The Cook County Scavenger Sale, Explained

What the Cook County scavenger sale is

The Cook County scavenger sale is the county's sale of parcels whose property taxes have gone unpaid for a long stretch and have not been picked up at the annual sale. It exists because the annual sale does not clear everything: some parcels get no bid, and the unpaid taxes on them are then held by the county as forfeited taxes rather than being bought by an investor.

This article is part of our guide to what happens when you are behind on property taxes in Illinois. Here we are looking only at the scavenger sale, because owners who hear the phrase usually cannot find a plain description of it anywhere, and because the two sales work differently in ways that matter.

One thing to fix in your head first: a sale of taxes is not a sale of your house. What changes hands at either sale is the tax debt and the right to pursue it, and the owner still holds title at that point.

Forfeited taxes, in plain words

At the annual sale, a buyer can pay the unpaid taxes on a parcel and receive a certificate. If nobody does that, the taxes on the parcel are forfeited: still owed, still recorded against the property, but held by the county instead of by a private buyer.

Forfeited taxes do not go away. They accumulate. A parcel can carry several years of them, and that is the usual shape of a scavenger sale parcel: not one missed bill but a run of them.

The Cook County Treasurer's page on the scavenger sale is the office's own description of what the sale covers and how it is conducted. The Treasurer also publishes a page on prior year and delinquent taxes that explains the difference between taxes that are merely late and taxes that have been sold or forfeited.

How it differs from the annual sale

Three differences do most of the work.

• What is being sold. The annual sale offers the most recent unpaid year. The scavenger sale offers parcels with taxes that have been going unpaid over a longer run, including forfeited years.
• How the bidding works. The annual sale is bid on the penalty a buyer will accept. The scavenger sale is bid in dollars for the taxes themselves, which is why a parcel can sell for far less than the amount owed on it.
• Who is buying. The annual sale draws investors who want a return on a certificate. The scavenger sale draws buyers who want the property, which is a different kind of buyer with a different plan for the parcel.

If you want the annual sale itself explained first, we wrote that up separately in how the Cook County tax sale works.

What it means for an owner

Being on a scavenger sale list is not the end of anything, and it is also not something to leave alone.

What is true for an owner:

1. You still own the property. Until a court has entered an order and a deed has been issued to somebody else, the parcel is yours.
2. Redemption is your right, not a favor. An owner can redeem the taxes. The amount and the date are specific to the parcel, and only one office can tell you either: the Clerk's tax redemption page explains how to request the official Estimate of the Cost of Redemption.
3. The clock is on the notice, not in an article. Anything you read online about how long an owner has is a general statement. Your parcel has its own dates, and the Clerk and the court file are where they live.
4. A sale of the property is still possible. A house with taxes owed on it can be sold. What is owed comes out of the proceeds at closing, handled by the title company, so an owner is not writing a check for the arrears before a sale can happen.

For an owner whose property sits in the suburbs rather than in the city, the county offices are the same ones, and our page on selling a house in Cook County sets out where the local questions sit.

Where to start if this is your parcel

• Look the parcel up yourself. Our guide on how to check your Cook County property tax status walks through the search and what each result means.
• Get the official redemption figure in writing. Not an estimate from a website, and not a number somebody quoted on the phone. The Clerk issues the document.
• Read every piece of mail about the parcel. A notice about a court petition looks like junk and is not.
• Ask an attorney if a court case has started. The Clerk's office runs a redemption legal help desk, and free legal help exists specifically because this process is hard to follow without it.
• Decide what you want the outcome to be. Keeping the property, selling it and clearing what is owed from the proceeds, or something in between are all real choices, and they lead to different next steps.

Frequently asked questions

Does a scavenger sale mean my property has already been sold?

No. What is offered at the sale is the unpaid tax obligation, not the title to the property. A buyer who pays at the sale receives a certificate and then has to go to court before any deed can be issued, and the owner remains the owner in the meantime.

How do I find out whether my parcel is on the list?

Start with the Treasurer's own pages for the sale and for prior year taxes, and check the parcel's tax status by PIN. If the record shows forfeited years, that is the condition that puts a parcel in scope. The Treasurer and the Clerk are the two offices that can confirm it for your specific parcel.

Can the amount owed be reduced?

The redemption amount is calculated by the Clerk under rules the office applies to every parcel, so it is not negotiated. What can change is the total, because it grows while it is unpaid. Ask the Clerk for the official estimate and read the date on it rather than working from a number somebody remembered.

If selling is one of the paths you are weighing

Selling a house as it stands to a private buyer is one option among several. Listing it with an agent, redeeming the taxes and holding the property, or refinancing are all still on the table, and which one is right depends on numbers only you have.

Fair Value Investments is a private buyer. We buy houses in Cook County as-is, for our own account, and if you want to see what that looks like as a figure before you decide anything, our page on selling a house with taxes owed on it sets out how we look at a property in this condition. Take whatever number you get to an agent or an attorney and compare it against the alternatives.

Important notice: Fair Value Investments (a d/b/a of Probate Professionals of America, LLC) is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. You may stop doing business with us at any time and may reject any offer. If you stop paying your mortgage, you could lose your home and damage your credit rating. We do not provide foreclosure-rescue, loan-modification, or credit-repair services and cannot promise to save your home or stop a foreclosure. For free help, contact a HUD-approved housing counselor at 1-800-569-4287 or consumerfinance.gov/find-a-housing-counselor.

About this article: it is general information written by a home buyer, not by a lawyer or a housing counselor. Fair Value Investments (a d/b/a of Probate Professionals of America, LLC) is a private real-estate investor and home buyer purchasing property for our own account. We are not a licensed real estate broker, not a law firm, not a lender, and not a government agency, and nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice. Any offer is made at our discretion after we evaluate the property; a cash offer, if made, may be below market value. You are free to consult your own attorney, tax advisor, or a licensed real-estate professional before deciding. There is no fee to receive an offer and no obligation to accept.