All third party purchasers who plan on buying more than 3 certificates of delinquency in any county, 5 certificates of delinquency statewide or investing more than $10,000 in certificates of delinquency must register with the Department of Revenue. An application is available on the Department’s website – http://revenue.ky.gov/property+tax. You will see a section devoted solely to third party purchasers and this is where you will find the link to download an application. All third party purchasers wishing to participate in a particular county’s tax sale must complete a registration form and submit it along with all required fees and deposits to the county clerk’s office by the advertised deadline. The purchase thresholds in effect for registration with the Department of Revenue do not apply when registering with the county clerk. Therefore, even if you only want to purchase one or two certificates, you must timely register with the county clerk’s office. The following items need to be submitted to the county clerk’s office by the deadline established: 1) The registration form that is used by the county clerk; 2) Copy of the registration certificate issued by the Department of Revenue (if necessary); 3) A list of priority certificates of delinquency you intend to acquire; 4) A list of current year certificates of delinquency you intend to acquire; 5) The applicable registration fees; and 6) All applicable deposit amounts. A registration fee up to a yearly maximum of $250.00 must be paid by a third party purchaser no matter when a certificate of delinquency is acquired during the year. If a prior year certificate of delinquency is purchased before the current year’s tax sale, a registration fee of $10.00 per bill will be added to the total due. For certificates of delinquency purchased at the tax sale, a fee of $5.00 for each certificate of delinquency included on the priority list and $10.00 for each certificate of delinquency included on the purchaser’s current year list will be required. Whenever the $250.00 maximum has been reached, no further registration fees will be charged until the next calendar year. After the tax sale in a county has been completed, any remaining certificates of delinquency may be purchased at any time by any third party. If the $250.00 maximum has not been met, a registration fee of $10.00 per bill will be imposed until the limit is reached. After allocating the certificates of delinquency for which third party purchaser’s had a priority claim, the remaining certificates will be sold in a predetermined lot size. The selection order is determined by a random drawing at the beginning of the tax sale and this order is followed in each round. If a registered purchaser is not present for the random drawing but shows up late, he or she will be placed at the bottom of the selection list.
KY caveats
Kentucky sells LIENS, not deeds. The expected outcome is the taxpayer satisfying the certificate at 12% per annum, not acquiring the property. Ownership requires a separate judicial foreclosure at additional legal cost, and the maths above treats that cost as if it were quiet title.
THE ADVERTISED PARCEL COUNT OVERSTATES WHAT IS BUYABLE. A third-party purchaser already holding a prior-year certificate on a parcel has first priority, submits a priority list up to ten days before the sale, and every certificate allocated that way is REMOVED from the annual sale (KRS 134.128). On a large county roll a material share of the advertised certificates never reaches open bidding, so an announced count is an upper bound on availability, not inventory.
SECOND REDEMPTION THIS ROW CANNOT EXPRESS. If a foreclosure sale brings less than two-thirds of the appraised value, KRS 426.530 gives the defendant six months from the day of sale to redeem at the purchase money plus 10% per annum plus the purchaser's reasonable post-sale costs. Six months is the current text, amended effective 2016-07-15; older summaries say a year. Bidding above two-thirds of appraisal is what extinguishes this right.
ONE-YEAR TOLLING PERIOD. No action may be brought on a certificate until one year after the taxes became delinquent (1 January), and none at all after eleven years (KRS 134.546). A July purchase therefore sits roughly six months before enforcement can even begin.
›Harlan County rulesstate defaults
Sale type
Tax Lien
Redemption period
1 year from sale (certificate of delinquency)
Investor return
12% per annum statutory
Governing statute
Kentucky Revised Statutes Ch. 134
Population
25,052 residents
Notes
County clerk sells certificates of delinquency; third-party purchasers can add fees.
Inherited from Kentucky rather than researched for Harlan: type, redemption, returns, statute, notes.
Parcels — ranked by assessed value over opening bid
No parcels published yet
The county has announced 2,686 parcels for this sale, but the parcel list itself has not been fetched yet — so there is nothing to rank here. Counties often publish it only days before the sale. Check back closer to Aug 27, 2026.
Spread is not profit.It compares the opening bid to the county's assessed value, which is not market value — Section 172 of the Kentucky Constitution requires all non-exempt property to be assessed at 100% of fair cash value — the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale — as of 1 January (see also KRS 132.190). Open a parcel to run the full max-bid analysis, which accounts for the assessment ratio, surviving liens, quiet title, and holding costs.
Premium-bid sale. The opening figure is taxes, penalties, interest and administrative costs, and bidders bid the price UP; the 12% accrues on the amount paid to the clerk, so a premium is not dead money, but it does lower the effective yield against the certificate's face.
You cannot cherry-pick. Certificates are sold in lots whose size is set by the size of the county's roll — up to 5 for rolls under 500, rising to 50 for rolls of 2,500-7,500, and 2% of the roll per round beyond that — with selection order set by a random drawing at the start of the sale (103 KAR 5:180).
Registration is mandatory and volume triggers obligations. Participants register with the county clerk at least a week ahead; anyone paying more than five certificates statewide, more than three in one county, or more than $10,000 statewide in a calendar year must also register with the Department of Revenue and must offer delinquent taxpayers a monthly installment plan (KRS 134.128; 134.129; 134.490).
Notice duties are continuing, not one-off. Within 50 days of delivery the purchaser must notify the taxpayer by first-class mail with proof of mailing, must repeat that notice at least annually until an action is instituted, and must give 45 days' notice before instituting one (KRS 134.490). These are carrying costs and a source of title risk if missed.
Home-rule cities can differ. Kentucky grants broad home rule under KRS 82.082, and first-class city procedure sits in KRS Chapter 91 rather than Chapter 134. Confirm the selling entity in Louisville and Lexington before assuming county clerk procedure.
quietTitle costs here are a placeholder and have not been reviewed by the operator, and they stand for a judicial foreclosure rather than a quiet title suit. Do not rely on a computed Kentucky max bid until they are set.