The Florida distressed property calendar
Florida distress runs on three different clocks. Tax is annual and almost perfectly predictable. Foreclosure is continuous and driven by whoever files. Probate is continuous and driven by nothing you can schedule.
Most people learn the tax calendar the expensive way — by finding the list in June along with everyone else. Here is the whole year, with the statute behind each date so you can check it rather than take our word.
The tax year, month by month
November – February
Tax bills are payable, at a shrinking discount
Florida rewards paying early on a sliding scale: 4% off in November, 3% in December, 2% in January, 1% in February, and nothing in March. Most owners who can pay do it in November to take the largest discount. An owner still holding an unpaid bill in February has passed up four chances to save money, which is usually a cash-flow story rather than an oversight.
Fla. Stat. s. 197.162
March
The last month to pay without penalty
No discount, no penalty. This is the quietest month in the tax year and the last moment the bill is a normal bill. Nothing is public yet — there is no list, no advertisement and no filing — so anyone working this window is working from the prior year, not from anything new.
April 1
Taxes become delinquent, and 3% is added
The single most important date in the Florida tax year. Prior-year real property taxes go delinquent and a 3% charge attaches. Nothing is advertised yet and nobody has been served with anything, which is precisely why owners are easier to reach at this stage than at the equivalent point in a foreclosure.
Fla. Stat. ch. 197
April – May
The delinquent roll is advertised
The tax collector advertises delinquent parcels once a week for three weeks, in a local newspaper and online. This is the moment the list becomes public, and the only moment in the year that it does. Every competitor working this lane downloads it in the same fortnight.
Fla. Stat. s. 197.402
On or before June 1
The tax certificate sale
Certificates are sold against the delinquent parcels — on or before June 1, or the 60th day after delinquency, whichever is later. Counties run it as a reverse auction: bidders bid the interest rate DOWN from 18%, so the certificate goes to whoever will accept the lowest return. Homestead parcels under $250 in face value are never offered publicly; they are struck to the county.
Fla. Stat. s. 197.432, s. 197.432(4)
June 1 – November 30
Hurricane season
Not a statutory deadline, and the most underrated line on this calendar. A single season can move an insurance renewal beyond what a fixed income covers, strand a repair half-finished, or turn a rental into a liability. Florida distress is frequently an insurance story wearing a tax or foreclosure costume, and the timing is seasonal even though nothing is filed.
Two years after April 1
The tax deed window opens
A certificate holder may apply for a tax deed once two years have elapsed from April 1 of the year the certificate was issued. Until that moment the certificate is a lien and nothing more — the holder cannot enter, rent or list the property, and the owner can redeem at any point by paying the arrears with interest.
Fla. Stat. s. 197.502
Seven years after issuance
The tax deed window closes
The half almost nobody writes about, and the more useful half. A certificate expires seven years from issuance, so the deed application must be filed before then. That is a deadline on the HOLDER, not the owner, and it is what eventually forces a dormant certificate into a deed application and the property toward auction.
Fla. Stat. s. 197.482
What runs all year
Two of the three lanes ignore the calendar entirely.
Foreclosure begins whenever a lender files suit. Florida is a judicial-foreclosure state, so the first public step is a lis pendens recorded in the county where the property sits, and the owner then has 20 days to respond. There is no season — only a filing, and a clock that starts the day it lands. The full foreclosure timeline is here.
Probate begins when someone dies owning property, which is the one date on this page nobody schedules. Estate administration runs on its own timeline in the circuit court, and the person you eventually speak to is a personal representative rather than the name on the deed. How Florida probate actually works.
The thing the calendar tells you that the list does not
The tax roll is worked hard for about six weeks a year and then abandoned. Everyone downloads it in May, mails it in June, and moves on by August — while the owner’s problem sits there getting no better and, crucially, getting no mail.
That is the opposite of a foreclosure list, where being first by hours is worth real money because a court clock is running. Nobody is racing you to a parcel with three years of statutory runway left. The advantage in the tax lane does not go to whoever is fastest; it goes to whoever is still there in month eight.
It also means the delinquent year matters more than the list does. A parcel in its first year is a different conversation from one in its third — the third has a certificate holder with a seven-year deadline of their own, and an owner who has already let this slide twice. More on working the tax-delinquent lane.
Common questions
When do Florida property taxes become delinquent?
April 1. Prior-year real property taxes become delinquent on April 1 and a 3% charge is added at that point. Before then the bill is simply payable, at a discount that shrinks from 4% in November to nothing in March.
When is the Florida tax certificate sale held?
On or before June 1 — specifically June 1 or the 60th day after delinquency, whichever is later, under Fla. Stat. s. 197.432. Counties run it online as a reverse auction, with bidders bidding the interest rate down from 18%.
How long does a Florida tax certificate last?
Seven years. The holder may apply for a tax deed after two years have elapsed from April 1 of the issuance year, and must do so before seven years from issuance. Both ends of that window matter: the first is when pressure can begin, the second is when the holder runs out of time.
Is there a season for Florida foreclosure filings?
Not in the way there is for tax. A lis pendens is filed whenever a lender sues, so foreclosure runs continuously rather than annually. What does vary is the day of the week — filings cluster midweek, so a list worked on a Monday looks different from the same list on a Thursday.
Why does hurricane season belong on a distress calendar?
Because in Florida the insurance bill frequently decides the outcome. A season that moves a wind or flood premium beyond what an owner can carry produces tax delinquency and foreclosure months later, and neither of those filings will say the word hurricane anywhere on it.
Sources
Florida Statutes chapter 197 throughout: s. 197.162 for the early-payment discounts, s. 197.402 for the advertising requirement, s. 197.432 for the certificate sale and the June 1 deadline, s. 197.432(4) for the homestead strike-off, s. 197.502 for the tax deed application, and s. 197.482 for the seven-year expiry. Sale mechanics were read from individual county tax collectors, because the statute fixes the deadline while each county picks its own auction platform — they are not uniform. Last verified 2026-08-26.
General information about how Florida’s statutory calendar works, not legal advice. Dates and thresholds change — check the current statute before relying on one. Free to cite or link.