Towns County, GA tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Towns County, seat of Hiawassee: 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 Towns County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
Details are being verified for this county.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Towns County Tax Commissioner (Michael Anderson)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- First Tuesday in September, between the legal hours of sale of 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. The county's own sale advertisement reads: "They will be sold for cash or certified funds at public outcry, before the Courthouse door in Hiawassee, Towns County, Georgia, between the legal hours of sale, on the first Tuesday in September, 2025, the same being September 2nd, 2025, and continuing on September 3rd, 2025, if necessary between the legal hours of sale, 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM." The same first-Tuesday-in-September pattern appears in the 2024 advertisement (September 3, 2024) and the 2023 advertisement (September 5, 2023). Note that the Tax Commissioner canceled the September 2, 2025 sale. Towns holds a sale only when parcels remain unpaid, so confirm each year with the office.
- Sale list
- Tax Sales page (Tax Commissioner)
Registration and deposit
No bidder registration form, deposit rule, or bidder packet is published on any official Towns County source. The sale advertisement states only that parcels "will be sold for cash or certified funds at public outcry" and that "Purchaser shall pay for title, all transfer costs, all taxes, advertising costs and recording fees." Bidders should call the Tax Commissioner at (706) 896-2267 to confirm registration, identification, and funds requirements before a sale date. (source: towns-tc-salead-2025)
Towns County runs its tax sale IN PERSON. There is no online auction platform. The Tax Commissioner's advertisement states parcels are sold "at public outcry, before the Courthouse door in Hiawassee, Towns County, Georgia" for cash or certified funds. The county's only online tax service is the Government Window portal at townscountyga.governmentwindow.com (reached via townscountypay.com), which does bill search, property tax payment, and hotel-motel tax filing only; it carries no auction, bidder registration, or excess funds function. Buyers receive a redeemable tax deed under O.C.G.A. Title 48, Chapter 4, not a lien certificate. The Tax Commissioner maintains a dedicated Tax Sales page at tax.townscountypay.com/tax-sales.html, but that page currently has no listing because the most recent scheduled sale was canceled. The last published list, the September 2, 2025 advertisement at tax.townscountypay.com/resources/sites/townscountyga/docs/tax_sale.pdf, carried 22 parcels with amounts due from $595.99 to $15,521.03, and was then withdrawn: "THE TAX SALE FOR SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2025 HAS BEEN CANCELED. ALL PARCELS ON TAX SALE HAVE BEEN EITHER PAID AND OR A PAYMENT PLAN HAS BEEN ARRANGED." Sales are advertised in the Hiawassee Local newspaper for the four weeks before the sale, so that paper and a direct call to the office are the reliable ways to learn of an upcoming sale. Verify the sale date, venue, and bidder terms with the Tax Commissioner before relying on any of this.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Notes for Towns County
- Tax Commissioner: Michael Anderson. Office located in the courthouse annex building at 48 River St, Suite H, Hiawassee, GA 30546. Hours Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Fax (706) 896-6980. Email [email protected] (source: towns-tc-contact, towns-tc-home).
- The September 2, 2025 sale was canceled. The Tax Commissioner's notice reads: "THE TAX SALE FOR SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2025 HAS BEEN CANCELED. ALL PARCELS ON TAX SALE HAVE BEEN EITHER PAID AND OR A PAYMENT PLAN HAS BEEN ARRANGED. THANK YOU" (source: towns-tc-cancel-2025).
- Verified sale dates from the office's own advertisements: September 5, 2023; September 3, 2024; September 2, 2025 (canceled). All are the first Tuesday in September. The office document library also holds February 2022 and November 2022 tax sale files, so the month has not always been September (source: towns-tc-salead-2023, towns-tc-salead-2024, towns-tc-salead-2025).
- Venue language changed with the courthouse. The 2023 advertisement set the sale "at the Temporary Courthouse, 900 North Main Street, Towns County, Georgia"; the 2024 and 2025 advertisements say "before the Courthouse door in Hiawassee, Towns County, Georgia" (source: towns-tc-salead-2023, towns-tc-salead-2024, towns-tc-salead-2025).
- Sale terms from the advertisement: cash or certified funds, public outcry, legal hours 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, continuing to the next day if necessary. "Purchaser shall pay for title, all transfer costs, all taxes, advertising costs and recording fees." Each defendant and tenant in possession is notified of the levy and the time and place of sale (source: towns-tc-salead-2025).
- Legal organ and pre-sale process: "The four weeks prior to the sale your property will be advertised in the Hiawassee Local newspaper with additional advertising cost added." Accounts unpaid after 12 months are turned over to a collection agency, with admin and levy fees up to $215.00 plus, covering certified notices and a title search, and the property is posted and photographed before the sale (source: towns-tc-general).
- Property taxes are due January 10 each year. "If taxes are not paid on the property, it may be levied upon and ultimately sold" (source: towns-tc-general).
- The two official pages state delinquency charges differently. General Information: interest added on the 10th of each month at prime plus 3% divided by 12, with a 5% penalty after 120 days and every 120 days thereafter, capped at 20%. FAQ: interest at 1% per month after the due date, with a 10% penalty on taxes not paid within 90 days. Confirm current figures with the office (source: towns-tc-general, towns-tc-faq).
- Tax liens: "When taxes remain unpaid for more than 30 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." "If the property taxes remain unpaid, the Tax Commissioner has the right and responsibility to levy on the property for non-payment." Deeds are obtained from the Clerk of Superior Court deed room in the Towns County Courthouse (source: towns-tc-faq).
- Towns County Board of Tax Assessors phone: 706-896-3984. Parcel maps and assessment data are on qPublic at qpublic.net/ga/towns/ (source: towns-tc-faq, towns-tc-home).
- The Tax Commissioner's public website is tax.townscountypay.com. The county government site at townscountyga.org links only to townscountypay.com and lists a separate office email of [email protected]; the Tax Commissioner site lists [email protected] (source: towns-county-tc-page, towns-tc-contact).
- The Government Window portal is Cloudflare and captcha gated and returns HTTP 403 to plain HTTP clients. It was verified in a real browser session and contains bill search, property tax payment, and hotel-motel tax filing only, with no auction or bidder function (source: towns-gw-portal).
- Research constraint: the WebSearch budget for this session was exhausted before this county was started, so discovery was done by probing and verifying official domains directly. Every URL listed in sources was fetched successfully.
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 Towns County, Georgia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Towns County follows Georgia's redeemable deed state system.
How often does Towns 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.