or the total of the taxes, assessments, charges, penalties, interest and costs the court found due (ORC 5721.19(A), as amended effective April 9, 2025). If it does not sell, it is offered again on the second date in the advertisement; a parcel that still draws no buyer is forfeited to the state and moves to the leftover channels described below.
The gavel is not the end: the court confirms the sale. After the sale the sheriff reports it and the court reviews and confirms it (ORC 2329.31). The purchaser pays the deposit at the sale and the balance on the terms the order sets, and the sheriff executes the deed after confirmation. A winning bid that is not paid is contempt territory: read your county's deposit and balance rules before you bid, because they are enforced.
The owner can redeem until confirmation, and never after. At any time before the court confirms the sale, the owner may redeem by paying the full amount due, taxes, penalties, interest and costs (ORC 5721.25). The moment the sale is confirmed, the redemption right ends. (In a board of revision case the equivalent cutoff is the expiry of the alternative redemption period under ORC 323.78.) That hard stop is what makes an Ohio tax deed different from a Texas or Georgia one: no two year wait, no 12 month premium period, and no redemption premium paid to the buyer at all.

How bidding works in Franklin County

Register with RealAuction and complete the Purchaser Information Form before bidding. Properties open for bidding at least seven days before the sale date, and each Friday auction sells one property at a time in sequence.

The deposit is real money, committed at the sale. Ohio sheriffs collect the deposit in the form and on the deadline the county publishes, and a purchaser who fails to pay the balance faces forfeiture of the deposit and court sanctions. Read your county's rule above before you bid.
Confirmation is the finish line. Nothing is final until the court confirms the sale. Until that entry files, the owner can still pay everything due and take the property back out of the sale.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Franklin County	Deposits sit with RealAuction, not the Sheriff, and the deadline depends on the payment rail: 5:00 p.m. two business days ahead by wire, or 4:00 p.m. seven days ahead by ACH debit. For an in person sale the Sheriff instead requires a cashier's check for the deposit at the time of the final bid, with a completed purchaser information form.
Payment, Franklin County	The balance is due 30 days after confirmation of sale. The Sheriff Real Estate office at 373 South High Street accepts balance payments and check pickup only between 8:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., although the office itself is open to the public from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
What is sold	The property itself, at a court ordered sheriff sale, with a sheriff's deed issued after the court confirms the sale. Ohio sells tax lien certificates only in bulk to institutional lenders (ORC 5721.30 to 5721.43), never to individual buyers at a public auction; a certificate holder's foreclosure comes back through this same sheriff sale.
Minimum bid (first sale)	The lesser of the auditor's fair market value of the parcel plus the costs of the action, or the total of the taxes, assessments, charges, penalties, interest and costs found due in the foreclosure judgment (ORC 5721.19(A), as amended effective April 9, 2025). A second offering runs on the terms in the advertisement and the order.
Redemption	The owner may redeem at any time before the court confirms the sale, by paying the full amount due (ORC 5721.25). After confirmation there is no redemption, and Ohio pays the buyer no redemption premium: the return is the property, not a premium.
Title	The sheriff's deed after confirmation conveys the property under the foreclosure decree, which disposes of the liens joined in the action. It is not a warranty deed from the owner; what the decree did not reach, and condition, access and zoning, remain the buyer's homework.
Costs on top of the bid	Budget the deposit, the balance, and the deed and recording charges the county publishes. On online sales the platform terms can add buyer side fees; your county page states what its sources publish.

The Auditor forfeited land sale and the land bank

Parcels that fail at sheriff sale and are forfeited to the state are sold by the County Auditor at the annual forfeited land sale under Sections 5723.01 to 5723.19. The 2026 sale was held on Monday, November 2, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. in the courthouse auditorium, with any balance, recording fees, a $45 deed fee and a $0.50 transfer fee payable in person on Monday, November 9, 2026. Under Section 5722.04 the county land bank selects nonproductive lands from the forfeited list, and forfeited land may not be sold to anyone delinquent on real property taxes in Ohio.

Before you bid

Know which track the parcel is on. A common pleas foreclosure and an expedited board of revision foreclosure reach the same sheriff sale by different roads, and the board of revision track is aimed at abandoned land, with the county land bank often in line for what does not sell. The track changes who else wants the parcel.
Check the list in sale week. Owners pay, courts stay sales, and parcels get withdrawn up to sale day. The advertised list is the starting list, never the selling list.
Price the confirmation wait, not a redemption period. Your capital is committed from the deposit to the deed, and until the court confirms, the owner can redeem at the full amount due. There is no premium for that wait in Ohio; the payoff is a deed with no redemption tail once confirmation lands.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your resale or hold value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown.

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