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Kenton County tax sales, Kentucky

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Kenton County is the automated version of the Kentucky certificate sale, and it has two county seats, Covington and Independence, a fact the brief for this wave understated and the county documents correct. The clerk in Covington sold the 2025 certificates on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., with automated processing and no room designation at 1840 Simon Kenton Way. Registration closed Monday, July 6, 2026 at 4:00 p.m., and purchaser lists were due by email on Monday, July 13, 2026, also at 4:00 p.m., with ACH the preferred payment route. The list ran on the clerk website from June 2026, weekly on the sale page and from June 15, 2026 in the formal notice, a small conflict recorded in the notes. Two mistakes matter here. The county publishes no deposit amount and tells buyers to ask the office, so no deposit figure belongs in the copy. And an after sale list of bills still available is the leftover channel, not a second sale.

Selling office: Kenton County Clerk (Gabrielle Summe), 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington, KY 41011. Tax sale contact: 859-392-1650

Next sale: Wed Jul 15, 2026, 10:00 AM: the 2026 automated sale for 2025 certificates of delinquency, 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington (held). Seat correction: Kenton County has two county seats, Covington and Independence, per the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives formation chart and Kenton County government plans. No 2027 Kenton sale date is published as of November 9, 2026.

As of November 9, 2026, the 2026 Kenton County automated sale has been held (Wednesday, July 15, 2026). The live channel is the after sale bills list on the clerk delinquent property tax page. No 2027 sale date, registration deadline, or list date is published for Kenton County; the Department of Revenue 2027 purchaser registration, with a May 16, 2027 published receipt date for eligibility in every sale, is the only 2027 fact verified.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Wed Jul 15, 2026, 10:00 AM: the 2026 automated sale for 2025 certificates of delinquency, 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington (held)
Seller	The Kenton County Clerk, Gabrielle Summe, sells the certificates from 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington. Registration forms and payment were mailed or delivered to Suite 1300 at that address; the formal notice gives the clerk office at Suite 1101 for list inspection.
2026 sale	Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., an automated sale for 2025 certificates of delinquency at 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington, with no room designation because of automated processing. The date is confirmed in both the clerk sale page and the Department of Revenue 2026 sale date list. Some advertised delinquencies were excluded from the sale under KRS 134.505(10)(b), as the notice states.
Registration	Registration with the Kenton County Clerk was due by Monday, July 6, 2026 at 4:00 p.m., using the clerk Tax Sale Registration, Affidavit and ACH form. The clerk page states a $10.00 registration fee per tax bill for purchasers at or below the state thresholds, and a $250.00 figure for purchasers over the thresholds, who must also register with the Department of Revenue and provide a copy to the clerk. Purchaser priority and current year lists were due by email by Monday, July 13, 2026 at 4:00 p.m., on the clerk spreadsheet, with payment unless using ACH.
The list	The formal notice states the list of delinquent property tax bills was available on the clerk website from Monday, June 15, 2026, and for public inspection at the clerk office, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The clerk sale page states that starting Friday, June 19, 2026, all 2025 delinquent bills would be published on Fridays on the website. The two start dates differ and both are recorded in the notes. Parcel count: NOT PUBLISHED.
Leftover channel	The clerk sale page posts a named leftover list: Bills Available After The Sale, the 2025 Tax Delinquent Tax Bills list dated 7.15.26, after the sale. The same page states prior year certificates of delinquency can be purchased year round, with bill details through the Kenton Records Search portal. That posted after sale list is the county leftover channel in practice.
Format	Automated sale of 2025 certificates of delinquency. The clerk sale page states that due to automated processing of the bills there is no room designation, at 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington: Automated processing by the Kenton County Clerk, run from the clerk delinquent property tax page at kentoncountykyclerk.com, with purchaser lists submitted by email in the clerk Excel spreadsheet and payment by ACH as the preferred method
Selling office	Kenton County Clerk (Gabrielle Summe), 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington, KY 41011. Tax sale contact: 859-392-1650

Sources: Kenton County Clerk, Delinquent Property Tax, 2026 automated sale page. Kenton County Clerk, Notice to Kenton County Taxpayers, delinquent tax sale 2026. Kenton County Clerk, 2025 Tax Delinquent Tax Bills, 7.15.26, after the sale. Kentucky Department of Revenue, County Clerk Delinquent Property Tax Sale Dates 2026. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Kentucky County Formation Chart, county seats. Kenton County government, Emergency Operations Plan, county seats Covington and Independence. 103 KAR 5:180, Procedures for sale of certificates of delinquency by county clerks. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and parcels are pulled up to sale day.

