A redemption deed in Arkansas is the document the Commissioner of State Lands issues when a tax-delinquent property is redeemed, and it serves as proof that all outstanding taxes, penalties, interest, fees, and costs have been paid in full. It is not a transfer of ownership. If you were the owner before the property was certified to the state for unpaid taxes, redeeming clears the delinquency and the deed on file confirms that you did.1Justia. Arkansas Code 26-37-310 – Procedure for Redeeming Parcels Certified to the State
The distinction matters because the word “deed” usually signals a change in ownership. A redemption deed does the opposite. It documents that ownership was preserved by paying what was owed, not that anything changed hands.
Who Gets the Deed and Who Gets a Receipt
Only the property owner receives a redemption deed. If someone else pays the delinquent taxes on the property, that person gets a redemption receipt instead. The receipt confirms the payment; it does not convey any ownership interest.1Justia. Arkansas Code 26-37-310 – Procedure for Redeeming Parcels Certified to the State
This trips up people who assume that paying someone else’s tax bill is a shortcut to acquiring their property. It is not. Redemption clears the debt for the benefit of the owner. If your goal is to obtain a tax-delinquent parcel, you have to buy it at the Commissioner’s auction, not redeem it on the current owner’s behalf.
How the Deed Is Issued and Recorded
Once the Commissioner of State Lands accepts full payment of the amounts due, the office prepares the redemption deed and forwards it to the circuit clerk in the county where the property sits, where it is entered into the public record.1Justia. Arkansas Code 26-37-310 – Procedure for Redeeming Parcels Certified to the State
The Commissioner may charge a fee for producing the deed. That fee is capped at the actual cost of producing the document plus three percent, so it is not a source of revenue for the state, just a cost-recovery charge.
How Redemption Actually Works
Before a redemption deed can exist, the property has to be redeemed. When property taxes go unpaid in Arkansas, the county eventually certifies the delinquent parcel to the Commissioner of State Lands. At that point legal title vests in the State of Arkansas, though the Commissioner does not take physical possession or maintain the property.2Justia. Arkansas Administrative Code, Agency 135, Rule 135.00.21-001
The Commissioner must give the owner at least one year from certification before selling the property. During that pre-sale period, you can redeem by paying the full amount owed: outstanding taxes, penalties, interest, fees, and costs.3Justia. Arkansas Code 26-37-301 – Notice to Owner
The numbers add up faster than most people expect. You owe ten percent simple interest per year of delinquency plus a separate ten percent penalty per year of delinquency. Both accrue from October 16 of the year the taxes first became delinquent. County and Commissioner administrative costs stack on top of that.4FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 26 Taxation 26-37-302
Before an Auction
To redeem, you submit a petition to the Commissioner of State Lands and pay the full amount due. The Commissioner provides the petition form on request. The total quoted on that petition is valid for thirty days. If you do not pay within that window, or if new costs accrue in the meantime, you have to request an updated petition.1Justia. Arkansas Code 26-37-310 – Procedure for Redeeming Parcels Certified to the State
The Commissioner sends notice to the owner and other interested parties at least thirty days before an in-person auction. That notice states the sale date and explains that redemption remains possible until the close of business on the last business day before the sale.5FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 26 Taxation 26-37-202
After an Auction
Once the property is sold at auction, the redemption window shrinks fast. You have ten business days after the sale date to redeem. Weekends and nationally recognized holidays do not count toward those ten days. Payment made within thirty days of a sale or within ten business days after must be in cash or certified funds.2Justia. Arkansas Administrative Code, Agency 135, Rule 135.00.21-001
If you do not redeem within those ten business days, the Commissioner issues a Limited Warranty Deed to the auction buyer. That deed conveys whatever interest the state received through the tax forfeiture. It does not guarantee clean title, and most auction buyers will need to file a quiet title action in court before they have fully marketable ownership.2Justia. Arkansas Administrative Code, Agency 135, Rule 135.00.21-001
What a Redemption Deed Is Not
A redemption deed applies only to the tax-sale process run by the Commissioner of State Lands. It has nothing to do with reclaiming property after a mortgage foreclosure. Mortgage foreclosure redemption in Arkansas is a separate right, with its own one-year deadline and its own payment rules, and it produces no document called a redemption deed.6Justia. Arkansas Code 18-49-106 – Redemption of Real Property
Nor does a redemption deed clean up other title problems. It confirms that the tax delinquency that sent the property to the Commissioner has been cured. Existing mortgages, judgments, easements, and other encumbrances are unaffected by the deed itself. If you redeem, you are the same owner you were before the certification, holding the property subject to whatever else was already on it.
The short version: if you own tax-delinquent Arkansas property and pay it off through the Commissioner of State Lands, the redemption deed is your paper trail. It proves the debt is settled and gets recorded in your county so the public record reflects it. Ownership is preserved, not transferred, and the clock on any auction stops the moment full payment clears.