Wisconsin Tax Foreclosure Surplus: A 2022 Law Change With a Real Gap in It
For decades, Wisconsin counties (and the City of Milwaukee separately) could foreclose a property over unpaid property taxes under Chapter 75 and keep the entire value of the property — not just the back taxes owed, all of it — when they later sold it. A homeowner who owed a few thousand dollars in back taxes on a property worth a few hundred thousand could lose the whole difference with no way to get it back.
The fix: 2021 Wisconsin Act 216
Wisconsin changed this before the U.S. Supreme Court forced the issue nationally. 2021 Wisconsin Act 216, effective April 2, 2022, requires local governments to return surplus proceeds from a tax foreclosure sale to the former owner going forward. A year later, Tyler v. Hennepin County, 598 U.S. 631 (2023), confirmed nationally that keeping that surplus is an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment — so Wisconsin's fix turned out to be ahead of the curve, not a reaction to it.
The cutoff that leaves people out
Act 216 only applies to foreclosures completed on or after April 2, 2022. Anyone whose property was taken under the old Chapter 75 rule before that date — potentially going back many years — got nothing under the new law, even though the underlying constitutional problem Tyler later identified was exactly the same. That gap is now the subject of an active class action (filed by Milberg in 2024–2025) seeking to recover those pre-2022 takings on behalf of former owners and their heirs.
The gap Act 207 closed in 2024
Act 216 only paid out when a sale happened, and at the time the statutes gave a county no deadline to sell: a county that kept a property generated no proceeds and owed nothing. 2023 Wisconsin Act 207, in force since March 24, 2024, closed that for land taken on or after April 1, 2022. The county must now arrange a sale (§ 75.35(2)) and advertise it within 240 days of taking the property — 180 days from 2026 (§ 75.69(1)) — with up to 36 months in Milwaukee County for some vacant lots and buildings (§ 75.69(1m)). The treasurer must also tell the former owner, by registered or certified mail, that part of a future sale may be theirs, and the net proceeds now go to the former owner rather than to mortgage holders (§ 75.36(2m)). The real gap left is time: owners who lost property before April 2022 are outside these rules.
What to check for your situation
Two questions decide where you stand: when your property was foreclosed (before or after April 2, 2022), and whether the county has sold it yet. If it was taken after April 2022, the county has to sell it and mail you the net proceeds; if you haven't heard from the treasurer, contact the office and keep your mailing address current, because a payment that comes back or goes unclaimed for a year becomes unclaimed funds (§ 75.36(2m)(b)). If it happened before April 2022, the pending class action — not the county — is the more relevant path to look into.
Looking for a list? Our directory doesn't have an official Wisconsin county list yet, so for now ask the office that ran the sale. The counties that do publish one are in our directory of official surplus funds lists.
This article is general information, not financial or legal advice. Wisconsin counties may handle Act 216 claims differently in practice — confirm the exact process and any deadline with your county treasurer or an attorney. See our broader guide on surplus funds after a tax sale and the Wisconsin state page for foreclosure mechanics.