Fulton County

The sale and the list

The sheriff's office states the rule plainly: tax sales are held on the first Tuesday of each month, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and move to the next business day when that Tuesday is a legal holiday. November 3 is a normal Tuesday. The place is the courthouse steps at 136 Pryor Street SW.

Each month's list is posted as a PDF on the sheriff's tax sales page, often in a first and a second posting as parcels are paid off. A courtesy listing also runs in the Wednesday edition of the South Fulton Neighbor for the four weeks before the sale, showing the owner's name, a description of the property and the tax due. When we checked on October 10 the newest list on the page was for October 6, so the November list was not yet posted. Check back from mid-October.

Registration closes the day before

Fulton does not let anyone register on the morning of the sale. The sheriff's page links to a bidder registration form run by its tax sale vendor. Registration opens each month on the day the sale list is published and closes at 2 p.m. on the Monday before the sale, which for November 3 is Monday, November 2. If that Monday is a holiday, it closes the Friday before. Each person who will bid registers once per sale, with the name and driver's license or government ID number of the person who will actually be on the steps; the ID you show must match the form. A company name does not go in the name fields.

On sale day, sign-in runs from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m., and you must confirm your registration before 9:45 to be allowed to bid. Payment is in full, by cashier's check payable to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office. The registration page says no money orders. Every buyer also signs a purchaser data sheet confirming that the property was bought for the bid price.

Do not bid without the money. Fulton's page quotes O.C.G.A. § 9-13-170: a buyer at a public outcry sale who refuses to comply with the terms is liable for the purchase money, and the levying officer can either pursue the full amount or resell the property and pursue you for any shortfall.

After the sale: 30 days in which it can still be undone

Once payments are processed, the sheriff's tax deed and the real estate transfer tax form are completed and recorded within 30 days. Within those same 30 days the levy officer reserves the right to rescind any sale, with a full refund of the bid. So a winning bid is not final for the county until the month is out, even though it is final for you.

The sheriff's page is blunt about what the deed is worth: it conveys only defeasible title. To get fee simple title, the buyer must foreclose (bar) the right to redeem, or let the title ripen by prescription under state law.

Redemption and the 20% premium

Georgia gives the owner, and anyone with a recorded interest or lien, at least twelve months to redeem, and the right continues after that until the buyer serves a barment notice (O.C.G.A. §§ 48-4-40, 48-4-45). The redemption price is everything you paid at the sale, plus taxes you paid afterwards, plus a premium of 20% for the first year or part of a year and 10% for each year after. While redemption is open you have no right to possession or to rents.

In practice that makes a Fulton tax deed a short, fixed-premium investment if the owner redeems, and a title project if not. Barment means sheriff's service on everyone with a recorded interest in the county, mail to those outside it, and four weeks of publication; ripening by prescription takes four years from recording. The full procedure is on our Georgia page.

Excess funds: a 50-year title certificate

When a parcel sells for more than the taxes and costs, the sheriff sends a notice to the same interested parties who were notified of the levy, with the purchaser's name and address, the opening bid, the sale price, the excess amount and a description of the property. To claim, Fulton asks for documents by mail only, no faxes or emails, to the Sheriff's Office at 185 Central Avenue, 9th floor, Atlanta, attention Property Tax: a notarized excess funds affidavit, a notarized indemnification and hold harmless agreement, a copy of photo ID, signed authorization for any attorney, and a 50-year title certificate showing the claimant's interest and every security deed or other claim of record as of the sale date.

The sheriff also gives out its list of excess tax funds through an open records request. It shows the sale number, parcel ID and amount, without owner names or addresses. Money nobody claims within five years goes to the state (O.C.G.A. § 48-4-5). Other Georgia counties selling on the same day are on our November 3 Georgia list.

Four ways people lose money here

1. 1. Planning to register on sale day

   Registration closes at 2 p.m. the Monday before, and sign-in ends at 9:45 a.m. Late arrivals do not bid.

2. 2. Paying with a money order

   Fulton's registration page asks for a cashier's check payable to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and says no money orders.

3. 3. Reading the October list as the November one

   Each month has its own list, and parcels drop off as owners pay. Use the November posting, and its second posting if there is one.

4. 4. Counting on the deed in the first month

   The levy officer can rescind a sale within 30 days with a refund, and the owner can redeem for at least a year after that.