Arizona tax lien certificates: the three-year start and the ten-year cutoff

Arizona's county treasurers sell tax liens on delinquent parcels at an auction held in February (A.R.S. 42-18112). The winning bidder pays the whole amount of delinquent taxes, interest, penalties and charges and accepts the lowest rate of interest. The rate can be no higher than 16 percent a year, and it runs from the first day of the month after the purchase (A.R.S. 42-18114 and 42-18053). The treasurer then issues the buyer a certificate of purchase (A.R.S. 42-18118).

From there, two dates set by statute control what the certificate can do. Here is how they work.

Redemption stays open until a foreclosure judgment

Section 42-18152 lets the lien be fully redeemed at any time within three years after the sale, and after that until the treasurer's deed is delivered. Redemption is open to the owner and to anyone else section 42-18151 lists, including a person with a legal or equitable claim in the property.

Once a foreclosure action is filed, section 42-18206 allows redemption at any time before judgment is entered, and the judgment itself forecloses the right to redeem (section 42-18204). A person who redeems after a notice of pendency of the action is recorded owes the holder's costs, including reasonable attorney fees.

Clock one: no foreclosure for three years

Under section 42-18201(A), the holder may bring an action to foreclose the right to redeem beginning three years after the sale, but not later than ten years after the last day of the month in which the lien was acquired. The case is filed in the superior court of the county where the property is located, and the county treasurer must be named as a party.

Before filing, the holder must send a notice of intent by certified mail (section 42-18202). The window has two edges: at least 30 days before filing, and no more than 180 days before the action is filed or first may be filed.

The notice goes to the county treasurer. It also goes to the owner of record in the county recorder's records or, alternatively, to each of these: the owner's mailing address in the assessor's records, the property's situs address if it differs, and the tax bill mailing address in the treasurer's records if it differs from both. Under subsection C, a holder who sends the notice to each of those addresses that applies is considered to have complied in substance with the section and does not have to send the notice to any other address.

The notice must state the owner's name, the parcel number, the assessor's description, the certificate number and the proposed filing date. It must also carry a statutory warning: an owner who believes the property has value beyond the tax burden, and does not want to lose any interest or equity in it, must request an excess proceeds sale. A court may not enter a foreclosure judgment until the notice has been sent.

Clock two: the certificate expires after ten years

Section 42-18127(A) sets the outer limit. If the certificate is not redeemed and no foreclosure action is commenced within ten years after the last day of the month in which the certificate was acquired, the certificate expires and the lien is void. The treasurer must warn the holder by certified mail within the 365 days before that date. Within 30 days after it, the treasurer must notify the holder, by mail or by email if practicable, that the certificate has expired.

Subsection C says the expiration rule does not apply in two cases. One is when the parcel is already in a judicial proceeding or under a 30-day notice sent under section 42-18202. The other is when a law or court order bars the foreclosure action, and then the expiration moves to twelve months after the bar ends. Subsection C does not change the filing deadline in section 42-18201(A), which is extended only when a law or court order bars the action.

A sample timeline

Take a lien bought at a sale held on Monday, February 9, 2026. The date is an assumption for the example, and the dates below are calendar dates.

• March 1, 2026: interest at the bid rate begins.
• August 13, 2028: the notice window opens, 180 days before the first possible filing date.
• January 10, 2029: the last day to mail the notice for a filing on February 9, 2029.
• February 9, 2029: the first day the holder may file, three years after the sale.
• February 28, 2035: the treasurer's 365-day warning period begins.
• February 28, 2036: ten years after the last day of the month of purchase. It is the last day section 42-18201(A) allows for filing the foreclosure action, and the certificate expires if no action has been commenced by then, unless subsection C of section 42-18127 applies.

What the court can order

Section 42-18204 gives the court two outcomes when it finds the sale valid and the lien unredeemed. If the defendant did not request an excess proceeds sale, or the request is unreasonable, the judgment forecloses the right to redeem and directs the treasurer to deliver a deed to the holder. If the defendant's request is reasonable, the judgment forecloses redemption, orders the property sold under article 6 of the chapter and sets the opening bid.

Subsection B lets the owner or the holder ask for that ruling before the judgment takes effect, and it supplies the test. A sale is reasonable if the price is likely to be more than $2,500 above the total of the holder's figures: the costs of the foreclosure case, including estimated attorney fees, the lien amount and statutory fees with 16 percent interest, other recorded liens or encumbrances, including other years' delinquent taxes, and the estimated cost of the sale. Under subsection D, foreclosing the right to redeem does not extinguish easements or the assessment liens that subsection lists.

The filing steps, the parties to name and the treasurer's deed are covered in Arizona tax lien foreclosure and the treasurer's deed on Tax Sale Atlas.

Sources: Arizona Revised Statutes 42-18053, 42-18112, 42-18114, 42-18118, 42-18127, 42-18151, 42-18152, 42-18201, 42-18202, 42-18204 and 42-18206, Arizona State Legislature, read November 3, 2026. General information, not legal advice.