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District of Columbia Tax Lien Certificate Sales

District of Columbia sells tax lien certificates paying up to 18% under D.C. Code Title 47, Chapter 13A (47-1330 to 47-1385). Tax Sale Atlas holds its sale calendar, auction platform and list location, read from the county’s own official pages and checked against the statute on Sep 27, 2026.

The District of Columbia is a tax-lien jurisdiction with no counties. Read more…

The Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) holds one annual tax sale for the whole District and sells the tax lien on each delinquent parcel at a public auction to the highest bidder. Bidding opens at the delinquent taxes plus a 200 dollar tax sale fee and rises in fixed increments, so bidders compete on price, not on the interest rate. The buyer receives a certificate of sale, not title. The certificate earns simple interest of 1.5 percent per month on the amount paid, but nothing on the surplus bid above the opening amount. The owner may redeem until a foreclosure judgment is final. The holder may sue in D.C. Superior Court to foreclose the right of redemption 6 months after the sale, and the certificate is void if no suit is brought within one year of its date. The governing law is D.C. Code Title 47, Chapter 13A, sections 47-1330 through 47-1385.

Rules verified Sep 27, 2026 against District of Columbia Statutes.

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Sale type: Tax lien
Maximum rate: 18%
Redemption: Until court judgment
Auction method: judicial foreclosure

Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Sep 27, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify

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Tax lien certificates

You pay the overdue taxes and receive a certificate that earns a return set by statute. Bidders compete on price by bidding above the minimum, and a premium paid above that minimum changes what you actually earn. Compare bidding methods to see how that changes what you earn.

Bidding method: Premium bid
Maximum rate: 18% per year, set by statute (bidding is on price)
Minimum return: No statutory minimum return; what you earn is set by the price at the sale
Certificate life: Expires 1 years after issuance

Sale timingOne annual sale for the whole District, held in person at OTR headquarters, 1101 4th Street SW, Washington, DC 20024. More…

The statute fixes no month. The statutory post-sale notice form prints a July tax sale date, and the 2025 sale lists were posted in June and July 2025, but the 2026 sale was held August 19 and 20, 2026. The date of sale for every parcel is the last day of the sale, regardless of the day it was actually offered. OTR publishes the list of properties on its website and in The Washington Times and The Washington Informer before the sale.

Zero-bid ruleThe District does not bid the rate down. More…

Every certificate carries the same statutory rate of 1.5 percent per month, and bidders compete on price at an oral outcry auction. The opening bid is the delinquent taxes, penalties and interest for which the parcel is offered plus a 200 dollar tax sale fee, bids rise in increments of 25, 100, 500, 1,000 or 10,000 dollars, and the parcel goes to the highest bidder. Property may not be sold for less than the taxes. The portion of a winning bid above the taxes, penalties, interest and costs is surplus, and the statute pays no interest on surplus. A parcel whose highest bid does not cover the taxes is bid off to and purchased by the District; that is a statutory transfer to the District, not an investor sale. Several dated OTR items that look like sale events are not the auction: the June tax sale seminars, the late-June posting of the sale list, the late-July newspaper advertisements, the opening of bidder registration and the final-payment deadline 5 business days after the sale. The District also runs a separate Discount Tax Sale for liens it holds (December 3, 2025 was the last one published), where the opening bid is a flat 300 dollars regardless of the taxes owed, and it may sell liens in bulk to third parties under D.C. Code 47-1303.04, which is not open to individual bidders.

Redemption, delinquency, and over-the-counter at a glance

Redemption

How longThe District sets no fixed redemption deadline. More…

An owner or other person with an interest may redeem at any time until the judgment foreclosing the right of redemption is final. What the statute fixes is the earliest date the holder may file, 6 months after the tax sale date, and the latest, since the certificate is void unless the foreclosure is brought within one year from the certificate date. Before the sale is final, OTR must cancel it in listed cases, including where the owner paid before the sale, the parcel was exempt from sale, or an owner-occupant of Class 1A or 1B property with 5 or fewer units proves OTR failed to mail a required notice, and the Mayor may cancel any sale to prevent an injustice. A cancelled sale pays the purchaser what it would have received on redemption.