Research Kenton County parcels before you bid

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How Kentucky certificate of delinquency sales work

Kentucky sells certificates of delinquency, never land, and the sheriff to clerk handoff is where the certificate is born. Taxes carry the KRS 134.015 ladder: a 2 percent discount by November 1 of the assessment year, face amount to December 31, a 5 percent penalty through January, and a 10 percent penalty after January 31. The sheriff collects until April 15. Unpaid claims are then filed with the county clerk and become certificates of delinquency owned by the taxing jurisdictions (KRS 134.122), with the Department of Revenue responsible for collection and usually contracting it to the county attorney, who must send the owner a first notice within 30 days (KRS 134.504). The certificate base is the face tax plus the 10 percent penalty plus the sheriff commission (KRS 134.119(6)) plus the 10 percent sheriff add on (KRS 134.119(7)).
The clerk holds one annual sale, on the Department's schedule, inside a statutory window. The sale runs not earlier than 90 nor later than 135 days after the claims transfer (KRS 134.128), and the date is not the clerk's free choice: the Department of Revenue sets the preliminary statewide schedule under 103 KAR 5:180, and a clerk may only request a change, at the Department's discretion. In the 2026 season, sales of 2025 bills ran from Tuesday, July 14, 2026 (Pendleton, the first statutory day) to Thursday, October 22, 2026. The clerks deliver the master list of certificates to the Department by May 15 and the Department publishes the consolidated list by June 1 (KRS 134.131). Dates moved between the April and September versions of the 2026 statewide list, so an early list is a draft, never a final calendar.
There is no auction and no bidding, of price or of rate. A buyer files lists of the certificates it wants and pays the full amount due on the day. Bidding a rate down, the mechanic most lien summaries describe, does not exist in Kentucky, because the rate is fixed by statute and the price is fixed by arithmetic. What looks like an auction calendar entry is in fact an allocation event, and preparing for it means preparing lists, deposits, and registration, not a bidding strategy.
The amount due is a stack of statutory charges, and the Department's own example shows how fast it grows. On top of the certificate base, the buyer pays interest at 12 percent (below), a 10 percent county clerk fee (KRS 134.126(9)), a 20 percent county attorney fee, 1 dollar per county attorney notice, a 5 dollar advertising fee, the allocated cost of advertising the list, and the recording fees of KRS 64.012. The Department of Revenue's worked example turns a 1,000 dollar face bill into 1,254.00 dollars when the certificate is created and 1,704.21 dollars by the day of the sale. A buyer underwriting only the face tax and interest has missed roughly two fifths of the ticket.
Allocation runs in two steps: priority first, then the drawing. A priority certificate is a current certificate on a parcel where the purchaser already holds a prior year certificate; priority claims are allocated before anything else, and when two purchasers claim the same priority certificate, the holder of the most recent prior year wins, by seniority and not by lot (KRS 134.128(2)(d)4). The remaining certificates are chosen in size tiered lots in an order set by a random drawing the clerk runs on the sale day (103 KAR 5:180, Section 6). Counties call the event a lottery sale, and Jefferson County's own procedures are titled that way; the drawing sets the order of choosing, and the Department writes the rules and audits the sale but does not run it.
The 12 percent rate is real, and almost every description of it is wrong in the mechanics. Interest is simple, 12 percent per annum, charged monthly with a fraction of a month counting as a full month, on the statutory base before purchase and on the amount the purchaser actually paid after purchase (KRS 134.125). It is not compound, it is never bid down, and it does not run on the purchaser's later fees (KRS 134.452). The owner's cost of waiting is therefore steep and lumpy: a payment made one day into a new month owes that whole month.
The owner can pay at any time, and there is no fixed redemption window to wait out. Before a third party purchase the owner pays the clerk (KRS 134.127(1)(a)); after a purchase the owner pays the purchaser, who must release the lien under KRS 382.365, and if the purchaser cannot be located the owner may pay the full amount into escrow at the clerk and take the release there (KRS 134.127(3)). A registered purchaser must offer a monthly installment plan on written request, with a processing fee capped at 8 dollars per month (KRS 134.490(5)), and the purchaser's own added fees are capped by KRS 134.452: prelitigation tiers at 350, 560, and 700 dollars, and 115 dollars on an assignment. Any guide that prices a Kentucky certificate on uncapped purchaser fees is pricing charges the statute forbids.
Foreclosure is a circuit court action, and its one year clock is not anchored to your purchase. Under KRS 134.546 the holder sues in circuit court and the property is sold through the master commissioner, in rem, in personam, or both, after the 45 day pre-action notice of KRS 134.490(2). The one year in KRS 134.546(1) runs from the date the taxes became delinquent, January 1 of the year after the assessment year. For the 2026 season's 2025 bills that date is January 1, 2027, only about three to six months after the July to October 2026 sales, not a year after them. The certificate lien is prior and superior to any other obligation and lives eleven years (KRS 134.420). If the foreclosure sale brings less than two thirds of the appraised value (KRS 426.520), the owner may redeem within six months at the purchase money plus 10 percent plus qualifying post sale costs (KRS 426.530, incorporated by KRS 134.546(5)); at or above two thirds there is no redemption. If nobody buys, the master commissioner deeds to the certificate owners pro rata. Chapter 134 gives that deed no clean title guarantee, unlike the separate city procedure in KRS 91.514, so title is a case level question, and certificates nobody bought at the clerk's sale simply stay at the clerk, purchasable afterward under KRS 134.128(6); nothing is struck off to the county or the state.

