State Foreclosure Law Library

indiana

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Indiana — Tax & Mortgage Foreclosure

Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited primary sources before acting. Last verified: 2026-06-01.

Indiana is a tax-lien-certificate state. The county treasurer certifies a delinquency list; the county auditor runs an annual public auction (between August 1 and November 1) where investors buy a certificate of sale subject to the owner’s right of redemption (IC 6-1.1-24). If the owner does not redeem within the statutory period (generally one year), the certificate holder may petition for a tax deed under IC 6-1.1-25 after satisfying strict notice requirements. Indiana’s overbid (amount above the minimum bid) is deposited in a tax sale surplus fund that belongs to the former owner of record — so Indiana was largely compliant with tyler-v-hennepin-county before 2023, because it already returns surplus equity rather than retaining it. Indiana is also notable for a statutory 10% fee cap and Attorney-General enforcement on third-party surplus-recovery agreements (IC 6-1.1-24-7.5), which directly governs surplus recovery operators.

0. Identity & Classification

1. Tax Sale Mechanics

2. Right of Redemption → see right-of-redemption

3. Surplus / Excess Proceeds → see surplus-funds, third-party-recovery-rules

4. Mortgage Foreclosure

  • Process: judicial — complaint, decree of foreclosure, sheriff’s sale (IC 32-29-7). Source: https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-32/article-29/chapter-7/
  • Timeline: process for a sale may not issue for 3 months after the foreclosure complaint is filed (IC 32-29-7-3); a borrower may agree to waive the 3-month period, but if waived the lender cannot obtain a deficiency judgment. After the waiting period the lender praecipes for sale; the sheriff advertises and sells. Source: https://codes.findlaw.com/in/title-32-property/in-code-sect-32-29-7-3/
  • Reinstatement right: [see needs_verification — Indiana has no general statutory reinstatement right; typically governed by loan contract / federal (FHA) servicing rules].
  • Redemption after sale: none — “every sale” under the chapter is without right of redemption; there is no statutory post-sale redemption after a mortgage foreclosure (IC 32-29-7-13). The owner/part-owner may redeem before the sheriff’s sale by paying the judgment, interest, and costs to the clerk/sheriff (IC 32-29-7-7). Source: https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-32/article-29/chapter-7/section-32-29-7-7/
  • Deficiency judgment: allowed; barred only where the borrower waived the 3-month sale-delay with the lender’s consent (IC 32-29-7-3). Source: https://codes.findlaw.com/in/title-32-property/in-code-sect-32-29-7-3/
  • Surplus distribution: sheriff’s-sale proceeds pay costs, then the judgment, then junior liens by priority, then residue to the owner (general foreclosure-sale distribution under IC 32-29-7). [see needs_verification — pin exact subsection].
  • Sale officer: sheriff.

5. Sale Procedure Playbooks

6. Due Process & Notice → see due-process-notice

7. Title & Marketability

  • Deed warranty level: none — a tax deed conveys the interest foreclosed, without warranty covenants. IC 6-1.1-25-5 prescribes the form; the deed is presumptive evidence of regularity (IC 6-1.1-24-11). Source: https://www.in.gov/sboa/files/Appendix-to-Indiana-Codes-County-Treasurer-Manual.pdf
  • Marketable immediately? Generally no as a practical matter; quiet-title is commonly used to make the title insurable. Tax-sale purchasers frequently file a quiet-title action (as in indiana-land-trust-v-xl-investment-properties, where the Ind. Supreme Court ultimately upheld the deed against a notice challenge, Ind. 2020). Source: https://caseclips.courts.in.gov/2023/10/16/crowe-v-savvy-in-llc-no-23s-tp-00090-__-n-e-3d-__-ind-oct-11-2023/
  • Quiet title required? Commonly pursued in practice for insurable title. [see needs_verification — title-insurer practice citation].
  • SOL to challenge deed: a motion to set aside / petition contesting the tax deed is time-limited; the period for challenging on notice grounds is litigated case-by-case (see indiana-land-trust-v-xl-investment-properties, addressing a notice-based set-aside motion). [see needs_verification — pin the exact statutory limitations period under IC 6-1.1-25-4.6/16].
  • Title insurance availability: available after curative steps (quiet title); varies by underwriter. [see needs_verification].
  • Common defects: defective/constitutionally inadequate notice to owner or mortgagee; failure to search the auditor’s own records after returned mail; bankruptcy stay; unredeemed federal tax lien (120-day federal redemption); unknown heirs.

