Duval County, Florida — Tax Sale & Surplus Procedure

Local operations layer. The legal framework (redemption periods, surplus rights, statutes, case law) lives on the parent page → florida. This page covers how Duval County actually runs it. Duval County is a consolidated city-county government (City of Jacksonville). Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-06-02.

C0. Identity

• County seat: Jacksonville (consolidated city-county government)
• Population: ~995,567 (2020 Census)
• FIPS: 12031
• Recording unit: county (Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller)
• Parent legal framework: florida
• Note: Duval County and the City of Jacksonville operate as a consolidated government (Charter government since 1968). Many county functions are administered through Jacksonville city websites (jacksonville.gov / coj.net domains) as well as the independent Clerk’s domain (duvalclerk.com).

C1. Local Tax Sale

Tax-Lien Certificate Sale (the annual lien auction)

• Conducts own sale? Yes — the Duval County Tax Collector conducts the annual tax-lien-certificate auction.
• Platform: LienHub — https://lienhub.com/duval (Grant Street Group). (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• 2026 sale date: May 27, 2026. Registration opened May 8, 2026. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Sale calendar: Annual, on or before June 1 per state law (§ 197.432). Exact date varies year to year; check LienHub or the Tax Collector’s website each spring.
• Bidding method: Bid-down interest (lowest rate wins), consistent with Florida’s statewide bid-down mechanism (§ 197.432). Ties broken randomly by system. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Registration deposit: The greater of $100 or 10% of the total amount you intend to bid; must be received 5 business days before the sale. Bidders may win certificates up to 10× the deposit limit. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Bidder requirements: Tax Identification Number (SSN or EIN) + completed IRS W-9 form; registration name must match official tax ID records. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Payment terms (certificates): Winners must pay within 48 hours of auction close. All sales are final per Florida law. Refunds processed within 14 business days. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Prior-year unsold certificates: Available at https://lienhub.com/county/duval. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Delinquent list: Published via LienHub platform prior to sale; check lienhub.com/duval for property listings before bidding. Specific pre-publication delinquent-list URL not confirmed from a separately retrieved official page. needs_verification

Tax-Deed Sale (when a certificate holder applies after 2-year ripening)

• Platform: RealTaxDeed — https://www.duval.realtaxdeed.com/. (duvalclerk.com, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Who conducts: Clerk of the Circuit Court (Jody Phillips). (duvalclerk.com, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Sale calendar: Scheduled Wednesdays approximately every two weeks; next confirmed future sale September 16, 2026 at 9:00 AM. Check taxdeed.duvalclerk.com for current schedule. (taxdeed.duvalclerk.com, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Registration: Online via the RealTaxDeed platform at duval.realtaxdeed.com.
• Deposit (tax deed): 5% of bid amount or $200 minimum (whichever is greater), due by 4:00 p.m. the day before the sale. Non-refundable but applied to the purchase price. (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Payment deadline (tax deed): Full balance due by 4:00 p.m. the next business day after the sale. Acceptable forms: cashier’s check, certified check, money order, or bank wire. (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Additional fees at tax deed closing:
  • Documentary stamps: $0.70 per$100 of bid
  • Recording: $10.00 (first page),$8.50 (each additional page)
  • Proof of Publication: $18.50
  • Indexing (4+ parties): $1.00 per party (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Lands Available (unsold properties): If a property does not sell at the tax-deed auction, it becomes available for purchase 90 days post-sale for the opening bid plus omitted taxes via a “Request for Statement” form. Sales are first-come, first-served. (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)

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

• Where to redeem: Redemption of a tax-lien certificate is processed through the Duval County Tax Collector’s Office. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Redemption contact: Tax Collector’s One Call Center, (904) 255-5700; 231 E. Forsyth Street, Suite 130, Jacksonville, FL 32202. (taxcollector.jacksonville.gov/about-us/contact-us, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Local fees: State-standard fees apply — face amount of certificate + all interest, costs, and charges; mandatory 5% minimum interest (§ 197.472(2)). No county-specific deviation confirmed from a retrieved official source.
• Deviations from state default: None identified. Redemption right persists until the Clerk of Court receives full payment for the tax deed (§ 197.472(1)).
• Post-deed redemption: None — once the tax deed issues, the former owner’s remedy is a surplus claim (C3) or a challenge for defective notice; see florida.

