Hinsdale County, CO tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Hinsdale County, seat of Lake City: 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 Hinsdale County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Hinsdale County Treasurer's Office
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Early December, at 10:00 a.m. The Treasurer's page states that "Unpaid amounts at the time of the annual tax lien sale in December will be subject to that sale." The county's most recent published notice reads: "Public notice is hereby given that I will according to law offer at Public Sale, at the Hinsdale County Treasurer's Office, Hinsdale County Courthouse, Hinsdale County, State of Colorado on the 1ST day of December, A.D. 2025 commencing at the hour of Ten O'clock A.M. on said day, the following described real estate situated in said County on which taxes for the year 2024 have not been paid." The notice was signed October 24, 2025. Hinsdale had not posted a 2026 sale date at the time of research.
- Next expected
- by the second Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Registration and deposit
Hinsdale publishes no online bidder registration and no auction-platform account for the certificate sale. Because the sale is conducted in person at the Treasurer's Office, contact the Treasurer at 970-944-2225 ext. 130 or [email protected] before the sale date to confirm bidder registration, accepted payment forms, and the current list of parcels. Winning bidders receive a Certificate of Purchase; the published notice states the Treasurer "will sell a tax lien on each lot, tract, parcel or group as described to the person who shall pay, therefore the taxes, interest, advertising, city services, and other charges due thereon and will deliver to the purchaser a Certificate of Purchase, all as provided by law."
This is a live, in-person auction. No online bidding platform is confirmed for Hinsdale County, and the statewide treasurers' association sale calendar, which annotates counties that bid online through SRI, GovEase, or RealAuction, shows no platform entry for Hinsdale. Treat any third-party site that lists Hinsdale parcels as a bidding venue with caution and verify with the Treasurer's Office. Hinsdale is the least populated county in Colorado, so the offered list is very short and includes patented mining claims and small town lots in Lake City. Delinquent notices go out the first week of July, unpaid balances as of September 30 are advertised in the Silver World newspaper at the taxpayer's cost, and delinquent interest accrues at 1% per month. The Treasurer's page states there is a three year redemption period from the date of sale, after which the certificate holder may apply for a Treasurer's Deed. Under House Bill 24-1056, effective July 1, 2024, the county no longer issues a Treasurer's Deed automatically to the lien holder: the option to obtain the deed is auctioned in person to the highest bidder, the application deposit is $1,000, the minimum excess bid is $1.00, funds must be cash, money order, or cashier's check payable to Hinsdale County Treasurer, and bidders must register with the Treasurer's Office ahead of the auction by submitting a W-9 and presenting a driver's license at the auction. Tax lien premium bids are excluded from the deed auction opening bid. In person at the Hinsdale County Treasurer's Office, Hinsdale County Courthouse, 317 N. Henson St., Lake City
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 Hinsdale County
- Treasurer: Lori Hanko. Deputy Treasurer: Heather Kuellenberg. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Email: [email protected]. Fax: 970-944-2202.
- The Treasurer also serves as Public Trustee, handling releases of deeds of trust and foreclosures.
- Property taxes are payable in one lump sum due April 30 or in two equal installments due February 28 and June 15. Tax notices are mailed around the third week of January.
- The county accepts cash, checks, credit cards, and e-checks; checks are payable to Hinsdale County.
- The Treasurer's page links a scanned Notice of Public Auction PDF for the Treasurer's Deed option auction; the file contains no extractable text, so its date could not be read and is not reported here.
- Hinsdale County's website blocks generic automated fetches with HTTP 403; pages load normally in a browser.
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 Hinsdale County, Colorado sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Hinsdale County follows Colorado's tax lien state system.
When is the Hinsdale County tax certificate sale?
- Early December, at 10:00 a.m. The Treasurer's page states that "Unpaid amounts at the time of the annual tax lien sale in December will be subject to that sale." The county's most recent published notice reads: "Public notice is hereby given that I will according to law offer at Public Sale, at the Hinsdale County Treasurer's Office, Hinsdale County Courthouse, Hinsdale County, State of Colorado on the 1ST day of December, A.D. 2025 commencing at the hour of Ten O'clock A.M. on said day, the following described real estate situated in said County on which taxes for the year 2024 have not been paid." The notice was signed October 24, 2025. Hinsdale had not posted a 2026 sale date at the time of research.. 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 Hinsdale 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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