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DeSoto County, MS

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DeSoto County, Mississippi — Tax Sale & Surplus Procedure

Local operations layer. The legal framework (the 2-year redemption period, the Chancery Clerk’s three-method notice, the § 27-41-77 overbid-to-owner rule, surplus rights, statutes, and case law) lives on the parent page → mississippi. This page covers how DeSoto County actually runs it. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-06-02.

C0. Identity

  • County seat: Hernando, MS 38632. Population: ~185,313 (FIPS 28033). DeSoto is the northwest-corner Memphis-suburban county, the third-most-populous in Mississippi.
  • Recording unit: county; land records, delinquent-tax collection, and redemption are administered by the DeSoto County Chancery Clerk (Misty Heffner). The annual tax sale itself is conducted by the Tax Collector (Joey Treadway). (Source: Chancery Clerk; Tax Collector)
  • Parent legal framework: mississippi (redeemable-tax-deed state; Miss. Code Title 27, Chs. 41/43/45).

C1. Local Tax Sale

  • Conducts own sale? Yes, online. · Platform: GovEase (govease.com) — “The Tax Collector uses an online bidding platform with the assistance of GovEase.” (Source: Tax Sale Information)
  • Calendar: annual, held on the last Monday in August each year — DeSoto uses the late-August statutory date, not the first-Monday-in-April option. This tracks Miss. Code §§ 27-41-49 to 27-41-89 (mississippi §1). (Source: Tax Sale; Tax Sale Information)
  • Bidding method: premium / overbid (state mechanics, mississippi §1). Bidders bid up from the face value (delinquent taxes + interest + fees + penalties). Amounts above face value are the “overbid,” which the purchaser does not get back — it is held for the former owner under Miss. Code § 27-41-77. (Source: Tax Sale Information; Mississippi-overbid framework mississippi §3)
  • Rate within statutory range: statewide — redemption costs the purchaser-side return of 1.5%/month (18%/yr) interest + 5% damages (mississippi §1); DeSoto sets no local deviation.
  • Registration / deposit: bidders register online via GovEase before the sale; no registration fee, but the bidder must provide a Social Security Number or Tax ID and a W-9, plus a form of payment and a maximum bid amount. State law requires payment by check, cashier’s check, or money order — bidders who cannot meet those payment terms are not approved. (Source: GovEase / DeSoto registration overview; Mississippi Tax Sale Overview — GovEase) Exact dollar deposit/hold amount on GovEase for DeSoto not published on the county site — needs_verification.
  • Bidder requirements: open to the public (out-of-state investors permitted statewide, mississippi §11b); county officials/employees barred from buying in their home county (Miss. Code §§ 25-4-105/109, mississippi §1). An information sheet for new bidders is posted by the county. (Source: Tax Sale Information)
  • Delinquent list location: delinquent parcels and current amounts owed are searchable on the county’s DataSys portal at cs.datasysmgt.com/tax?state=MS&county=17; prior-year tax-sale results are posted as PDFs (2015–2025, plus an October 2025 special sale) on the Tax Sale Information page. (Source: Tax Sale Information; Property Taxes — Tax Receipt Inquiry)

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

  • Where/how to redeem locally: redemption is handled by the Chancery Clerk’s Delinquency Taxes Office — not the Tax Collector. Once a parcel sells at the tax sale, “the receipt becomes payable in the Chancery Clerk’s Delinquent Tax department.” Delinquent amounts and redemption figures are available online at the Land Redemption portal cs.datasysmgt.com/lr?state=MS&county=17. The 2-year redemption period and the formula (taxes + 1.5%/month + 5% damages + notice fees + any subsequent taxes) are state law — mississippi §2. (Source: Delinquent Taxes)
  • Local fees / payment methods: cash, check, money order, and credit card accepted; 2.5% convenience charge on credit-card payments. (Source: Delinquent Taxes)
  • Redemption contact: DeSoto County Chancery Clerk — Delinquency Taxes Office, 365 Losher Street, Suite 120, Hernando, MS 38632 (mailing: P.O. Box 949, Hernando, MS 38632) · phone 662-469-8399 · email deltax@desotocountyms.gov. (Source: Delinquent Taxes; Chancery Clerk staff directory)
  • Deviations from state default: none identified — DeSoto follows the Title 27 Ch. 45 redemption framework administered through the Chancery Clerk (mississippi §2).