What the owner paysPaid to the Mayor, not to the purchaser: the amount the purchaser paid excluding surplus with 1.5 percent monthly interest; all other taxes, interest and penalties the purchaser paid with interest; all other real property taxes, business improvement district taxes and vault rents needed to bring the property current; any delinquent energy efficiency loan assessment; and the purchaser's allowed expenses. More…

More than 4 months after the sale and before suit, those expenses are a 50 dollar posting fee, the cost of recording the certificate and a title search up to 300 dollars. Once suit is filed the redeeming party also pays the purchaser directly its attorneys' fees, capped at 1,500 dollars before the fifth status hearing plus 75 dollars per later hearing and 300 dollars more if a motion for judgment is filed, and listed court costs. No expense incurred within 4 months after the sale is recoverable. The account is treated as current once the balance falls below 100 dollars.

Delinquency

How it startsDistrict real property tax is due in two equal installments, the first on or before March 31 and the second on or before September 15. More…

An unpaid installment draws a 10 percent penalty plus simple interest of 1.5 percent per month or part of a month. The tax offered at the sale is the real property tax and vault rent still unpaid on October 1, plus business improvement district tax unpaid on September 1, along with other District charges certified to OTR for collection. OTR must mail a notice of delinquency by May 1 telling the owner the amount to pay by May 31 to avoid the sale, and a final notice at least 2 weeks before the sale. The tax becomes a lien on the date it was due and unpaid, and that lien is a prior and preferred claim over all other liens and is perpetual.

Over-the-counter

How to buyLiens that were offered at the annual sale but not sold to a third party are bid off to the District. More…

The Mayor may later sell them, issuing or assigning a certificate of sale on payment of the bid-off amount plus interest to the date of issue or assignment. OTR runs this as an Over-the-Counter sale: registered OTC purchasers select available liens online through MyTax.DC.gov, Monday through Friday from 8 am to 3 pm, and must pay the bid-off lien amount in full the same day, at OTR's Cashier's Office or by wire, or the selection is forfeited. OTR blocks OTC purchases around the annual, first-come-first-serve and discount sale events. The Mayor may also sell District-held liens below the redemption amount at a published Discount Tax Sale, sold to the highest bidder.

What is availableThe District publishes no lands-available list of the Florida type. More…

The available OTC liens are shown inside the MyTax.DC.gov OTC purchaser portal, and OTR posts a bid-back report after each annual and discount sale on its tax sale page. A District certificate that is never sold or assigned is perpetual, and the District is not required to foreclose it.

Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what District of Columbia calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

All 1 District of Columbia counties

Sales are organized by county. Search your city or county and compare the available sale details. Where deed-sale formats are listed, filter for online or in-person sales. Certificate platforms appear where that sale type is available.

District of Columbia CountyWashingtonCert: County office

Frequently asked questions

Does the District of Columbia sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax liens. The Office of Tax and Revenue sells a certificate of sale on each delinquent parcel at one annual public auction for the whole District. The certificate does not give title or a right to enter the property. A holder who is not redeemed obtains title only by suing in D.C. Superior Court to foreclose the right of redemption and then taking a deed from the Mayor.

What interest does a D.C. tax sale certificate earn?

Simple interest of 1.5 percent per month or portion of a month, which is 18 percent a year. It runs from the first day of the month after the tax sale until the redemption payment, on the amount paid for the property excluding surplus. The rate is fixed by statute and is not bid down, and the portion of a winning bid above the taxes, penalties, interest and costs earns nothing.

How does bidding work at the D.C. tax sale?

It is an in-person oral outcry auction. Each parcel opens at the delinquent taxes, penalties and interest for which it is offered plus a 200 dollar tax sale fee, bids rise in set increments, and the parcel goes to the highest bidder. You must register through MyTax.DC.gov and have 20 percent of your total purchase budget on deposit before bidding, and the full bid is due within 5 business days after the last day of the sale.

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