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Bronx County, New York — Tax Sale & Surplus Procedure

Local operations layer. The legal framework (redemption rights, surplus rights, statutes, case law) lives on the parent page → new-york. This page covers how the Bronx actually runs it. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-06-01.

Critical structural note — the Bronx is NOT an RPTL Article 11 county. Bronx County is one of New York City’s five counties/boroughs. NYC does not use the upstate Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) Article 11 in rem scheme described on the new-york page for routine delinquencies. Instead, the NYC Department of Finance (DOF) runs a tax-lien sale under NYC Administrative Code Title 11: the City sells the tax lien to an authorized buyer (the NYCTL trusts), and the trust then forecloses the lien in NY Supreme Court, Bronx County as a mortgage-style action under RPAPL Article 13. Surplus is therefore handled through the RPAPL Article 13 surplus-money proceeding in the Bronx County Clerk’s court file — not through the RPTL § 1196–1197 enforcing-officer determination used upstate. (A separate NYC Admin. Code Title 11, Chapter 4 in rem action also exists for direct City foreclosure, e.g., Third Party Transfer.)

C0. Identity

  • County seat: The Bronx is coterminous with the Borough of the Bronx, City of New York (no separate county seat; county functions are city offices).
  • Population: ~1.36 million (Bronx County / Borough of the Bronx).
  • Recording unit: borough of New York City. Land records are recorded with the NYC Office of the City Register (DOF) via ACRIS, not a standalone county recorder. NYC ACRIS
  • Parent legal framework: new-york

C1. Local Tax Sale

  • Conducts own sale? No public auction of the property in the ordinary case. NYC DOF conducts an annual tax-lien sale: it sells the delinquent lien (unpaid property tax, water/sewer, and other property charges) to an authorized buyer. The buyer — not the City — may later foreclose. This is not a sale of the property and not a competitive public outcry auction of the parcel. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale
  • Platform / venue: City-administered lien sale by the NYC Department of Finance (no RealAuction/GovEase/Bid4Assets vendor; the lien is sold to the NYCTL trust program, historically serviced for the City). The subsequent foreclosure of a sold lien proceeds as a judicial action in NY Supreme Court, Bronx County under RPAPL Art. 13, with a court-appointed referee conducting any auction sale. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale
  • Calendar: Lien sale held annually (paused 2020–2024 during COVID; resumed). The 2025 lien sale was held June 3, 2025; the “eligible properties” data was published as of 5/6/2025 and owners had until June 2, 2025 to cure. Next sale date not yet officially posted as of 2026-06-01 (the program is also the subject of pending 2025–2026 reform legislation). → needs_verification. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale
  • Foreclosure timing after lien sale: the lienholder may begin foreclosure as early as one year after the lien sale date if the lien is not paid or under a payment agreement, or earlier on default of semi-annual interest or unpaid current charges. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale
  • Rate within statutory range: NYC sets its own property-tax interest rates by local law/resolution (the statewide RPTL § 924-a 1%/month default does not control NYC). Specific current NYC interest/penalty rates not captured here → needs_verification.
  • Registration / deposit: the City sells liens to its authorized buyer/trust; there is no public bidder registration for the lien sale itself. Registration/deposit terms for any later referee auction are set in the individual RPAPL Art. 13 foreclosure judgment. → needs_verification.
  • Bidder requirements: N/A for the lien sale (sold to the trust program).
  • Delinquent / eligible-property list location: DOF publishes the list of properties eligible for the lien sale (downloadable PDF and Excel by borough — including a Bronx file), plus 90-, 60-, 30-, and 10-day mailed warning-notice lists. Published on the DOF lien-sale page and lien-sale archive. NYC Property Tax Lien Sale · Lien sale archive

C2. Local Redemption → framework: right-of-redemption

  • Where/how to pay before lien sale: pay property taxes and related charges via NYC CityPay; water/sewer via NYC DEP. Paying at least the minimum on the warning notice (or entering a payment plan) removes the parcel from the sale. NYC CityPay – Property Tax · Lien sale “How to avoid”
  • Payment plans / hardship exits: standard agreement (1–10 yrs); PT AID and PT AID Circuit Breaker deferral plans for qualifying 1–3 family/condo primary residences; reduced-interest plan; and the Lien Sale Easy Exit Program (one-year removal for qualifying owner-occupants ≤ $107,300 household income). Lien sale page
  • Right of redemption after the lien is sold: the right-of-redemption continues — the owner may pay the lienholder/redeem up to the foreclosure sale in the RPAPL Art. 13 action (New York has no post-sale statutory redemption after a mortgage-style foreclosure sale; see new-york).
  • Redemption contact: NYC DOF via 311 (NYC) / (212) 639-9675 from outside NYC. → office detail in C4.
  • Deviations from state default: NYC’s lien-sale/cure regime (above) replaces the upstate RPTL § 1110 two-year enforcing-officer redemption mechanic.

