The short answer
6 months from the date of the sale, or 60 days for abandoned property or property meeting conditions a town sets by ordinance
Connecticut runs 4 different redemption windows
Which one applies is decided by the parcel, not by the state, so read the condition before trusting the headline figure.
How the clock works
Redemption runs from the published post-sale notice to six months after the sale date. A town may shorten it to 60 days for abandoned property or for property meeting other conditions its legislative body sets by ordinance. 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.
Who can redeem
The delinquent taxpayer and any mortgagee, lienholder or other encumbrancer whose interest in the property will be affected by the sale. A lienholder who redeems gets a claim against the taxpayer for the amount paid, with the same priority as the tax (except against state or municipal tax liens), once the certificate of satisfaction is recorded.
What the owner pays to redeem
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.
How your return accrues
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 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.
How the bidding works
There is no rate to bid down. Bidders compete on price at a public auction to the highest bidder, and every buyer earns the same statutory 18 percent a year on the total purchase price if the parcel is redeemed. If no one bids, or the bids do not cover the amount due, the collector may sell the property to the town itself (12-157(c)(2)); that is not an investor sale, and another municipality holding a tax lien on the parcel may also buy it (12-157(h)). Several steps look like a sale and are not one: (1) the collector's levy notice, recorded in the land records and published 9 to 12 weeks ahead, announces a sale that has not happened and may be adjourned at the sale itself by oral announcement (12-157(a), (b)); (2) the certificate continuing a tax lien that a collector records in the land records (12-173, 12-175) is a filing, not a sale; (3) a town's bulk assignment of its tax liens to a negotiated assignee (12-195h) admits no bidders; (4) a collector's court foreclosure of a tax lien (12-181) is a lawsuit, and any sale the court orders in it is a court foreclosure sale, not the collector's tax sale; (5) the notice the collector must publish within 60 days AFTER the sale (12-157(f)) names a sale already held and the date redemption ends. The real investor auction is the collector's sale under 12-157, held by each town on its own date.
What happens when it ends
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. 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.
A redemption pays back your price plus the statutory premium, which is what makes the wait profitable; see how redemption periods work across states. If the window closes unredeemed you keep the Connecticut tax deed, which still does not convey marketable title on its own, so budget for a quiet title action.
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 county office before you bid.