How buying works in Kenton County

Kenton County Clerk registration by Monday, July 6, 2026 at 4:00 p.m., on the clerk registration, affidavit and ACH form, mailed or delivered to 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Suite 1300, Covington. Purchasers over the state thresholds (more than 3 certificates in a county, more than 5 statewide, or more than $10,000 statewide) must also register with the Department of Revenue and give the clerk a copy of that registration.

Prepare lists, not bids. Kentucky allocates by list and drawing, so the competitive work happens weeks before the sale: choosing parcels, splitting them between your priority list (certificates on parcels where you already hold a prior year) and your current list, and funding two different deposits against them. A purchaser who arrives ready to bid has prepared for a sale Kentucky does not hold.
Priority is the only structural edge, and it compounds. A certificate you hold this year makes next year's certificate on the same parcel your priority claim, allocated before the drawing and defended by seniority of the most recent prior year. The rational Kentucky portfolio is therefore built in layers on the same parcels over successive years, which is also why casual one year buyers find the best parcels already spoken for.
The drawing rewards breadth within the tiers. Current certificates are chosen in size tiered lots in a randomly drawn order, so a list's depth inside each tier is what converts a good draw into good certificates. Thin lists waste early picks on leftovers; the deposit rule (25 percent of current value) is what makes a deep list affordable, and it is the real budget constraint, not the full price.
Underwrite the full ticket, not the face. The amount due at purchase is roughly 1.7 times the face tax in the Department's own example, and your 12 percent runs on what you actually paid. Models built on face tax alone understate the capital per certificate and overstate the yield on it; models built on the full ticket, with the KRS 134.452 fee caps, are the ones that survive contact with the clerk's list.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Kenton County	Kenton County deposit amount: NOT PUBLISHED on the clerk sale page or in the formal notice. The notice directs interested participants to contact the clerk office for information about the registration process, the required registration fee, or the deposit amounts needed. The statewide regulation, 103 KAR 5:180, sets deposits at 100 percent for priority lists and 25 percent for current lists, but Kenton County does not publish its own amount in the sources read and no Kenton specific figure is stated here as verified.
Payment, Kenton County	ACH is the preferred payment method, under the clerk Agreement for ACH Payment; the clerk page also lists Visa, Mastercard, and Discover with a 2.50 percent fee. Purchaser lists were due with payment unless the purchaser was using ACH. A county specific deadline for any remaining balance after the sale: NOT PUBLISHED on the pages read; under 103 KAR 5:180 a balance is due at the time the clerk sets, no later than 10 business days after the sale.
What is sold	Certificates of delinquency only: the tax claim itself, owned by the taxing jurisdictions from the April 15 transfer (KRS 134.122) and sold by the county clerk at one annual sale 90 to 135 days later (KRS 134.128). No land, no deed, and no possession changes hands at the clerk's sale.
The price	The full amount due on the purchase day, set by arithmetic, never by bidding: the certificate base (face tax, 10 percent penalty, sheriff commission, 10 percent sheriff add on), plus interest to the day, plus a 10 percent clerk fee (KRS 134.126(9)), a 20 percent county attorney fee, 1 dollar per county attorney notice, a 5 dollar advertising fee, the allocated advertising cost, and KRS 64.012 recording fees. The Department of Revenue's worked example: a 1,000 dollar bill is 1,254.00 dollars at creation and 1,704.21 dollars at the sale.
Interest	Simple interest at 12 percent per annum, charged monthly, a fraction of a month counting as a full month, on the statutory base before purchase and on the amount actually paid after purchase (KRS 134.125). The rate is fixed by statute. It is not compound, never bid down, and not charged on the purchaser's own fees.
How certificates are allocated	Priority certificates (a current certificate on a parcel where you already hold a prior year certificate) are allocated first, conflicts resolved for the holder of the most recent prior year (KRS 134.128(2)(d)4). All other certificates are chosen in size tiered lots in an order set by a random drawing the clerk runs on the sale day (103 KAR 5:180, Section 6). There is no price or rate bidding at any step.
Registration, state layer	State registration (KRS 134.129; 103 KAR 5:190) is triggered only above 5 certificates statewide, 3 in one county, or 10,000 dollars statewide: a 250 dollar nonrefundable notarized application, filed at least 60 days before the triggering purchase, expiring December 31. A small buyer under all three thresholds owes no state registration at all, whatever a summary says.
Registration and deposit, clerk layer	Every participant registers with each county clerk, every year. Registration fees run 5 dollars per priority certificate and 10 dollars per current certificate, capped at 250 dollars. The deposit is 100 percent of the priority certificate value plus clerk fees, and 25 percent of the current certificate value, with any balance due within ten business days (103 KAR 5:180, Sections 3 and 4). The deposit is not the 250 dollar figure secondary sources repeat; that is the capped fee total and the separate state application fee.
The owner's payoff	The owner may pay the amount due at any time, to the clerk before a third party purchase and to the purchaser afterward, with a mandatory lien release under KRS 382.365 and a full escrow fallback at the clerk if the purchaser cannot be located (KRS 134.127(1) and (3)). There is no fixed redemption period to expire; the lien is live until paid or foreclosed.
Purchaser fees are capped	KRS 134.452 caps what a purchaser may add: prelitigation fee tiers capped at 350, 560, and 700 dollars, an assignment fee cap of 115 dollars, and an installment plan processing fee of no more than 8 dollars per month where a plan is required (KRS 134.490(5)). Interest does not run on purchaser fees.
The route to the land	Foreclosure under KRS 134.546 in circuit court, sold by the master commissioner, available once one year has run from the delinquency date (January 1 after the assessment year), not from purchase, after the 45 day notice of KRS 134.490(2). The lien is prior and superior to any other obligation and lives eleven years (KRS 134.420). A foreclosure sale below two thirds of appraised value leaves the owner a six month redemption at purchase money plus 10 percent (KRS 426.530); Chapter 134 gives the deed no clean title guarantee.
The leftover channel	Certificates nobody buys stay owned by the taxing jurisdictions at the county clerk and may be purchased at any time after the sale, with current registration (KRS 134.128(6)). Certificates created too late for the sale wait for the next annual sale (KRS 134.128(7)). Nothing is struck off, and there is no state inventory to buy from.

