Cheyenne County, CO tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Cheyenne County, seat of Cheyenne Wells: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Colorado tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Cheyenne County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Cheyenne County Treasurer's Office
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- November. The Treasurer's tax lien sale sheet states the sale "will be held in person at 10:00 a.m. on November 17th, 2026" and that "This sale will be for unpaid 2025 Real Property and Severed Minerals." The same sheet says the lien list "will be available in September in the Cheyenne County Treasurer's office and posted on the County Treasurer's website" and "will also be published for 5 consecutive weeks in the Kiowa County Independent starting in October 2026."
- Next expected
- by the second Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Registration and deposit
Registration is handled in person on sale day at the courthouse. The Treasurer asks first-time bidders to "arrive early so you can fill out the required W9 information and we are able to get you registered without delaying the start of the sale." Bidding is by premium: the amount paid covers taxes, delinquent interest, advertising and certificate fees, and successful bidders often pay a premium above the lien amount. Interest accrues on the tax lien amount but not on the premium.
Cheyenne County runs a live, in-person tax lien sale in the County Courthouse lobby at 51 1st Street in Cheyenne Wells. There is no online bidding platform, so no platform URL applies. Caution: Bid4Assets carries a listing titled "NOTICE OF SALE: Cheyenne County, Colorado - Live Tax Lien Sale" whose seller is Bid4Assets rather than the county. It is a courtesy notice for the live courthouse sale, not a place to bid. Register and bid only through the Treasurer's Office. The Treasurer's page posts an "Unsold Delinquent Taxes for the Year 2024" list of liens that did not sell, and the sheet notes the Treasurer "will, according to the law, offer for sale the following Tax Liens." The annual sale list for the current year posts in September. The investor interest rate is set every September 1 at nine percent above the federal discount rate, rounded up; the Treasurer lists 15% as the rate set for 2024 taxes. Redemption runs three years from the year of the original sale. Recent statutory changes mean a Treasurer's Deed is no longer guaranteed to the original lienholder: the deed option goes through a secondary public auction so the property owner receives fair compensation. Applying for that auction requires a $650 deposit for real property or $200 for severed minerals. Certificate holders may endorse subsequent unpaid years onto the original certificate after August 1 at the same rate. In person at the Cheyenne County Courthouse lobby, Cheyenne Wells
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- County Treasurer
- Frequency
- on application
- Typical timing
- There is no fixed calendar. A public auction is scheduled only when a certificate holder applies for one, at least three years after the tax lien sale, and the treasurer must hold it between 110 and 125 calendar days after the known interested party notice is first published or mailed.
Registration and deposit
What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright. The treasurer may only accept bids above the combined amount owed to the lawful holder plus the treasurer's fees and costs. County officials, county employees acting in their individual capacity, and their immediate family members may not bid. Payment is by cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. Any overbid goes to junior lienors who filed a notice of intent to redeem and then to the property owner. Confirm the notice, the bidding rules, and the auction venue with the county treasurer.
This Article 11.5 process replaced direct deed issuance on July 1, 2024. Colorado does not hold a routine calendar tax deed sale, so treat this as an occasional, application-driven auction rather than a recurring event.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
Liens that draw no bid are struck off to the county and the treasurer issues the county a certificate of purchase. The county may then assign, sell, or transfer those certificates in the manner, at the times, and on the terms set by resolution of the board of county commissioners, which is how county-held liens are sold between annual auctions. A certificate on property owing more than ten thousand dollars in taxes needs the property tax administrator's approval after published notice. Whether a county maintains a published county-held list, and on what terms, varies. Contact the county treasurer.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Cheyenne County
- The sale is held in the Cheyenne County Courthouse lobby at 51 1st Street in Cheyenne Wells. Bidders attend in person; the county does not use an online auction platform.
- The Treasurer's Office also serves as Public Trustee, so foreclosure notices and tax lien material sit on the same department page.
- All Colorado tax sales are conducted under C.R.S. 39-11-101 through 39-12-113, which the county cites on its tax lien sale sheet.
- Real estate sold at the sale is subject to mineral reservations of record, and severed mineral interests are offered alongside real property.
- The county reports that eventual transfer of deed has occurred in less than one percent of all lien purchases, so investors should treat certificates as an interest-bearing investment rather than a path to property.
- Sale-related documents are posted as PDFs with revision dates in the filename, so links change when the county updates them. Start from the Treasurer's Office page to reach the current version.
Colorado statewide rules
- Redemption
- Redemption may be made at any time before a treasurer's deed is executed, so the practical window runs well past the three-year mark and through the Article 11.5 auction process. The treasurer must hold that public auction between 110 and 125 calendar days after the known interested party notice is first published or mailed, which gives owners and junior lienors a further defined period to pay. A separate rule lets an owner who was under a legal disability when the deed was executed redeem within nine years of the deed being recorded, at 15 percent per year plus the present value of any improvements.
- Deed deposit
- The treasurer may require the applying lawful holder to post a deposit covering the recording fee plus the actual and reasonable cost of administering the auction, and all Article 11.5 fees and costs are chargeable as additional amounts owing under the tax lien. For bidders, the treasurer accepts cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. The statute sets no fixed bidder deposit percentage, so the deposit terms come from county bidding rules.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any overbid goes first to junior lienors in order of recording priority, measured as of the recording date of the application for public auction, who filed a notice of intent to redeem and whose liens are unredeemed, up to each lien's unpaid amount plus fees and costs. Whatever remains is paid to the property owner. The treasurer must post a public notice about these funds and mail the owner a notice within thirty calendar days of the auction. Unclaimed remaining overbids sit in escrow for six months without interest, then transfer to the state administrator under the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. An agreement to pay someone to recover an owner's overbid is unenforceable, and inducing one is a class 2 misdemeanor.
A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Cheyenne County, Colorado sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Cheyenne County follows Colorado's tax lien state system.
When is the Cheyenne County tax certificate sale?
- November. The Treasurer's tax lien sale sheet states the sale "will be held in person at 10:00 a.m. on November 17th, 2026" and that "This sale will be for unpaid 2025 Real Property and Severed Minerals." The same sheet says the lien list "will be available in September in the Cheyenne County Treasurer's office and posted on the County Treasurer's website" and "will also be published for 5 consecutive weeks in the Kiowa County Independent starting in October 2026.". Registration and bidding happen on the county's online platform. Always confirm the exact date with the Tax Collector before the sale.
How often does Cheyenne County hold tax deed sales?
- on application. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.
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