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Tulare County, CA

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Tulare County, California — Tax Sale & Surplus Procedure

Local operations layer. The legal framework (5-year power-of-sale clock, pre-sale-only redemption, RTC §§ 4674–4676 excess-proceeds waterfall, Tyler compliance, statutes, case law) lives on the parent page → california. This page covers how Tulare County actually runs it. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-06-02.

C0. Identity

C1. Local Tax Sale

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

  • Where/how to redeem: Pay all defaulted taxes, penalties, interest, and costs to the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office (221 South Mooney Blvd., Rm 104E, Visalia, CA 93291) before the pre-sale cutoff. Per California law, the right to redeem expires at the close of business on the last business day prior to the auction (RTC § 3707; see california module 2). Payment may also be made online at the county’s tax payment portal — https://mytaxes.co.tulare.ca.us/ or https://common2.mptsweb.com/MBC/tulare/tax/search
  • Local fees: State-set redemption charges apply — 10% delinquent penalty + 1½%/month redemption penalty + $15 redemption fee (RTC §§ 4102, 4103; see california module 2). No Tulare County-specific local redemption surcharge was located.
  • Redemption contact: Treasurer-Tax Collector, (559) 636-5250; Taxhelp@tularecounty.ca.gov; 221 South Mooney Blvd., Rm 104E, Visalia, CA 93291; Mon–Fri 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (closed holidays). — https://common2.mptsweb.com/MBC/tulare/tax/search (confirmed contact block)
  • Deviations from state default: None identified — Tulare follows California’s pre-sale-only redemption rule with no post-sale redemption of a tax deed.

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

▸ For Investors / Operators — Tulare County runs an annual no-reserve online auction via Bid4Assets (2024–2025 cycle; GovEase was used in 2022–2023), customarily in August, with a same-month re-offer sale for unsold parcels. Minimum bid equals the full redemption amount plus costs of sale (RTC § 3698.5); there is no post-sale redemption once the tax deed records. The $5,000 deposit ($5,035 with the non-refundable $35 fee) must reach Bid4Assets by the deposit deadline via certified check/money order or wire transfer only — ACH and credit cards are rejected. Confirm the current-year platform at the county’s tax-auction page before each sale cycle, as the vendor has changed between years.

▸ For Former Owners — Excess proceeds from a Tulare County tax-defaulted sale are claimed directly with the Tulare County Treasurer-Tax Collector (221 S. Mooney Blvd., Rm 104-E, Visalia, CA 93291; (559) 636-5250; Taxhelp@tularecounty.ca.gov), not a court clerk or the Board of Supervisors. The Treasurer publishes a per-sale Excess Proceeds Publication for each auction year; the one-year filing deadline runs from recordation of the Tax Collector’s Deed (RTC § 4675(a)). There is no charge to file a claim directly with the county.

C4. Offices & Contacts

OfficeNameAddressPhoneURL
Treasurer / Tax CollectorCass Cook, Treasurer-Tax Collector (confirmed via official county tax portal)221 S. Mooney Blvd., Rm 104E, Visalia, CA 93291 (PO Box 30329, Visalia, CA 93290)(559) 636-5250 · Fax (559) 733-6988 · Taxhelp@tularecounty.ca.govhttps://tularecounty.ca.gov/treasurertaxcollector/
Assessor / Clerk-Recorder (recording unit)Tara K. Freitas, CPA, Assessor/Clerk-Recorder221 S. Mooney Blvd., Rm 103, Visalia, CA 93291-4593(559) 636-5100 · Fax (559) 737-4468 · assessor@tularecounty.ca.govhttps://tularecounty.ca.gov/assessor
Clerk of Court / Superior Court (judicial proceedings only)Tulare County Superior Court221 S. Mooney Blvd., Visalia, CA 93291(559) 730-5000https://www.tulare.courts.ca.gov/
Sheriff (if applicable)Not used for tax-defaulted sales — TTC conducts the sale via Bid4Assets. Sheriff/levying officer involved only in judicial-foreclosure execution sales.———

Note: For tax-defaulted sales and excess-proceeds claims, there is no court clerk role — claims are filed with and processed by the Treasurer-Tax Collector (not the Board of Supervisors clerk, as in Alameda). The Superior Court is relevant only for quiet-title/set-aside litigation or judicial-foreclosure surplus proceedings.

