Washington surplus funds

Washington is one of the states where tax sale surplus that nobody claims in time is kept by the county for good. It doesn't go to the state's unclaimed property program, where an owner could still recover it later. And Washington tightly limits who can help former owners find this money, so many people never hear about it at all.

Tax foreclosure sales: three years, then the county keeps it

When a county treasurer sells a property for unpaid property taxes and the winning bid is more than the minimum bid, the difference is "excess" and is refunded, on application, to the record owner: the person who held title on the date the certificate of delinquency was issued.

• Liens first. Recorded water-sewer district liens are paid from the excess before the owner.
• Only the record owner is paid. The law says assignments, deeds or other documents signed or recorded after the certificate of delinquency don't change who receives the excess. Selling or signing over your claim to someone else doesn't work.
• Three years, then it's gone. If the county treasurer receives no claim within three years after the sale, the money goes into the county's current expense fund, "which extinguishes all claims by any owner to the excess funds."

Mortgage foreclosure sales: help is capped at 5%

After a court-ordered foreclosure, or a trustee's sale under a deed of trust, any surplus is held by the court or county. Since 2023, Washington law makes it unlawful to charge more than 5% of the amount returned to the owner (plus reasonable attorneys' fees approved by a court) for locating or recovering that money, or for buying the right to recover it. Charging more is a misdemeanor and a violation of the state's Consumer Protection Act.

Why owners in Washington often aren't told

Washington's public records law bars government agencies from providing lists of individuals for commercial purposes. Counties such as Snohomish attach that restriction to their excess-funds lists, so private firms generally can't use them to find and contact former owners. Combined with the three-year deadline, that means money is often kept by the county without the owner ever learning it was there.

What to do

Our free Washington claim kit walks through each step, with every county treasurer's phone number.

• If your Washington property was sold for unpaid taxes in the last three years, contact the treasurer of the county where it was, and ask whether excess funds are being held for you. Claiming it yourself costs nothing.
• If it was a mortgage foreclosure, ask the superior court clerk in that county whether surplus funds were deposited.
• Don't wait. For tax sales, the deadline is three years from the sale, and there's no getting the money back after that.

We're glad to explain how this works and what your county will ask for. Washington limits what anyone can charge to help with these claims, and we follow those limits.