C3. Local Surplus / Excess Proceeds → framework: surplus-funds

  • Which surplus regime applies: because Bronx tax-lien foreclosures proceed as RPAPL Article 13 actions (lien sold to NYCTL trust → trust forecloses), any surplus is distributed through the RPAPL Art. 13 surplus-money proceeding in the Bronx County Supreme Court file — not the RPTL § 1196–1197 process used upstate. Confirmed by NYCTL 1997-1 Trust v Stell (App. Div. 2d Dept. 2020), where surplus from an NYC tax-lien foreclosure was paid into court and distributed by judicial order. NYCTL 1997-1 Trust v Stell
  • Claim filing venue: the referee/officer conducting the sale pays surplus into court within 5 days; a claimant files a written notice of claim with the County Clerk in the foreclosure action, and the court (often by reference) ascertains priority and orders distribution (RPAPL §§ 1354, 1361). In the Bronx the court file and surplus claims are handled through the Bronx County Clerk’s Office (NY Supreme Court, 12th Judicial District). See C4. RPAPL § 1361 · Bronx County Clerk
  • Claim form: statewide NY Unified Court System surplus-money forms — “Foreclosure Action Surplus Monies Form” (filed by the referee for every sale) and the self-represented “Instructions to Claim Surplus Monies” packet (Notice of Claim; $45 motion filing fee on e-file). Surplus Monies form · Instructions to Claim Surplus Monies
  • Local deadline notes: a notice of claim may be filed any time before confirmation of the report of sale; on/after confirmation the court ascertains and distributes within three (3) months (RPAPL § 1361). The referee files the surplus form/report with the County Clerk and Calendar Clerk (commonly within 30 days of sale). RPAPL § 1361
  • Unclaimed-funds list published? No dedicated Bronx tax-foreclosure surplus list. Unclaimed surplus paid into court / abandoned is searchable through the NY State Comptroller Unclaimed Funds database (Abandoned Property Law). Whether a given NYC tax-lien surplus is held by the court, the City, or escheats to the Comptroller is fact-specific → needs_verification. NYS Comptroller Unclaimed Funds · Claim search
  • Contact: Bronx County Clerk Docket Department (foreclosure/lis pendens), (718) 618-3377. See C4.

C4. Offices & Contacts

OfficeNameAddressPhoneURL
Treasurer / Tax CollectorNYC Department of Finance — Bronx Business Center / City Register (2nd Fl.)3030 Third Avenue, 2nd Floor, Bronx, NY 10455 (cross st. 156th St.)311 (NYC); (212) 639-9675 outside NYCDOF Bronx Business Center
Clerk of CourtBronx County Clerk’s Office (NY Supreme Court, 12th JD)851 Grand Concourse, Room 118, Bronx, NY 10451(718) 618-3300; Docket Dept. (foreclosures) (718) 618-3377Bronx County Clerk
Recorder / Register of DeedsNYC Office of the City Register (DOF) — Bronx (ACRIS)3030 Third Avenue, 2nd Floor, Bronx, NY 10455311 (NYC)ACRIS
Sheriff (if applicable)NYC Sheriff (DOF) — sales conducted by court-appointed referee, not the Sheriff, in tax-lien foreclosuresCash Bail / Court & Trust at Manhattan center311 (NYC)DOF Bronx Business Center

C5. Local Procedure Notes

  • Lien-sale model, not RPTL Art. 11 in rem: the single most important local fact. The City sells the lien (NYC Admin. Code Title 11); the trust forecloses via RPAPL Art. 13 in Bronx Supreme Court; surplus runs through the RPAPL surplus-money proceeding — not the upstate § 1196–1197 enforcing-officer determination. Do not apply the new-york page’s § 1110/§ 1123/§ 1196 timeline to Bronx parcels. Lien sale
  • Sale officer: court-appointed referee (RPAPL Art. 13), not a sheriff or enforcing officer.
  • Hardship protections unique to NYC: PT AID / PT AID Circuit Breaker deferral plans and the Lien Sale Easy Exit Program (owner-occupant income-qualified one-year removal). These have no upstate RPTL analog. Lien sale page
  • Direct City in rem (Title 11, Ch. 4): NYC may also foreclose certain liens directly by action in rem (e.g., Third Party Transfer program), distinct from the lien-sale-to-trust path. Scope/current use in the Bronx → needs_verification. NYC Admin Code Title 11, Ch. 4
  • Reform in flux: the NYC lien-sale program is the subject of pending 2025–2026 reform/land-bank legislation; exact next-cycle rules may change → needs_verification.

C6. Records Access

C7. Meta

Legal information, not legal advice. This page summarizes Bronx County / NYC operational procedure as of the last_verified date and may be incomplete or out of date; the NYC lien-sale program is actively being reformed and New York surplus law post-tyler-v-hennepin-county is new and litigated. Verify against the cited official sources and consult a licensed New York attorney before acting.

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