C5. Local Procedure Notes

C6. Records Access

C7. Meta

  • sources:
  • needs_verification:
    • 2025 auction dates not retrieved from primary source — the August 2025 auction dates (deposit deadline Aug 22, 2025) are corroborated from Bid4Assets search-result snippets/metadata, not from a verbatim fetch of the county’s official 2025 terms and conditions page or a Bid4Assets page (both return HTTP 403). Exact dates need re-verification before publication.
    • Exact number of 2025 primary-sale parcels (5) and re-offer parcels (8) — corroborated from Bid4Assets storefront snippets; not verified from a verbatim fetch of either the storefront or the county auction page.
    • Bid4Assets storefront verbatim text — TulareAug17/TulareAug18/TULARE all return HTTP 403 to automated fetch; deposit/terms corroborated via search-result snippets describing those pages.
    • Excess-proceeds claim form PDF URL and exact form name — filing venue confirmed as Tax Collector at 221 S Mooney Blvd Rm 104-E from search-result snippet; exact PDF download URL not retrieved (county site 403 throughout). Form title is not confirmed verbatim.
    • 2025 excess-proceeds list / published URL — the Publications page lists a 2025 Excess Proceeds Publication, but the actual list (property addresses, APN, amounts) was not retrieved (HTTP 403). URL for the actual 2025 excess-proceeds claim page not yet confirmed (expected at tax-auction/2025-tax-auction/2025-excess-proceeds/).
    • 2026 tax auction details — a 2026 Tax Auction page exists at https://tularecounty.ca.gov/auditor/2026-tax-auction but content was not retrievable; dates and platform unknown.
    • Delinquent-list newspaper publication — the county publishes a statutory delinquent list in a newspaper of general circulation per RTC §§ 3701–3702; the specific newspaper(s) used by Tulare County were not confirmed to a retrieved primary source.
    • Cass Cook is confirmed as Treasurer-Tax Collector via the MBC property-tax portal contact block (primary source retrieved) and via Tax Sale Resources (secondary). No official county bio page was fetched verbatim.
    • Tara K. Freitas is confirmed as Assessor/Clerk-Recorder via the MBC assessor portal contact block (primary source retrieved) and a Facebook post from the county’s official account.
  • cross_links: california, right-of-redemption, surplus-funds, third-party-recovery-rules, treasurer-sale, tyler-v-hennepin-county, jones-v-flowers
  • changelog:
    • 2026-06-02 — Initial population (autoresearch wave 1). Verified against Tulare County official sources: MBC tax-search portal (confirmed Cass Cook, 221 S Mooney Rm 104E, (559) 636-5250, Taxhelp@tularecounty.ca.gov), MBC assessor portal (confirmed Tara K. Freitas, 221 S Mooney Rm 102-E, (559) 636-5100), RIIMS official-records portal (1949–present), county tax-auction index + subpages confirmed in URL structure (HTTP 403 to automated fetch throughout tularecounty.ca.gov domain), Bid4Assets storefront snippets (2025 primary sale: 5 parcels, $4,000 floor,$5,000+$35 deposit, Aug 22 2025 deposit deadline; re-offer: 8 parcels), GovEase platform confirmed for 2022–2023, Bid4Assets for 2024–2025, excess-proceeds claim filing venue confirmed as Tax Collector at 221 S Mooney Rm 104-E (from search snippet of 2020 excess-proceeds page). Population, FIPS from Census. Key gaps flagged needs_verification: 2025 exact dates, form PDF URL, 2025 excess-proceeds list URL, 2026 auction details, delinquent-list newspaper name.

▸ For Investors / Operators — Tulare County runs an annual no-reserve online auction via Bid4Assets (2024–2025 cycle; GovEase was used in 2022–2023), customarily in August, with a same-month re-offer sale for unsold parcels. Minimum bid equals the full redemption amount plus costs of sale (RTC § 3698.5); there is no post-sale redemption once the tax deed records. The $5,000 deposit ($5,035 with the non-refundable $35 fee) must reach Bid4Assets by the deposit deadline via certified check/money order or wire transfer only — ACH and credit cards are rejected. Confirm the current-year platform at the county’s tax-auction page before each sale cycle, as the vendor has changed between years.

▸ For Former Owners — Excess proceeds from a Tulare County tax-defaulted sale are claimed directly with the Tulare County Treasurer-Tax Collector (221 S. Mooney Blvd., Rm 104-E, Visalia, CA 93291; (559) 636-5250; Taxhelp@tularecounty.ca.gov), not a court clerk or the Board of Supervisors. The Treasurer publishes a per-sale Excess Proceeds Publication for each auction year; the one-year filing deadline runs from recordation of the Tax Collector’s Deed (RTC § 4675(a)). There is no charge to file a claim directly with the county.

Legal information, not legal advice. This page summarizes Tulare County tax-sale operations from the county’s own official sources as of the last_verified date. Procedures, dates, platforms, and fees change; verify against the cited county pages and the parent framework california, and consult a licensed California attorney before acting.

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