8. Case Law (real, verified)

CaseYearTopicHolding (plain English)Source
crowe-v-savvy-in2023due_process / redemption / sale_procedureInd. Supreme Court (No. 23S-TP-90): tax-sale purchaser’s certified + first-class mailed notices satisfied due process and IC 6-1.1-25 because none were returned undeliverable, so no “additional reasonable steps” were required under Jones v. Flowers; purchaser entitled to the tax deeds. Reversed the COA’s equitable extra-redemption grant.https://caseclips.courts.in.gov/2023/10/16/crowe-v-savvy-in-llc-no-23s-tp-00090-__-n-e-3d-__-ind-oct-11-2023/
indiana-land-trust-v-xl-investment-properties2020due_process / sale_procedureInd. Supreme Court (20S-MI-62, 155 N.E.3d 1177): good law. The LaPorte County Auditor’s simultaneous certified + first-class mailed notice to the deed address was adequate and reasonably calculated under mullane-v-central-hanover; because the first-class mail was not returned undeliverable, the auditor was NOT required to search its own internal records for a better address. The Court affirmed the trial court’s denial of the motion to set aside the tax deed. (This reverses the 2019 Court of Appeals result, which had set the deed aside on a “search your own records” theory — that COA holding is no longer good law.)https://caseclips.courts.in.gov/2023/10/16/crowe-v-savvy-in-llc-no-23s-tp-00090-__-n-e-3d-__-ind-oct-11-2023/
m-and-m-investment-group-v-ahlemeyer-farms2013due_processInd. Supreme Court (03S04-1211-CC-645, 994 N.E.2d 1108 (Ind. Sept. 26, 2013)): good law. Conditioning a mortgagee’s pre-sale mailed notice on the mortgagee’s statutory annual request under IC 6-1.1-24-3(b) does NOT violate the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. The Court reversed the 2012 Court of Appeals opinion (and the trial court), which had held the annual-request scheme unconstitutional and required mailed notice to a non-requesting mortgagee — that COA holding is reversed and no longer good law. Practical effect: a mortgagee that fails to file the annual request bears the risk of not receiving mailed tax-sale notice.https://caseclips.courts.in.gov/2013/09/27/mm-v-ahlemeyer/
tyler-v-hennepin-county2023surplusU.S. Supreme Court (598 U.S. 631): government retention of surplus equity above the tax debt is an unconstitutional taking. Indiana already returns the overbid to the divested owner via the IC 6-1.1-24-7 surplus fund, so Indiana’s scheme is consistent with Tyler.https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22-166_8n59.pdf

Topic coverage: due_process ✓ (Crowe; Indiana Land Trust; M&M), redemption ✓ (Crowe — redemption-period notice/extension), sale_procedure ✓ (Crowe; Indiana Land Trust — tax-deed issuance procedure), surplus ✓ (Tyler — doctrine; Indiana statute already compliant). A surplus claim adjudicated under Indiana law is flagged in needs_verification to add an in-state surplus case.

9. Edge Cases (state-specific notes)

10. Operations

  • Where records live: county auditor (tax-sale conduct, certificates, tax deeds, surplus fund, recording of tax deeds), county treasurer (delinquency, redemption funds, surplus warrants), county recorder (deeds/mortgages), clerk of the circuit court (tax-sale judgment, tax-deed petitions, mortgage foreclosure), county sheriff (mortgage sales).
  • Public access urls: Indiana Code (official, JS app) — https://iga.in.gov/laws/2024/ic/titles/6 ; current Ch. 25 mirror — https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-6/article-1-1/chapter-25/ ; SBOA County Treasurer’s Manual (tax sale) — https://www.in.gov/sboa/files/County-Treasurers-Manual-Chapter-8-2002.pdf ; Indiana Courts case opinions — https://caseclips.courts.in.gov/ ; Indiana Unclaimed Property — https://www.indianaunclaimed.gov/app/ucp-law
  • Typical costs: minimum bid (taxes + assessments + penalties + interest + costs); redemption at 110%/115% of minimum bid + 5%/yr on overbid and subs + statutory notice/title/attorney costs; surplus and redemption claims are filed free with the county auditor/treasurer.
  • Typical timelines: sale Aug 1–Nov 1; redemption 1 year (or 120 days); tax deed after notice + court petition (IC 6-1.1-25-4.6); surplus claim within 3 years of receipt (IC 6-1.1-24-7); mortgage sale ≥3 months after complaint (IC 32-29-7-3).
  • Key agencies: County Auditor, County Treasurer, County Recorder, Clerk of the Circuit Court, County Sheriff, Indiana Attorney General Homeowner Protection Unit (surplus-recovery enforcement), Indiana State Board of Accounts (forms).
  • Useful forms: SBOA-prescribed tax-sale notice form (IC 6-1.1-24-2/-4); verified surplus claim to county auditor (IC 6-1.1-24-7); tax-deed form (IC 6-1.1-25-5). [see needs_verification — link a live county claim/notice form].

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