8.3.2 Time for Redemption

In general, property may be redeemed within 3 years of the recordation of the tax deed in the conveyance records.1  A “tax sale certificate” is considered a “tax deed” for redemption purposes. Always check the recordation date to determine how much time is left for redemption. In some parishes, many months can pass between the tax sale and the recordation of the tax sale certificate.

While a tax sale redemptive period is peremptive,2  in some cases an untimely redemption may relate back to a timely redemption request or similar action if the tax collector was unable to timely process that request.3  Computer issues, hurricane closures, and emergency COVID-19 closures are the most common reasons for a tax collector’s inability to process tax sale redemptions. If your client has attempted to redeem a tax sale, but the tax collector was unable to complete the request for any reason, your client must preserve all communications and take detailed notes of each unfulfilled redemption request. For an unfulfilled redemption request to be deemed timely, the client must continuously make redemption requests until the tax collector is able to comply.

In addition, the Governor has the power to “suspend the provisions of any regulatory statute . . . if strict compliance with the provisions of any statute . . . would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action in coping with the emergency.”4  Suspension of tax sale redemptive periods has occurred numerous times under the Governor’s emergency powers following hurricanes and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In some instances, the Legislature has codified the suspension of the tax sale period, as it did after the COVID-19 “stay at home” orders.5

• 1La. Const. art. VII, § 25(B)(1); see Hamilton v. Royal Int’l Petroleum Corp., 2005-C-846 (La. 2/22/06), 934 So. 2d 25.
• 2La. R.S. 47:2241.
• 3Harris v. Guardian Funds, Inc., 425 So. 2d 1322 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1983) (lawsuit to redeem filed within 3 years); Becnel v. Woodland, 628 So. 2d 89, 91 (La. App. 5 Cir. 1993) (oral request to redeem within 3 years is sufficient); Miss. Land Co. v. S & A Props. II, Inc., pp. 5–7 (La. App. 3 Cir. 5/8/02), 817 So. 2d 1200, 1204–05 (erroneous payment within 3-year redemption period held sufficient effort to redeem); S.A. Mortgage Serv., Co. v. Lemoine, 01-CV-250 (La. App. 5 Cir. 10/17/01), 800 So. 2d 1015 (redemption timely where insufficient amount paid because city gave tax debtor the wrong redemption amount); Succession of Caldarera v. Zeno, 2009-1397, pp. 6–8 (La. App. 4 Cir. 7/16/10), 43 So. 3d 1080, 1085–86 (succession’s timely attempts to redeem were delays by erroneous city records).
• 4La. R.S. 29:724(1).
• 5See La. R.S. 9:5828, et seq.