If you are unable to pay the full redemption amount (i.e., unpaid taxes for all delinquent years plus penalties and charges), you may open an installment plan of redemption prior to becoming subject to power to sale. This plan allows you to make payments on your delinquent taxes over a five-year period beginning the date you open the installment plan.

Some mortgage companies do not consider a payment plan as an acceptable alternative to paying taxes in full. You may wish to verify this with your lender.

To open an installment plan, you must:

1. Make an initial payment of at least 20% of the redemption amount plus past and future interest; and
2. Pay an administrative setup fee; and
3. Pay your current year’s taxes.

If you open an installment plan between July 1 and the following April 10, the current year’s taxes and the supplemental taxes must be paid by April 10 or the account will default. To open an installment plan between April 11 and June 30, the current year’s taxes (plus any penalties and charges) must be paid in full.

You can open an installment plan after the date on which the property has become tax defaulted (June 30) and within five years of that date (at which time your property becomes subject to the power of sale).

Under the installment plan you are required to make one payment each year for five years, in addition to paying each year’s annual taxes. By each April 10 you must make one payment of 20% or more of the redemption amount, plus interest (which accrues at the rate of 1½ % per month on the unpaid balance). If you fail to make any installment payment or fail to pay your current year’s taxes or any supplemental taxes on or before April 10 of each year, your plan will default.

You can, however, pay the total unpaid balance plus accrued interest any time before the fifth and final payment is due.

If you wish to open an account or wish detailed information about an installment plan of redemption, contact the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office at (805) 654-3744, and dial 0 from the main menu.

If your first plan defaults either because of your failure to make at least one installment payment between July 1 and April 10, or your failure to pay your current year’s taxes in full by April 10, you may open another plan with the approval of the Treasurer-Tax Collector. However, the second plan may not be opened until July 1 of the following fiscal year. You may NEVER reopen an installment plan in the same fiscal year that the property becomes subject to the power of sale.

If you default a second time, you may open a third installment plan with the approval of the Treasurer-Tax Collector. However, if you default a third time, no further installment plans will be permitted, and your property will become subject to the power of sale the following June 30. In that case, your property will be sold at public auction or acquired by a public agency if you do not pay the full redemption amount before the date on which the property is offered for sale or acquisition.

Each time you open a plan, you have five years to pay the full redemption amount. However, it is to your advantage not to default on an installment account, since there are additional penalties. When a second or third installment plan is opened, the redemption amount is computed as though no previous payments had been made. This means that you will be charged the 1 ½ % monthly penalty on the unpaid taxes as though none of those taxes had been paid. However, as soon as the first payment on the subsequent plan has been made, you will be given credit for any previous payments. An administrative setup fee is required each time a payment plan is initiated.

Until the final payment has been received on an installment plan of redemption, none of the payments constitute a redemption or partial redemption (§ 4223).