To buy a redeemable tax deed in Connecticut you bid on the property at an auction run by the tax collector of each town or city, not by the county. The deed is signed after the sale but held unrecorded while the former owner keeps a statutory window to redeem by repaying your price with statutory interest; it is recorded only if that window closes unredeemed.
New here? There is no certificate step in Connecticut. You bid on the property itself, so the money is at risk on the parcel from day one and the research has to happen before the auction, not after. Not sure which is for you? Start with tax lien vs tax deed.
Step 1: Learn the timeline and lien priority
Understand this before you commit any money.
- Timeline and lien priority
- Each municipality's legislative body decides whether its tax is due in one, two or four installments and sets the due dates. An installment not paid by the same date of the following month (for a July 1 due date, by August 1) becomes delinquent and carries interest at 18 percent a year from the due date, counted as 1.5 percent for each month or part of a month, with a minimum charge of $2 per installment unless the town waives it. The tax is a lien on the real estate from the assessment date (October 1 in most towns) of the year before the tax falls due and, while it lasts, takes precedence over all transfers and encumbrances. The lien lapses two years after the due date unless the collector continues it by recording a certificate in the land records within that time; a continued lien stays valid for up to fifteen years from the due date.
Full Connecticut rule detail for step 1, Learn the timeline and lien priority
No statute sets a minimum delinquency age before a tax sale: once the collector has made written demand, the collector may levy on the real estate and advertise a sale.
Step 2: Learn what sends a parcel to the auction
- What starts it
- Unpaid real estate tax after the collector has made written demand (12-155). No statute sets a minimum delinquency age. The collector levies by posting a notice near the collector's office, filing it in the town clerk's land records (where it acts as a lis pendens) and sending it by certified mail to the taxpayer and every mortgagee and lienholder of record, all not more than 12 and not less than 9 weeks before the sale.
Full Connecticut rule detail for step 2, Learn what sends a parcel to the auction
What starts it, continued. The notice is also published once a week for three weeks in a newspaper circulating in the town, the last not more than four nor less than two weeks before the sale, and mailed a second time to the taxpayer and lienholders. The tax lien itself must be alive (within two years of the due date or continued by a recorded certificate) for the levy to be made on it.
The opening bid, continued. The collector may sell the whole parcel at public auction to the highest bidder, or sell it to the town if there is no bidder or the bid does not cover the amount due. Another municipality holding a tax lien on the parcel may also buy.
Step 3: Bid at the tax deed auction
The tax collector of each town or city sells the property at public auction to the highest bidder.
Step 4: Wait out the redemption window, then record the deed
- What the buyer earns
- Interest runs at 18 percent a year on the buyer's total purchase price from the date of the sale until redemption, which must come within six months (or 60 days where that shorter period applies).
- The redemption window
- Redemption runs from the published post-sale notice to six months after the sale date. The statute sets 60 days instead for property that was abandoned or meets other conditions established by an ordinance adopted by the town's legislative body.
- What the owner pays
- To redeem, the owner pays the taxes, interest and charges due and owing at the time of the sale, plus interest at 18 percent a year on the buyer's total purchase price from the sale date, plus any taxes and debts owed to the town that the sale did not recover, plus later charges under 12-140, plus any receiver's expenses above rents collected.
- When the deed is delivered
- Within two weeks after the sale the collector signs a collector's deed to the buyer (or to the town) and lodges it with the town clerk, where it stays unrecorded for six months from the sale. Within 60 days after the sale the collector publishes, and mails by certified mail to the taxpayer and lienholders, a notice of the sale date, the buyer, the price and the date redemption ends.
- What it means for you
- If they redeem, that payoff is your return. If the window closes without a redemption, the deed is recorded and the title is yours only then.
Full Connecticut rule detail for step 4, Wait out the redemption window, then record the deed
What the buyer earns, continued. The rate is a true annual rate, not a flat penalty, so a parcel redeemed at the end of a full six months returns about 9 percent on the purchase price, and one redeemed sooner returns less. There is no minimum return. The redeeming party also pays taxes and debts owed to the town that the sale did not recover, later charges under 12-140, and the costs of any receiver the buyer had appointed. Interest earned on the escrowed excess bid belongs to the town, not the buyer.
The redemption window, continued. Payment goes to the tax collector, who cancels the deed, gives the payer a certificate of satisfaction and within ten days tenders the money, plus the escrowed excess bid, to the buyer. If the window closes unredeemed, the collector's deed is recorded and the buyer owns the parcel without any court action.
When the deed is delivered, continued. If the parcel is redeemed, the clerk returns the deed to the collector for cancellation. If it is not, the deed is recorded and takes full effect, with no court action by the buyer.
What the deed conveys in Connecticut
A recorded collector's deed is prima facie evidence of valid title, subject only to later town taxes not yet due when the levy was first published, other liens in favor of the town, easements and restrictions benefiting other land, and other interests the deed describes. The redemption-expiry notice extinguishes the titles, mortgages and liens of the taxpayer and of every mortgagee and lienholder that received actual or constructive notice. A sale can be set aside only by someone the collector failed to notify who did not in fact learn of the sale within six months, and, except for fraud, any action attacking the deed must be brought within one year of its recording. The town's warranty on the deed is limited to the price paid plus reasonable later improvement costs. During the redemption period the buyer has an insurable interest and may seek a receiver, but no right of possession is granted by statute before the deed is recorded.
Fold any title work into your maximum bid and read what you actually own after a tax deed and what survives a tax deed before you bid. A quiet title action is how a buyer clears a title an insurer will not accept.
Buying redeemable tax deeds in Connecticut: common questions
How do you buy a redeemable tax deed in Connecticut?
Can you buy Connecticut redeemable tax deeds online?
More Connecticut answers, including redemption and statute detail, are on the Connecticut tax sale FAQ. New to this? Start with tax lien vs tax deed and the full Connecticut walkthrough, then value a parcel with the due diligence guide.
Steps verified Sep 27, 2026 against Connecticut statutes.
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.