Glossary / Tax deed

Tax deed

Tax deeds are issued by the selling authority — a clerk's deed in Florida, a sheriff's deed in Texas and Georgia, a treasurer's deed in Colorado's process — and recorded in the county records. What they convey is the interest the tax sale could legally transfer, free of many prior claims but carrying the procedural history of the sale itself. Arkansas states the limit plainly in our law library: the buyer receives only a limited warranty deed and should expect to file a quiet title action for insurable title.

In redeemable-deed states, the tax deed is defeasible during the redemption window: ownership is real but can be unwound by the owner's timely redemption payment. In no-redemption deed states (Florida after issuance, California, Oklahoma's resale), the deed is final at issuance, subject to title work.

The deed's form predicts your follow-up work. A sheriff's deed (Texas, Georgia) comes out of an officer-conducted sale; a clerk's deed (Florida) out of an administrative application process; a treasurer's deed (Colorado's post-2024 auction framework) out of a public auction of the deed option itself. All share the tax deed's defining trait: the grantor conveys only what the tax process could transfer, without the seller warranties a normal deed carries. That is why the deed's value is inseparable from the sale file behind it — the advertisements, notices and affidavits in the clerk's record are the evidence your future quiet title case (and your buyer's title insurer) will examine. When you buy a tax deed, you are buying the file as much as the parcel.

In practice: Texas buyers receive a sheriff's/constable's deed immediately, subject to 180-day or two-year redemption; Michigan's quitclaim deeds after foreclosure typically need quiet title; Florida clerk deeds issue after the winning bid is paid, with no post-sale redemption.

Definitions verified 2026-10-30 against the sourced state-law dataset. Educational only, not legal advice.