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Iowa · IA

Sell your land in Iowa.

Iowa land carries two dates and a number. The farm lease you inherited renews itself unless notice is served on or before September 1 under Iowa Code § 562.7, the tenancy then ends the following March 1, and the CSR2 rating on your tillable acres does more to set the price than anything else.

Selling farmland in Iowa turns on one statutory date: a farm lease must be terminated by September 1 or it renews for another crop year ending March 1. CSR2 soil rating sets the per-acre number more than acreage does. Chapter 558A disclosure stops at four dwelling units, so raw land is outside it.

Tax sale type
Tax lien
Redemption window
1 year 9 months before deed
Rate on redemption
2% per month (24% annually)
Closings handled by
Title company
Iowa tax sale and closing at a glance
IowaWhat applies
Tax sale typeTax lien
Redemption window1 year 9 months before deed
Rate on redemption2% per month (24% annually)
Closing conducted byTitle company

Redemption runs at different stages in different states — before a sale in some, after it in others, and not at all in a few. The sections below set out how it works in Iowa, and where they and this table describe different clocks, the sections are the precise account.

Last reviewed

Figures describe Iowa generally. Counties administer their own sales and their own calendars — your county treasurer is the only source for a payoff figure or a sale date you can act on.

Local detail

What actually matters about land in Iowa

When must you end an Iowa farm lease?

Iowa Code § 562.6 says a farm tenancy continues beyond its agreed term into the following crop year, on the same terms, unless written notice of termination is served in the manner set by § 562.7 — and then the tenancy ends March 1 following. Section 562.7 gives three methods, each keyed to the same date: delivery with signed acceptance on or before September 1, personal service or publication on or before September 1, or certified mail deposited before September 1. Miss it and you have leased the ground for another year. The statute excepts a mere cropper and a tenancy under forty acres where an animal feeding operation is the primary use.

How does CSR2 set Iowa farmland value?

Iowa prices tillable ground on soil productivity, and the index that does it is CSR2 — Corn Suitability Rating 2, built by Iowa State University Extension with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and updated from the older CSR in 2014. Every Iowa soil map unit carries a rating on a scale running from 5 to 100, and a parcel's weighted average is the first number a farm buyer looks at. Bids are commonly quoted as dollars per CSR2 point on tillable acres, so two adjacent farms with different soils price differently on the same day. Assessors work from productivity too: Iowa Code § 441.21 values agricultural realty on productivity and net earning capacity rather than market value.

What can an Iowa drainage district charge you?

Much of northern and central Iowa drains through century-old tile organized into levee and drainage districts under Iowa Code chapter 468. The county board of supervisors supervises it and must keep the improvement in repair. Under § 468.126 the board may act on its own motion, without notice, to restore original efficiency, and a repair estimated at fifty thousand dollars or less needs no hearing; there is no right of remonstrance. Costs fall on benefited land as assessments. Districts are also unusually insulated: in Board of Water Works Trustees of the City of Des Moines v. Sac County Board of Supervisors, 890 N.W.2d 50 (Iowa 2017), the Iowa Supreme Court held they are immune from damages claims.

Do you need a disclosure for Iowa vacant land?

Iowa's residential disclosure statute does not reach bare ground. Iowa Code § 558A.1(7) defines a covered transfer as one where the property includes at least one but not more than four dwelling units, and the subsection excludes court-ordered transfers, transfers between joint tenants, transfers to close relatives and transfers by quitclaim deed. A vacant parcel is outside the chapter. Something else is not: Iowa Code § 558.69 requires a groundwater hazard statement with every declaration of value filed under chapter 428A, covering known wells, private burial sites, hazardous or solid waste, underground storage tanks and private sewage systems. If none exist, the deed itself must carry that statement on its first page or the recorder refuses to record it.

Questions

Selling land in Iowa

There is a tenant farming my Iowa land. Can I sell it?

Yes, but the lease outlives the closing unless notice was served in time. Iowa Code § 562.6 continues a farm tenancy into the following crop year on the same terms unless written notice of termination is served under § 562.7, which requires delivery, personal service or publication on or before September 1, or certified mail deposited before September 1. The tenancy then ends the following March 1. A buyer who wants possession for the next crop year will ask whether that notice went out, so handle it before you list.

Who pays when the drainage tile on my land fails?

Usually the landowners in the district, through an assessment, and often without a vote. Under Iowa Code § 468.126 the board supervising a levee or drainage district may act on its own motion and without notice to restore the system to its original efficiency, and a repair estimated at not more than fifty thousand dollars can be ordered with no hearing. There is no right of remonstrance against a repair. Subsection 3 also lets the board reconstruct the outlet of a private tile line and assess the cost against the land that line serves.

Do I have to give a disclosure statement for vacant Iowa land?

No, chapter 558A does not reach it, but you still owe a groundwater hazard statement. Iowa Code § 558A.1(7) limits a covered transfer to property that includes at least one but not more than four dwelling units, so a bare parcel falls outside the residential disclosure statute. Iowa Code § 558.69 is separate and applies to the conveyance itself: the statement goes to the recorder with the declaration of value, or the deed carries a first-page statement that none of the listed conditions exist. Without one, the recorder refuses to record.

Iowa primary sources

Sources for the figures above

These are secondary references, accurate enough to orient you and not a substitute for the statute or your county. Tax procedure changes; nothing here is legal advice.

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Iowa law, tax procedure and county practice vary and they change. Nothing here is legal or tax advice about your parcel. Before you act on a deadline, confirm it with the county or with an attorney in that state. See our editorial standards for how this is researched and how to tell us if something is wrong.

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