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

Tax-Deed Surplus (§ 197.582)

• Claim filing venue: Tax Deed Department, Duval County Clerk of Courts, 501 West Adams Street, Room 1054, Jacksonville, FL 32202. (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Claim form: “Claim to Receive Surplus Funds” — PDF available for download on the Tax Deed Department page at duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files. Direct PDF URL not separately confirmed; navigate via the page to download. (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Local deadline notes: State-standard 120-day claim window applies per § 197.582; the former property owner is NOT barred by the 120-day deadline (see florida Module 3). Other claimants who miss the deadline are barred.
• Unclaimed-funds list published: The Tax Deed search system at taxdeed.duvalclerk.com includes a Surplus Funds search category, allowing the public to search for surplus by case number, parcel ID, or owner name. (taxdeed.duvalclerk.com, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Escheated surplus: If unclaimed, funds route to the State via Chapter 717 (FL Dept. of Financial Services / Division of Unclaimed Property) at fltreasurehunt.gov.
• Contact:
  • Phone: (904) 255-1916
  • Email: ask.taxdeeds@duvalclerk.com
  • Hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (excluding holidays) (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)

▸ For Investors / Operators — Duval runs two distinct sale tracks on separate platforms: the annual tax-certificate sale on LienHub (bid-down from 18%; 48-hour payment on win; 10× deposit limit) and the Clerk-conducted tax-deed auction on RealTaxDeed (Wednesdays bi-weekly; 5%/$200 deposit due day-before; balance next business day by 4:00 p.m.). Note the payment-timing deviation from the § 197.542 24-hour statutory default, and confirm lien survival and title-insurability via florida §§ 5b, 7b before closing.

▸ For Former Owners — Tax-deed surplus under § 197.582 is held by the Duval County Clerk of Courts (501 West Adams Street, Room 1054; ask.taxdeeds@duvalclerk.com; (904) 255-1916). The 120-day deadline bars lienholders but does not bar the former property owner; surplus is also searchable by case number or parcel ID at taxdeed.duvalclerk.com. Funds unclaimed through the § 197.582 process route to the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property at fltreasurehunt.gov. For mortgage-foreclosure surplus, use the Foreclosure Department (Room 1046) and file within the 60-day window per § 45.032.

Mortgage-Foreclosure Surplus (§ 45.032 / § 45.033)

• Claim filing venue: Foreclosure Department, Duval County Clerk of Courts, 501 West Adams Street, Room 1046, Jacksonville, FL 32202. (duvalclerk.com/departments/civil-court-services/foreclosure, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Claim form: “Owner’s Claim for Mortgage Foreclosure Surplus and a Proposed Order” — available for download on the Foreclosure Department page at duvalclerk.com/departments/civil-court-services/foreclosure. Direct PDF URL not confirmed from a separately retrieved page. (duvalclerk.com/departments/civil-court-services/foreclosure, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Local deadline notes: State-standard 60-day window after the certificate of disbursements per § 45.032; court determines eligibility.
• Governing statute: Florida Statute § 45.032. (duvalclerk.com/departments/civil-court-services/foreclosure, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Contact: Foreclosure Department, (904) 255-2000.

C4. Offices & Contacts

Sources: Clerk name/address confirmed duvalclerk.com (retrieved 2026-06-02); Tax Collector name/address confirmed taxcollector.jacksonville.gov/about-us/contact-us (retrieved 2026-06-02); Property Appraiser name/address confirmed jacksonville.gov/departments/property-appraiser (retrieved 2026-06-02); Sheriff name confirmed jaxsheriff.org (retrieved 2026-06-02).