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

  • Claim filing venue: the DeSoto County Chancery Clerk holds tax-sale overbid/excess proceeds; the overbid above the face amount (taxes/interest/fees/penalties) is escrowed for the record owner at the time of sale under Miss. Code § 27-41-77 (mississippi §3). The former owner must affirmatively request the overbid from the county — there is no statutory notice — within 2 years of the expiration of the maturity date (Miss. Code § 27-41-77). Address: DeSoto County Chancery Clerk, 2535 Highway 51 S, Hernando, MS 38632 (delinquent-tax function at 365 Losher St., Suite 120). (Source: Chancery Clerk; Delinquent Taxes; overbid rule mississippi §3)
  • Claim form: no DeSoto-specific overbid claim form was located on the county website; in practice the request is made to the Chancery Clerk’s Delinquent Tax department. — needs_verification (county-published surplus-claim form/procedure).
  • Local deadline notes: the § 27-41-77 2-years-after-maturity window governs (≈4 years after the sale, since maturity falls 2 years after sale); unclaimed overbids are retained by the county, not escheated to the State (mississippi §3b).
  • Unclaimed-list published? No dedicated DeSoto overbid/excess-funds list was located on the county website. — needs_verification (whether DeSoto publishes an unclaimed-overbid list).

▸ For Investors / Operators — DeSoto runs the front-end auction on GovEase on the last Monday in August; the purchaser acquires a lien/certificate that matures to a tax deed only after the 2-year redemption period and the Chancery Clerk’s mandatory three-method notice (certified mail + sheriff personal service + publication) — defective notice voids the sale (mississippi §6). Any overbid you pay above face value is not refundable to you; it is escrowed for the former owner (Miss. Code § 27-41-77). Path to marketable title runs through a Chancery Court suit to confirm the tax title plus the § 15-1-15 three-year-possession bar (mississippi §5b); for surviving liens (easements survive; mortgages generally do not given proper notice; IRS § 7425 120-day redemption) see mississippi §7b.

▸ For Former Owners — Redemption is filed with the Chancery Clerk’s Delinquency Taxes Office (365 Losher St., Suite 120, Hernando; 662-469-8399), not the Tax Collector, and the Land Redemption portal shows the current payoff. If your property sold for more than the taxes and costs, that overbid belongs to you as the record owner at the time of sale — but the county sends no notice; you must request it from the Chancery Clerk within two years of the maturity-date expiration, or the county keeps it (Miss. Code § 27-41-77).

C4. Offices & Contacts

OfficeNameAddressPhoneURL
Tax Collector (conducts the sale)Joey Treadway365 Losher St., Suite 110, Hernando, MS 38632662-469-8030desotocountyms.gov/296
Chancery Clerk (redemption / surplus / land records)Misty Heffner2535 Highway 51 S, Hernando, MS 38632662-469-8005desotocountyms.gov/111
Chancery Clerk — Delinquency Taxes Office (redemption desk)—365 Losher St., Suite 120, Hernando, MS 38632 (P.O. Box 949)662-469-8399desotocountyms.gov/579
Chancery Clerk — Land Records & RecordingMichael Lee (Director)311 W South St., Suite C, Hernando, MS 38632662-469-8397 / 662-469-8065desotocountyms.gov/674
Chancery Court (quiet-title / confirm-tax-title venue)Third Chancery District (Chancellors Lynchard, Lundy, Daniels)Hernando, MS 38632 (P.O. Box 949)662-469-8005 (Clerk)desotocountyms.gov/135

(Sources: Tax Collector; Chancery Clerk; Directory; Delinquent Taxes; Chancery Court)

Mississippi tax sales are conducted by the Tax Collector, not the Sheriff; the Sheriff is omitted as not applicable to tax-sale or redemption procedure here.

