Oglethorpe County, GA tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Oglethorpe County, seat of Lexington: 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 Oglethorpe County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
Details are being verified for this county.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Oglethorpe County Tax Commissioner
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- First Tuesday of the month at 10:00 a.m., only when a sale is scheduled. The Tax Commissioner states: "The sales are conducted on the first Tuesday of the month immediately following the final week of advertising. They are held at 10:00 a.m. at the Oglethorpe County Courthouse at: 111 W Main St. Lexington, GA 30648". Properties are "advertised in the Wednesday edition of the Oglethorpe Echo the legal section under Tax Commissioner Sale for four consecutive weeks prior to the sale".
Registration and deposit
The county publishes no online bidder registration or pre-qualification process. Bidding is in person at the courthouse. The Tax Commissioner states: "The successful bidder must be ready to pay the bid amount in CASH OR CERTIFIED FUNDS to the Tax Commissioners office (339 West Main Street, Lexington) by 1 hour after the sale has been concluded. Tax Sales bids are binding in accordance with O.C.G.A. 9-13-170." Confirm requirements with the office at (706) 743-8422 before a sale date.
Oglethorpe County runs its redeemable tax deed sale IN PERSON, not online. The Tax Commissioner's Tax Sales page states: "Tax Levy sales are conducted by the Oglethorpe County Tax Commissioner for unpaid State, County, and school ad valorem taxes under the provisions of Title 48, Revenue and Taxation, Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A), Governing Tax Executions and Sales; And Title 9, O.C.G.A., governing Judicial Sales." There is no published online sale list; scheduled properties are advertised only in the legal section of the Oglethorpe Echo for four consecutive weeks before the sale, so call the office to confirm whether a sale is set. Sales are not held every month. The county does not guarantee title, the purchaser gets no use of the property or rent for at least one year, and "The doctrine of Caveat Emptor shall apply to all sales". The buyer receives a tax deed that "has the same force and effect as a lien" until the right of redemption is foreclosed or title ripens by prescription. Redemption runs 12 months, at the bid amount plus later taxes paid, plus special assessments, plus a 20% premium for the first year or fraction and 10% for each additional year or fraction, plus sheriff and advertisement costs. The Tax Commissioner does not sell tax executions over the counter: "Can I purchase Fi.Fa.s 'over the counter'? No." Excess funds are not posted online; the county says to "Contact the Tax Commissioners Office for the Oglethorpe County's Excess Funds list" and files an interpleader with Superior Court under O.C.G.A. 48-4-5(b) when competing claims exist. In person, on the courthouse steps (no online auction platform)
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Oglethorpe County Tax Commissioner
P.O. Box 305, Lexington, GA 30648 (physical: 339 West Main Street, Lexington, GA 30648)
Official websiteNotes for Oglethorpe County
- Tax Commissioner is Dawn Johnson Scarborough. Office hours are Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Email is [email protected].
- The two county pages give slightly different sale-venue and advertising wording. The Tax Sales page says sales are held at the Oglethorpe County Courthouse, 111 W Main St., Lexington, and advertised in the Wednesday edition of the Oglethorpe Echo. The Delinquent Taxes page says "an auction of the property is conducted in front of the Oglethorpe County Justice Center on the first Tuesday of the month" and is advertised "in the Oglethorpe Echo for four consecutive Fridays prior to the sale". Confirm the exact location and ad day with the office before a sale.
- Sales are conditional, not calendared: "If a tax sale is scheduled, an auction of the property is conducted in front of the Oglethorpe County Justice Center on the first Tuesday of the month."
- No online auction platform is used and none is referenced anywhere on the Tax Commissioner's pages, so no platform URL is reported.
- The Tax Sales page references a "Tax Sale Booklet on this website", but no link to that booklet appears on the Tax Sales, Property Tax, Delinquent Taxes, or Tax Commissioner pages. Request it from the office.
- Property records for due diligence are on qPublic (Schneider) at the link from the county Property Tax page; tax payments run through OglethorpeCountyPay.com (Government Window), which returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch and was not verified.
- The county's Delinquent Taxes page points investors to O.C.G.A. Title 48 Chapter 3 (Tax Executions) and Chapter 4 (Tax Sales), matching the state-level classification.
- Excess funds claim form PDF is linked from the Excess Funds page at https://www.oglethorpecountyga.gov/_files/ugd/2dc561_5ec953650b76476491f01007fe70ed99.pdf (link seen on the page, PDF contents not opened).
- Fetch note: oglethorpecountyga.gov is a Wix site whose URL slugs do not match page titles. The Tax Sales page lives at /copy-of-tc-mt-property-tax-returns and the Delinquent Taxes page at /copy-of-tc-pt-tax-bills-payments. All quoted text was read from the server-rendered HTML of those exact URLs.
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 Oglethorpe County, Georgia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Oglethorpe County follows Georgia's redeemable deed state system.
How often does Oglethorpe 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.