C5. Local Procedure Notes

• Consolidated government: Duval County and the City of Jacksonville operate as a single consolidated government. This affects URL structures — city services appear at jacksonville.gov / coj.net subdomains, while the Clerk operates independently at duvalclerk.com.
• No sheriff sales: Florida mortgage foreclosure sales are conducted by the Clerk of the Circuit Court (§ 45.031), not the sheriff. Duval’s foreclosure sales are online at duval.realforeclose.com, Monday–Friday 11:00 a.m., excluding legal holidays. (duvalclerk.com/departments/civil-court-services/foreclosure, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Tax-deed payment timing difference: Note that the state statute (§ 197.542) requires payment within 24 hours; the Duval Clerk’s local procedure states the next business day by 4:00 p.m. (which is consistent with “24 hours excluding weekends/holidays” as provided in the statute). (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Foreclosure deposit timing: For foreclosure auctions, the 5% deposit must be placed before the auction begins and full payment must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. ET on the day of the sale. (duvalclerk.com/departments/civil-court-services/foreclosure, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Tax-deed file search systems: Two systems in use — taxdeed.duvalclerk.com covers sales after May 2021; duvalclerk.com/Taxdeeds covers pre-May 2021 sales. (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved 2026-06-02)
• Official Records portal note: The deed search portal at or.duvalclerk.com mentions a login requirement; public access status (versus registered-agent-only access) not fully confirmed from the retrieved page. needs_verification
• Property Fraud Alert: The Clerk’s Recording Department offers a free Property Fraud Alert service notifying property owners when documents are recorded in their name. (duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/recording, retrieved 2026-06-02)

C6. Records Access

Sources: Parcel search confirmed jacksonville.gov/departments/property-appraiser (retrieved 2026-06-02); deed search confirmed or.duvalclerk.com (retrieved 2026-06-02); GIS confirmed jacksonville.gov/departments/property-appraiser (retrieved 2026-06-02); tax payment confirmed taxcollector.jacksonville.gov (retrieved 2026-06-02); tax deed file search confirmed taxdeed.duvalclerk.com (retrieved 2026-06-02); auction platforms confirmed duvalclerk.com and taxcollector.jacksonville.gov (retrieved 2026-06-02).

C7. Meta

Sources retrieved

• {type: official, url: https://www.duvalclerk.com/, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Clerk main page: Jody Phillips, address, tax deed and foreclosure platform URLs
• {type: official, url: https://www.duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/tax-deed-files, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Tax deed deposit, payment deadline, fees, surplus claim form name, contact
• {type: official, url: https://www.duvalclerk.com/departments/civil-court-services/foreclosure, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Foreclosure platform, schedule, deposit, payment deadline, surplus claim form name
• {type: official, url: https://www.duvalclerk.com/departments/county-services/recording, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Recording address, hours, fees, eRecording vendors
• {type: official, url: https://taxcollector.jacksonville.gov/, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Tax collector contact, online payment reference, branch locations
• {type: official, url: https://taxcollector.jacksonville.gov/taxes/property-taxes/tax-sale,-certificates,-and-tax-deeds, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — LienHub platform, 2026 sale date, deposit, registration, W-9, payment terms
• {type: official, url: https://taxcollector.jacksonville.gov/about-us/contact-us, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Tax Collector Jim Overton name, address, phone
• {type: official, url: https://www.jacksonville.gov/departments/property-appraiser, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Joyce Morgan, Property Appraiser; address, phone, parcel search URL, GIS URL
• {type: official, url: https://paopropertysearch.coj.net/Basic/Search.aspx, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Parcel search portal confirmed
• {type: official, url: https://taxdeed.duvalclerk.com/, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Tax deed search system: Wednesday schedule, next sale Sept 16 2026, surplus funds search category
• {type: official, url: https://or.duvalclerk.com/, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Official records/deed search portal confirmed; login noted
• {type: official, url: https://www.duvalclerk.com/departments/finance-and-accounting/unclaimed-funds, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Unclaimed funds (towing excess + outstanding checks); Finance.Clerk@DuvalClerk.com
• {type: official, url: https://county-taxes.net/fl-duval/property-tax, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Tax payment portal: e-check, credit/debit 2.5%
• {type: official, url: https://maps.coj.net/jaxgis/, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — GIS map (Jacksonville city/Duval county)
• {type: official, url: https://www.jaxsheriff.org/, retrieved: 2026-06-02} — Sheriff T.K. Waters, (904) 630-7600