What happens to certificates that do not sell in Kenton County

Kenton County publishes its leftover channel directly: the clerk delinquent property tax page carries a Bills Available After The Sale list, the 2025 delinquent tax bills as of the July 15, 2026 sale, for certificates that remained available after the automated sale. The statewide rule behind it, from the Department of Revenue guide, is that remaining certificates may be purchased at any time after the sale by any third party purchaser, with a $10.00 per bill registration fee until the $250.00 maximum is reached. The Kenton page separately states that prior year certificates of delinquency can be purchased year round. No count of leftover bills is published, so the size of the leftover pool is NOT PUBLISHED.

Before you bid

Confirm which statewide list version you are reading. The 2026 sale dates moved between the Department's April list and its September update, and individual county dates moved with them. Work from the clerk's own sale notice for the county in front of you, and treat any statewide calendar printed early in the year as a draft.
Register in both layers, on the regulation's clocks. State registration, where triggered, is a notarized application filed at least 60 days ahead with a 250 dollar fee, expiring December 31. Clerk registration runs on its own county deadlines inside 103 KAR 5:180, and the deposit split (100 percent priority, 25 percent current) must be funded in the form the clerk requires. Missing either layer ends the purchase before the drawing starts.
Price the one year foreclosure anchor correctly. For 2025 bills the KRS 134.546 year runs out on January 1, 2027, months after the sale, not a year after it. Your holding period to a foreclosure filing is shorter than the summaries say, and so is the interest you collect before it; both directions belong in the parcel model.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your exit value to the highest amount you can pay, with the costs shown. In Kentucky the maximum applies per certificate against the full statutory ticket, clerk fee, county attorney fee, advertising, and recording included, not against the face tax on the list.

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