C5. Local Procedure Notes

  • Sale date choice: DeSoto elects the last Monday in August statutory date (Miss. Code § 27-41-59 alternative), rather than the more common first-Monday-in-April. Plan registration and funding around late August. (Source: Tax Sale)
  • Two-office split: the Tax Collector runs the auction and takes the sale payment; the Chancery Clerk’s Delinquent Tax department takes over post-sale for redemption payoffs and holds the escrowed overbid — a common point of confusion for both bidders and former owners. (Source: Delinquent Taxes)
  • Online-only auction: DeSoto moved its tax-lien sale online (GovEase); in-person bidding at the courthouse is not the operative method. (Source: Tax Sale Information)
  • Special sales: the county has run off-cycle special sales (e.g., October 2025), posted as separate PDF result sets. (Source: Tax Sale Information)

C6. Records Access

C8. Title & Quiet Title

  • Title type: redeemable tax deed — purchaser holds a lien/certificate that matures to a tax deed after the 2-year redemption period if unredeemed (state mechanics, mississippi §0/§7).
  • Quiet title action — required? Not statutorily required to perfect title (it matures administratively), but strongly advised: a tax deed is only prima facie evidence, and a suit to confirm the tax title is the standard way to make it marketable (mississippi §5b/§7).
  • Type / court: judicial — filed in the Chancery Court under Miss. Code § 11-17-1. In DeSoto the venue is the Third Chancery District sitting in Hernando (Chancellors Percy Lynchard Jr., Mitchell M. Lundy Jr., Vicki Daniels), with the Chancery Clerk (Misty Heffner) maintaining the file. (Source: Chancery Court; confirmation-suit framework mississippi §5b)
  • Typical timeline / cost: not separately published for DeSoto; statewide a confirmation suit plus the § 15-1-15 three-year-possession bar governs marketability. needs_verification of DeSoto-specific Chancery quiet-title timeline and attorney-fee benchmarks (state page also flags this — mississippi §5b).
  • Title insurers active locally: DeSoto is an active title-search market (the Land Title Association of Mississippi lists multiple abstractors servicing the county — Santita Newsom, Bobbie Jo Kemp, Joseph Johnson, Luke Williams, and others; e-recording via Simplifile, CSC, EPN). Specific underwriters writing policies on tax-deed title locally were not confirmed — needs_verification (underwriter deed-seasoning practice). (Source: LTAMS — DeSoto County)

C9. Purchaser Obligations

  • Subsequent-tax payment office: subsequent-year taxes are paid to the DeSoto County Tax Collector (365 Losher St., Suite 110; 662-469-8030); a prior/subsequent purchaser may pay later years’ “subs” to protect the lien, recoverable in redemption (Miss. Code § 27-41-31, mississippi §1). (Source: Tax Collector)
  • Notice-to-owner procedure: the statutory redemption notice (certified mail + sheriff personal service + publication, 180→60 days before expiration) is issued by the Chancery Clerk, not the purchaser, under Miss. Code §§ 27-43-1/3 — defective notice voids the sale (mississippi §6). The DeSoto Chancery Clerk’s Delinquency Taxes Office administers this. (Source: Delinquent Taxes; notice framework mississippi §6)
  • Redemption-payment office (where the owner goes to redeem): Chancery Clerk — Delinquency Taxes Office, 365 Losher St., Suite 120, Hernando (662-469-8399); online payoff at the Land Redemption portal. (Source: Delinquent Taxes)
  • Occupancy / access during redemption: the certificate conveys “perfect title… but without the right of possession” during the 2-year redemption window — the purchaser has no right of possession until maturity (mississippi §0/§1). No DeSoto-specific occupancy ordinance was located. needs_verification of any local possession practice.