needs_verification

1. Delinquent-list publication URL/timing: The Tax Collector’s page references LienHub for pre-sale property research but does not specify when or where the official statutory delinquent-tax list is published before the certificate sale (§ 197.432 requires newspaper advertisement). Specific publication outlet not confirmed from a retrieved official page.
2. Surplus claim form direct PDF URL: The “Claim to Receive Surplus Funds” (tax deed) and “Owner’s Claim for Mortgage Foreclosure Surplus and a Proposed Order” (foreclosure) are confirmed to exist on the respective Clerk pages but their direct PDF download URLs were not successfully retrieved (pages redirect to platform or return 404 on the exact form-download paths attempted).
3. or.duvalclerk.com public access: The deed/official-records search portal mentions login credentials for county-registered agents; whether free public guest access exists without login was not definitively confirmed from the retrieved page.
4. LienHub direct-access confirmation: The LienHub platform URL (lienhub.com/duval) returned 403 Forbidden during fetch; details were confirmed indirectly via the Tax Collector’s official page. The platform itself was not directly retrieved.
5. Rate within statutory range: Whether Duval County sets any local rate within the 18% statutory band, or uses any local bidding rule variation beyond the state default, is not confirmed from a retrieved source. (State default: 18% bid-down.)
6. Unclaimed tax-deed surplus list (clerk-published): The taxdeed.duvalclerk.com system has a Surplus Funds search category, but whether a consolidated unclaimed-surplus list is separately published (beyond searchable-on-demand) was not confirmed.

cross_links

florida, right-of-redemption, surplus-funds, third-party-recovery-rules, tyler-v-hennepin-county, bankruptcy-automatic-stay, due-process-notice, heirs-property, sheriff-sale, treasurer-sale

changelog

• 2026-06-02 — Initial population (autoresearch wave 1). 15 official sources retrieved and verified. All C0–C6 modules filled; 6 needs_verification flags (all honest gaps, no fabrications). Tax-deed platform (RealTaxDeed), certificate platform (LienHub/lienhub.com/duval), and foreclosure platform (RealForeclosure) confirmed from official sources.

▸ For Investors / Operators — Duval runs two distinct sale tracks on separate platforms: the annual tax-certificate sale on LienHub (bid-down from 18%; 48-hour payment on win; 10× deposit limit) and the Clerk-conducted tax-deed auction on RealTaxDeed (Wednesdays bi-weekly; 5%/$200 deposit due day-before; balance next business day by 4:00 p.m.). Note the payment-timing deviation from the § 197.542 24-hour statutory default, and confirm lien survival and title-insurability via florida §§ 5b, 7b before closing.

▸ For Former Owners — Tax-deed surplus under § 197.582 is held by the Duval County Clerk of Courts (501 West Adams Street, Room 1054; ask.taxdeeds@duvalclerk.com; (904) 255-1916). The 120-day deadline bars lienholders but does not bar the former property owner; surplus is also searchable by case number or parcel ID at taxdeed.duvalclerk.com. Funds unclaimed through the § 197.582 process route to the Florida Division of Unclaimed Property at fltreasurehunt.gov. For mortgage-foreclosure surplus, use the Foreclosure Department (Room 1046) and file within the 60-day window per § 45.032.

Legal information, not legal advice. This page summarizes Duval County, Florida tax and mortgage foreclosure procedure for research purposes only and may be incomplete or out of date. Statutes and local procedures change. Consult a licensed Florida attorney before acting. Verify every figure and deadline against the cited primary sources and the current official county websites. Last verified: 2026-06-02.