Land · South Carolina tax sale guide

South Carolina tax sales by county

Verified

South Carolina sells the property itself, but the buyer waits a year to own it. Each fall the county delinquent tax collector auctions delinquent parcels at a public sale, opening every parcel at the Forfeited Land Commission's bid for all unpaid taxes, penalties, assessments and costs. The winner pays the full bid on the day of the sale, in legal tender, and takes home a receipt. The owner then has twelve months to redeem by paying the debt plus lump sum interest on the bid, 3, 6, 9 or 12 percent depending on the quarter, and the interest can never exceed the county's own opening bid. Only if nobody redeems does the collector issue a tax title.

This page set covers the top 20 South Carolina counties by population and sale volume. Each county page carries the selling office, the 2026 sale status and dates, the venue, registration rules and fees, payment terms, and the Forfeited Land Commission channel for parcels nobody buys, verified against the counties' own sources. Most of the 2026 season in this set is already complete: Charleston's sale opens on the day this set is checked and Berkeley's runs November 16, while the rest are the verified record of the 2026 sales and the working map for the redemption year and the 2027 season.

Verify before you go: counties can move a date, change terms, cancel a sale, or pull parcels at any time. The official sale list is the final word.

The 20 counties

Each row links to that county's own page: selling office, venue or platform, deposit, payment terms, leftover channel, and sources. Where a county has not posted a dated sale, the row says so instead of projecting a pattern onto it.

How South Carolina tax sales work

• The debt builds fast, then the county takes possession on paper. Taxes unpaid after January 15 take penalties under Section 12-45-180: 3 percent, then 7 percent more on February 2, then 5 percent more on March 17. The treasurer issues an execution, and the officer charged with collecting delinquent taxes mails the delinquency notice on April 1, takes exclusive possession by certified mail or posting, and advertises the sale once a week for three consecutive weeks under Section 12-51-40.
• The sale is a public auction, and the county opens every parcel. Under Section 12-51-50 the property is sold at public auction at the courthouse or another convenient place in the county on the advertised date; the statute sets no statewide date, and counties in this set sell between October and December. The officer must open each parcel with a bid for the county Forfeited Land Commission equal to all unpaid taxes, penalties, assessments and costs, including the taxes levied for the year the redemption period begins (Section 12-51-55). Public bidding starts at that amount.
• The winner pays in full that day and leaves with a receipt. Section 12-51-60 requires payment of the full bid on the day of the sale, in cash, cashier's check, certified check or money order, and the buyer receives a receipt, not a deed. A bidder who fails to pay has the bid cancelled, faces up to 500 dollars in damages, and the property is readvertised (Section 12-51-70). Any part of the bid above the taxes, penalties and costs is held by the collector and belongs to the former owner, who is notified of the excess after the tax deed issues.
• Redemption runs twelve months and pays a lump sum, not a rate. The defaulting taxpayer, a grantee from the owner, or a mortgage or judgment creditor may redeem within twelve months of the sale under Section 12-51-90, paying the debt plus interest on the whole successful bid: 3 percent if redeemed in the first three months, 6 percent in months four to six, 9 percent in months seven to nine, 12 percent in the last three months. The interest charged may never exceed the amount of the Forfeited Land Commission bid, so money bid above the county's opening bid earns no interest at all.
• The deed comes after the year runs, and unsold parcels sit with the Commission. If nobody redeems, the collector issues a tax title to the purchaser under Section 12-51-130, and after one more year that deed is incontestable (Section 12-51-90(C)). Parcels the Forfeited Land Commission takes in, because nobody outbid its opening bid, are held through the same redemption period; the Commission then holds title and sells forfeited lands through its own posted sale process, which is the year round leftover channel in every South Carolina county.

One South Carolina fact decides most bids: the return is a fixed lump sum, not an annual rate. Redemption pays 3, 6, 9 or 12 percent of the bid, once, by quarter, and the interest is capped at the county's opening bid, so every dollar bid above that opening bid earns nothing if the owner redeems and is handed to the former owner if they do not. In this state the disciplined bid is the opening bid plus a number you can defend, not the parcel's market value.

Research the parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcel, 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 the country, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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Get the alert, not just the calendar.

The dates on these pages are the free layer. The Pine membership is the paid layer, proven in New York: members pick their counties, get alerts when a sale is scheduled or a list posts, and receive the full property list with the analysis already done. South Carolina counties open from the interest list first, in the order readers join it.

Keep going

Once a deadline puts you in a sale, the Land Investor Due Diligence Toolkit is the checklist and bid worksheet to run on each parcel before you bid.