C10. Local Restrictions

  • Land bank: none identified for DeSoto County. Mississippi has no enacted statewide land bank act as of 2026 (HB 958 / 2023 introduced; enactment unconfirmed — mississippi §11b); no DeSoto County land bank entity was located on the county website. — needs_verification of any DeSoto municipal land bank.
  • Right of first refusal: none identified at the county tax-collector sale. Municipal/SOS ROFR mechanics in Mississippi attach to the Secretary of State tax-forfeited-lands path (state-struck parcels), not the third-party county sale (mississippi §11b). No DeSoto-specific ROFR at the GovEase sale was found.
  • Entity / insider notes: county officials and employees (including Chancery Clerk staff) may not buy at the tax sale in their home county under the Ethics in Government Act (Miss. Code §§ 25-4-105/109, mississippi §1). No DeSoto-specific entity restriction beyond statewide rules was located.

C7. Meta

  • parent_state: mississippi
  • last_verified: 2026-06-02
  • confidence: 0.82
  • completeness_score: 0.93
  • gap_score: 7
  • sources:
  • needs_verification:
    • Exact GovEase deposit/hold dollar amount or bid-funding rule specific to the DeSoto sale (county site references the info sheet but does not publish the figure).
    • Whether DeSoto publishes a county-specific surplus / excess-overbid claim form and written claim procedure (beyond the general § 27-41-77 request to the Chancery Clerk).
    • Whether DeSoto publishes an unclaimed-overbid / excess-funds list.
    • DeSoto-specific Chancery Court quiet-title (tax-title confirmation) timeline and cost benchmarks.
    • Title-insurance underwriters writing policies on DeSoto tax-deed title and their deed-seasoning requirements.
    • Any DeSoto municipal land bank or local right-of-first-refusal at the tax sale (none located; statewide land bank act enactment also unconfirmed — mississippi §11b).
    • Any DeSoto-specific occupancy/possession practice during the redemption period.
  • cross_links: mississippi, right-of-redemption, surplus-funds, third-party-recovery-rules, due-process-notice, treasurer-sale, tyler-v-hennepin-county, jones-v-flowers
  • changelog:
    • 2026-06-02 — Initial population from DeSoto County official site (Tax Sale Information, Tax Sale, Tax Collector, Chancery Clerk, Delinquent Taxes, staff directory, Chancery Court, Land Records, Online Records, Property Taxes), DataSys redemption/tax portals, Property Appraiser GIS, AcclaimWeb deed search, GovEase Mississippi overview, and LTAMS DeSoto page. Confirmed: GovEase platform; last-Monday-in-August sale; redemption via Chancery Clerk Delinquency Taxes Office (365 Losher St. Suite 120, 662-469-8399); overbid escrow under § 27-41-77; Third Chancery District quiet-title venue. Flagged 7 needs_verification items.

▸ For Investors / Operators — DeSoto auctions tax liens on GovEase (govease.com) on the last Monday in August; register early with SSN/Tax ID + W-9 and certified-funds-grade payment. You buy a lien that matures to a deed only after the 2-year redemption and the Chancery Clerk’s three-method notice — and your overbid above face value is not refundable to you (Miss. Code § 27-41-77). For marketable title, plan a Chancery Court tax-title confirmation suit (Third Chancery District, Hernando) and the § 15-1-15 possession bar (mississippi §5b/§7b).

▸ For Former Owners — Redeem through the Chancery Clerk’s Delinquency Taxes Office (365 Losher St., Suite 120, Hernando; 662-469-8399; Land Redemption portal), not the Tax Collector. If your property sold for more than the taxes and costs, that overbid is yours as record owner at the time of sale — but you get no notice and must request it from the Chancery Clerk within two years of the maturity-date expiration, or the county keeps it (Miss. Code § 27-41-77).

Legal information, not legal advice. This page summarizes local operational procedure; verify every deadline and amount against the cited official DeSoto County sources and the parent mississippi page before acting. Last verified: 2026-06-02.

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