Lumpkin County, GA tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Lumpkin County, seat of Dahlonega: 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 Lumpkin County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
Details are being verified for this county.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Lumpkin County Tax Commissioner (Mike Young)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The Tax Commissioner publishes no sale calendar online. The office's own "Tax Sale Overage List" records a "Date of Sale" for each sold parcel: 08/06/2019, 09/07/2021, 09/06/2022, 09/03/2024 and 09/02/2025. Every one of those dates is a first Tuesday, and the five most recent fall in September, so buyers should expect a first-Tuesday sale, most often in September, and confirm with the office.
Registration and deposit
No bidder registration instructions are published on the Tax Commissioner website or on the county's Tax Commissioner page. Prospective bidders should contact the office at 706-864-2666 before a sale date to confirm registration, funds and identification requirements.
Lumpkin County sells a redeemable tax deed under O.C.G.A. Title 48, Chapter 4. Research on official sources confirmed the office and past sale dates but found no dedicated tax sale page. The Tax Commissioner website (lumpkincountytax.com) has only Home, General Information, FAQs, Motor Vehicles, News, Links, Contact and a Search and Pay Taxes portal; there is no tax sale, delinquent tax or bidder page, and requests for /tax-sales.html and /delinquent-taxes.html both return 404. The county website's Tax Commissioner page and its Notices page carry no sale information, and the county calendar showed no tax sale event. No online auction platform was found on any official source, so no platform URL is asserted here; nothing verified contradicts the Georgia default of an in-person, first-Tuesday sale cried at the courthouse, but no county page states the venue, so confirm it with the office. The only sale-related document the office publishes is the Tax Sale Overage List, which names excess funds from prior sales rather than upcoming parcels. The delinquent and upcoming-sale list is not posted online; Georgia sales are advertised in the county legal organ. Process language on the office site: "When taxes remain unpaid for more than 90 days after their due date, the taxes are subject to a tax fifa (lien) being recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court" and "If the property taxes remain unpaid, the Tax Commissioner has the right and responsibility to levy on the property for non-payment" (FAQs); "If taxes are not paid on the property, it may be levied upon and ultimately sold" (General Information).
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Lumpkin County
- Tax Commissioner: Mike Young. Office hours Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. for lunch (source: lumpkin-tc-general, lumpkin-county-tc-page).
- Fax 706-867-6010; email [email protected] (source: lumpkin-county-tc-page, lumpkin-tax-flyer-2026).
- Tax billing and payment run on the Government Window platform at lumpkincountyga.governmentwindow.com; that portal returned HTTP 403 to automated fetching and was not verified. Government Window support is listed as 1-877-575-7233 (source: lumpkin-tc-general).
- Excess funds from past sales are listed by date of sale, map and parcel, owner and overage amount, with balances on the current list ranging from $1,727.84 to $123,086.85 (source: lumpkin-tc-overage-list).
- Clerk of Superior Court (where tax fi. fa. liens and deeds are recorded): Rita Harkins, 325 Riley Road, Room 108, Dahlonega, GA 30533, 706-864-3736 ext. 2426. Verified at https://lumpkincounty.gov/170/Clerk-of-Superior-Court.
- Web search quota for this session was exhausted before research began, so findings come only from directly fetched official pages. A follow-up pass should confirm the sale venue, whether any online platform is used, and bidder registration terms by phone or by checking the county legal organ.
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 Lumpkin County, Georgia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Lumpkin County follows Georgia's redeemable deed state system.
How often does Lumpkin 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.
Explore all 159 Georgia counties
Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.