San Diego County tax-defaulted property

Every California county starts the same statutory clock on July 1, and for most property it runs five years to the county’s power to sell. We cover that clock step by step here. What differs is what each county publishes, what it ends up auctioning, and how it runs the sale.

The two lists San Diego County publishes

San Diego publishes its tax-defaulted parcels twice a year, and the two lists describe different owners. The Notice of Property Tax Default List runs in late summer, over three weekly editions (in 2026 on August 21, August 28 and September 4), and names parcels in their third year of default (the 2026 list covers taxes that went into default on July 1, 2023): owners two years short of the county’s power to sell. The Notice of Impending Power to Sell runs in June and names parcels five or more years into default, the ones the county can now take to auction. Lispend carries both.

What San Diego County actually auctions

What San Diego actually auctions is mostly not houses. Of the 686 properties in the county’s March 2026 sale, 550 were timeshare intervals, 70 were improved properties and 66 were unimproved land, according to the Treasurer-Tax Collector. A timeshare interval is the right to use one unit for a set period each year, not the building and not the resort association. Real property is a small slice of what goes to auction here.

The housing behind the list

In the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 American Community Survey, San Diego County had 1,250,641 homes, the median owner-occupied home was valued at $854,700, the median home was built in 1980, and only 55 percent of its occupied homes were lived in by their owners. With about 45 percent of occupied homes rented, check whether the owner actually lives at the property before you decide how to reach them.

How San Diego County runs its tax sale

San Diego holds one online tax sale a year for property five or more years in default, and it has adopted the five-year schedule for commercial property too, so every parcel waits the full five years. For its March 2026 sale the county required a $35 non-refundable processing fee and a $1,000 refundable deposit before bidding, with some parcels requiring more, and gave the winning bidder five business days to pay in full by cash, cashier’s check or wire. A parcel that drew no bids could be re-offered within 90 days at a lower minimum instead of waiting a year. As of September 2026 the county lists its next sale as to be announced for 2027.

What the owner can still do

An owner in default fewer than five years can stop the clock with San Diego’s installment plan: at least 20 percent of the amount due, plus interest, the current year’s taxes and an $85 annual maintenance fee, paid by April 10 each year. Missing a year defaults the plan. Otherwise the owner can redeem in full until the close of business on the last business day before the sale. If the property does sell, San Diego treats anything over $150 left after taxes, fees and sale costs as excess proceeds, which a former owner or lienholder can claim within a year of the tax deed being recorded.

What to do differently here

Work the two lists as two different leads. An owner on the late-summer list is three years in, with two years of runway left and often no sense of a problem yet, so the opening is what the property costs to keep, not a deadline. A power-to-sell parcel from the June list is the opposite: the county can auction it, and a sale on the owner’s own terms may be worth more to them than whatever the county’s sale leaves over. Lispend’s San Diego list is real property, so the names you work own a house or land, not a week at a resort.

Sources

Last verified 2026-09-19. County sale details change from year to year, so check the county’s own notice before you bid. General information, not legal advice.

Keep going

How California’s tax-default clock works How a California foreclosure works California counties we cover Making first contact

See San Diego County tax-defaulted property

Both lists, in the same place as the county’s other distressed property.

See pricing