Live data — updated October 13, 2026
Kentucky Over-the-Counter Tax Liens (2026): 15,767 County-Held Listings
Quick answer: Kentucky counties hold 15,767 tax-lien certificates you can buy over the counter at the statutory price, with no auction. You are buying the unpaid tax debt, not the property.
What you are buying. A certificate against the parcel's unpaid taxes. The owner keeps the property and owes you the debt plus statutory interest.
If they redeem — and most do — you are repaid with interest and never own the parcel. Kentucky's redemption window runs until the court sale.
If they do not redeem, the certificate is your route to a deed. Certificate of delinquency sold by the county clerk at the amount due, with no bidding. The owner can pay it off at any time until a court foreclosure sale, and you earn 12% simple interest a year on what you paid. You can sue to foreclose once one year has passed since the taxes became delinquent. That is a separate legal process with its own costs and timeline, and it is where most of the real work sits.
So treat the interest as the base case and ownership as the exception. Underwrite the parcel anyway: a certificate on something worthless is only worth what the owner chooses to pay.
Kentucky caveat. No fixed redemption period. The owner can pay the certificate off at any time until a court foreclosure sale. The holder may file that suit once one year has passed since the taxes became delinquent (KRS 134.546), which is January 1 of the year after the bill.
In most lien states the county sells or assigns these certificates to whoever applies first, with no auction. The mechanism is set county by county, so confirm it with the county before you plan around it.
Ask for it by the county's name, not ours. "OTC" is investor shorthand — call a county asking for their OTC list and you may be told they have none, because that is not what it is called on their side of the desk.
Elsewhere the same inventory turns up as county-held property, leftover tax deeds, post-auction sales, or land-bank property — and land-bank stock is worth a second look, because once a parcel has been transferred to a land bank the county no longer owns it and is no longer the seller. The question that cuts through all of it, asked of the treasurer or the assessor: what happens to the properties that do not sell at the auction? If the first person says nothing is left, ask a second.
The same due diligence as auction buying applies, and the best time to look is right after a sale has run and the county has moved what did not sell.
See the full Kentucky investor guide and the live Kentucky auction calendar.
Where the inventory is
| County | County-held listings |
|---|---|
| Perry | 1,722 |
| Whitley | 1,692 |
| Pulaski | 1,309 |
| Hopkins | 1,219 |
| McCracken | 833 |
| Bell | 806 |
| Johnson | 695 |
| Martin | 653 |
| Owen | 586 |
| Carter | 547 |
Counts update daily.
Frequently asked questions
What does over-the-counter (OTC) mean in tax sales?
Depending on the state, what is sold over the counter is either the property or the county's tax lien certificate. When nothing bids at the county tax sale, the county (or the state) keeps it ("struck off") and sells it afterward. In some states that is at a set minimum — back taxes plus costs — to the first qualified applicant, with no auction. Many work differently: Texas re-offers struck-off property at a public resale or by private sale (Tex. Tax Code 34.05), Alabama's State-held parcels are sold by the Department of Revenue on a price quote, Michigan and Minnesota at a county-set or appraised price, and Arkansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Missouri and West Virginia by bid or offer. Each state page says which.
Why would a property go unsold at auction?
Mostly obscurity, not defects: small rural counties get few bidders, some lists never circulate, and low-value parcels aren't worth a professional's trip. Plenty are genuinely rough — the same title and condition research applies as at auction.
Are OTC properties cheaper than auction properties?
Often — where there is no competitive bidding, the price stays at the minimum the state or county sets instead of getting bid up; for a lien certificate it is what is owed on it. Some states sell this inventory by bid or offer instead. The tradeoff is the inventory skews toward what bidders passed on, so research matters even more.
How do I buy an OTC property in Kentucky?
Each county publishes its held list and application process — typically a form plus payment of taxes and fees. DeedFlex members see the scored Kentucky OTC list with valuations and risk flags to pick targets before applying.