Custer County, CO tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Custer County, CO tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Colorado sells tax lien certificates paying up to 13%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Oct 12, 2026.
How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Custer County, seat of Westcliffe: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Colorado tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next tax deed sale
- There is no fixed calendar.
- Registration
- What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright.
- County office
- 719-783-2341
On this page
How Custer County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Custer County Treasurer / Public Trustee
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- November 18, 2026 Tax Lien Sale at 8:30 AM.
- Registration
- The county posts no bidder registration form or instructions online.
- Next expected
- by the second Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
The county posts no bidder registration form or instructions online. Contact the Treasurer's office at 719-783-2341 or treasurer@custercounty-co.gov ahead of the sale to register and to confirm what identification, taxpayer paperwork, and funds are required. Note the office is open Monday through Thursday only.
Sale format and venue
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- County Treasurer
- Frequency
- on application
- Typical timing
- There is no fixed calendar.
- Registration
- What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright.
When it runs
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.
Sale format and venue
Custer County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Custer County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.
Confirm the advertised parcel list
Custer County publishes no tax sale list online. The County Treasurer advertises the parcels ahead of the sale rather than posting them, so the list reaches bidders through the county legal newspaper and the office itself. Call 719-783-2341 to ask for the current advertisement.Register to bid
Sale day
There is no fixed calendar. No auction platform is on record here for Custer County. Confirm the next sale date, the platform or venue and the registration window with the County Treasurer before you bid.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Custer County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
There is no online list to price against. Custer County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on 719-783-2341 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.Confirm 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.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Colorado due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Colorado before you price the title work.Set a walk-away number
Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
unsold liens and deeds
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. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Colorado calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Custer County Treasurer / Public Trustee
Custer County Courthouse, 205 S 6th Street, PO Box 209, Westcliffe, CO 81252
Official websiteCounty notes
- Treasurer is Virginia Trujillo. Fax is 719-783-0163, marked attention Treasurer. Email is treasurer@custercounty-co.gov.
- Office hours are Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The four day week matters if you need bidder paperwork or a payoff figure before the sale.
- Mail goes to PO Box 209, Westcliffe, CO 81252. The counter is at the Custer County Courthouse, 205 S 6th Street, Westcliffe.
- Property tax deadlines posted by the county: first half due the last day of February (extended to March 9 for 2026), full payment due the last day of April if paying in one installment, second half due June 15. The county asks that you call the Treasurer before paying property taxes after September 1.
- Tax statements and payment history are available through the county's CTAS Web Portal at https://co1467.cichosting.com/CTASWebPortal/. Online tax payments run through https://payments.municipay.com/co_custer/search.
- The Treasurer's page also carries individual treasurer's deed notices to interested parties for specific certificates, which is where a certificate holder's deed application surfaces publicly.
Colorado rules
- Redemption
- Redemption may be made at any time before a treasurer's deed is executed, so the practical window runs past the three-year mark and into the Article 11.5 process. Once a deed application is pending, the owner must file an intent to redeem with the treasurer no later than seven calendar days before the scheduled public auction, then pay the amount on the redemption statement while it is in effect, and must redeem the entire property. The auction itself is set 30 to 60 calendar days after the treasurer mails the notice of public auction. A separate rule lets an owner who was under a legal disability when a tax deed was executed under Article 11 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 deposit up to one thousand dollars plus statutory fees when the application is accepted, applied against the treasurer's fees and costs, and all Article 11.5 fees and costs are chargeable as additional amounts owing under the certificate of purchase. A third-party winner may be charged up to three hundred dollars for processing. The statute sets no bidder deposit percentage, so payment terms come from the treasurer's written auction policies.
- Surplus proceeds
- Junior lienors whose liens were recorded before the application for treasurer's deed may file a claim for overbid money within eight business days after the auction. Between the ninth and fifteenth business day the overbid is paid to them in order of recording priority, each up to the unpaid lien plus fees and costs, and whatever remains goes to the property owner. The treasurer mails the owner a notice within thirty days after the claim period ends. Unclaimed overbid stays in escrow for two years without interest to the claimant. Amounts under twenty-five dollars left unclaimed for six months go to the county general fund, and larger amounts left unclaimed for two years go to the state treasurer as unclaimed property. An agreement to pay someone to recover an unclaimed overbid is enforceable only if the fee is capped at ten percent and the agreement is made at least two years after the transfer.
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 Custer County, Colorado sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Custer County tax certificate sale?
How often does Custer County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Verified Oct 12, 2026 against official county and state sources.
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 office that runs the sale before you bid.
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