Gilmer County, GA tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Gilmer County, seat of Ellijay: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 27, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Georgia tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Gilmer County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
Details are being verified for this county.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Gilmer County Tax Commissioner (Rebecca Marshall, Tax Commissioner)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The Tax Commissioner posts scheduled sale dates under the heading "Dates for 2026 Tax Sales": "March 3, 2026", "May 5, 2026", "August 4, 2026". Each of those dates falls on the first Tuesday of the month, matching Georgia's first-Tuesday sale rule. Not every month has a sale, so check the Tax Sales page before planning a trip. The page also states: "The tax sale properties are advertised in the Local Times Courier Newspaper 4 weeks prior to the tax sale date."
Registration and deposit
Register in person on the morning of the sale only. Per the county's Buyer Beware FAQ: "The morning of the sale you have to come into the Gilmer County Tax Commissioner's Office. Our office opens at 8:30AM. You will need to bring in your Driver's License. There will be a one-page form that you the bidder will need to fill out. At that time, you will receive a bidding packet along with a bidding Number." The FAQ adds: "You cannot come in on any other day except for the morning of the sale to register" and "Yes, it is an in-person Auction." A registered agent may bid for you if they bring a copy of your driver's license, complete the form on your behalf, and carry written instructions on how the deed should read, because "Whatever is written on the form is how your deed WILL read." Opening bid equals the back taxes due the day of sale plus $150.00 for deed processing and recording, and the parcel goes to the highest bidder. Winning bidders must pay by 4:00PM the day of the sale in cash or a certified bank check only, with no personal checks accepted; multiple parcels must be paid for separately with a separate check per parcel.
Gilmer runs a traditional in-person Georgia redeemable tax deed sale. There is no online auction platform and no third-party bidding portal, so bidders must appear at the Tax Commissioner's office in the Gilmer County Courthouse at 1 Broad Street, Suite 105, Ellijay. Registration is same-day only. The office does not publish a standing PDF parcel list on the Tax Sales page; the advertised list runs in the Times-Courier newspaper for the four weeks before each sale, and delinquent accounts can be tracked parcel by parcel through the county's Search & Pay Taxes tool and the qPublic assessor site. On redemption, the county's own FAQ states: "When you buy real property at tax sale you cannot touch the property for a year and a day. You cannot do anything to the property (no cleaning up, no building, no cutting trees, tearing down etc.) The owner of the property can buy the property back from you during this time. If they want the property back, they have to pay you what you paid the day of tax sale plus 20%. After the year and a day, you would want to close the right of redemption." It warns that a purchaser who never bars the right to redeem can be forced to sell the property back years later. Mobile homes are treated separately: a mobile home sitting on a levied parcel is not included in the real property purchase, and parcels listed as "mobile home" on the last page of the sale list convey only the mobile home, with the buyer taking possession the day of sale and becoming responsible for moving it or paying the landowner rent. The office labels the whole process a "BUYER BEWARE" auction and tells bidders not to buy sight unseen. Gilmer's published materials do not state the auction start time or the exact room, so confirm both with the office before the sale date. In-person auction (no online bidding platform)
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Gilmer County
- Sale format is in person on the courthouse square at 1 Broad Street, Ellijay. The Gilmer County Courthouse address is confirmed on the county government site as "Gilmer County Courthouse Location: 1 Broad Street Ellijay, GA 30540 706-635-4361", and the Tax Commissioner occupies Suite 105 of that building.
- Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, with a note to arrive by 4:30pm for title processing. Registration on sale day opens when the office opens at 8:30AM.
- Opening bid formula is county-specific and unusually explicit: back taxes due the day of sale plus a flat $150.00 for deed preparation and recording.
- Payment terms are strict. Cash or certified bank check only, due by 4:00PM the same day, one instrument per parcel. Bidders are allowed to leave and return with funds so long as they are back by 4:00PM.
- Pre-sale collection path per the county's General Information page: interest accrues the day after the November due date at prime plus 3% divided by 12, a fi. fa. is filed with the Clerk of Courts 30 days after the delinquent notice, a 5% penalty is added at 120 days and every 120 days thereafter to a 20% maximum, then the account is turned over to DTS with admin and levy fees of up to about $230.00 covering certified notices and a title search to prepare the parcel for tax sale. Properties are posted and photographed before the sale and advertised in the Times-Courier for the four weeks prior.
- Excess funds are not posted as a public list. The Excess Funds page directs claimants to "send an email request to [email protected]" and provides a downloadable Excess Funds Claim Form.
- Due diligence tools the office itself points bidders to: qPublic.net (Georgia, Gilmer) for parcel location and records searched by parcel number, and the Search & Pay Taxes portal reached from the Tax Commissioner site to watch whether a target parcel's taxes get paid before the sale.
- No live tax sale list PDF was published at the time of research. The Tax Sales page carries a commented-out link to a Tax_Sale.pdf that currently returns 404, which indicates the county swaps that document in only while a sale is advertised.
- The Tax Sales page content loads client-side from the GovtWindow content API, so a plain non-JavaScript fetch of tax-sales.html renders an empty content block. Any future re-scrape must execute JavaScript or hit the underlying content endpoint to see the sale dates.
- Board of Tax Assessors, for valuation questions rather than sale logistics, is reachable at (706) 276-2742 per the Tax Commissioner FAQ page.
Georgia statewide rules
- Redemption
- The right to redeem runs for 12 months from the date of the sale and does not end there. It continues after the year until the tax deed purchaser forecloses it by serving and publishing the statutory barment notice, which cannot be started until 12 months have passed. The purchaser delivers the notice to the sheriff at least 45 days before the redemption deadline named in it, and publishes it once a week for four consecutive weeks in the six months immediately before that deadline. Redemption puts title back in the defendant in fi. fa. subject to the liens that existed at the sale, and the purchaser must execute and record a quitclaim deed. Title under a tax deed recorded on or after July 1, 1996 ripens by prescription four years after recording. Judicial in rem foreclosures under Article 5 run on a different clock: the owner has 60 days after the sale to redeem by paying the minimum bid price into the superior court.
- Deed deposit
- Georgia sets no statewide percentage deposit. A purchaser at a judicial sale may tender cash or a cashier's or certified check drawn for the purchase price and issued or certified by a federally insured financial institution. Counties publish their own payment terms, and many require payment in full at the close of the sale, so confirm the terms with the tax commissioner before bidding.
- Surplus proceeds
- Excess funds left after taxes, costs, and the expenses of the sale belong to the former owner and to recorded lienholders in order of priority. The officer who sold the property must mail notice of the excess funds by first-class mail within 30 days to the record owner at the time of the sale, to the holder of each security deed, and to every other party with a recorded equity interest or claim, and may file an interpleader action in superior court. Funds still unclaimed five years after the sale are paid over to the Georgia Department of Revenue, after which only a court order from an interpleader action releases them.
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 Gilmer County, Georgia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Gilmer County follows Georgia's redeemable deed state system.
How often does Gilmer County hold tax deed sales?
- annual. 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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