Atchison County, KS tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Atchison County, seat of Atchison: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Kansas tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- No fixed annual date.
- Format
- In person
- County office
- (913) 804-6050
On this page
How Atchison County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Atchison County Sheriff (judicial tax foreclosure sale under K.S.A. 79-2804, petition filed by the Atchison County Counselor)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No fixed annual date.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Every bidder must obtain a bid number before bidding: "Each interested bidder must obtain a bid number in order to bid." A bid registration form posts on the county Tax Sale page once a sale is scheduled. The name on the registration is the name that goes on the deed, so a buyer bidding both personally and for an LLC needs a separate bid number for each entity. No bid number is issued to anyone who is the record owner of Atchison County real estate carrying delinquent taxes or special assessments, and anyone holding a statutory right to redeem a parcel may not bid on that parcel. At the most recent sale bidding opened at $38 per tract. The winning bid is due at the close of the sale, in cash or by a single check payable to the "Clerk of District Court." Each winner then signs a notarized affidavit under K.S.A. 79-2804g and must show photo ID.
Sale format and venue
Atchison County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Atchison County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.
Get the advertised list
Use Tax sale parcel list, tract map and master instructions for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
No fixed annual date. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Atchison County Sheriff (judicial tax foreclosure sale under K.S.A. 79-2804, petition filed by the Atchison County Counselor) as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Atchison County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax sale parcel list, tract map and master instructions. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Every bidder must obtain a bid number before bidding: "Each interested bidder must obtain a bid number in order to bid." A bid registration form posts on the county Tax Sale page once a sale is scheduled. The name on the registration is the name that goes on the deed, so a buyer bidding both personally and for an LLC needs a separate bid number for each entity. No bid number is issued to anyone who is the record owner of Atchison County real estate carrying delinquent taxes or special assessments, and anyone holding a statutory right to redeem a parcel may not bid on that parcel. At the most recent sale bidding opened at $38 per tract. The winning bid is due at the close of the sale, in cash or by a single check payable to the "Clerk of District Court." Each winner then signs a notarized affidavit under K.S.A. 79-2804g and must show photo ID.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Kansas due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.Set a walk-away number
Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
unsold properties
Kansas counties sell no tax lien certificates and keep no over-the-counter certificate list. What a county can hold is real estate it bought in at its own sheriff's sale. The commissioners keep a record of every such parcel that is open to public inspection, and the board sells them at private or public sale for cash, at a price of at least the original judgment lien plus interest, the costs in the order of sale, and every subsequent tax and special assessment. Six months after the sale to the county is confirmed the board may reduce the price and take sealed bids after advertising for three consecutive weeks, or sell at public auction to the highest cash bidder. Ask the county clerk or county counselor for the current county-owned list, and check whether the county has a land bank.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Atchison County sells delinquent property through a judicial tax foreclosure under K.S.A. 79-2804. The County Counselor files and prosecutes the petition in district court, the court enters judgment, and the Sheriff auctions the tracts in person. There is no online bidding platform and no statewide portal for this sale.
- Terms, the parcel list, an interactive map of the tracts and the bid registration form all post together on the county Tax Sale page at atchisoncountyks.org/637/Tax-Sale. Those documents are replaced each sale cycle, so work from the page rather than a saved document link.
- The most recent sale ran at Memorial Hall, 819 Commercial Street, Atchison, on May 6, 2025 at 3:00 P.M., with bidding opening at $38 per tract. Dates are set by the Board of County Commissioners rather than by a fixed annual calendar, so there is no reliable month to plan around.
- Payment is due at the close of the sale in cash or by one check payable to the Clerk of District Court. The county states it will collect on bad checks and stopped payments and will not release a bidder who tries to back out.
- The Sheriff's Office also holds mortgage foreclosure sales on Fridays at 10 a.m. on the main floor of the courthouse near the east doors. Those are ordinary mortgage foreclosures, not tax sales, and carry different rights, so do not confuse the two calendars.
- Redemption in Kansas runs before the sale. Delinquent taxes are paid to the Treasurer at (913) 804-6050, and the county's own instructions bar anyone with a statutory right to redeem a tract from bidding on it. After the sale the remaining exposure is a challenge to the foreclosure under K.S.A. 79-2804b, which the county says may be brought for twelve months after the court confirms the sale. That is a title risk, not a right for the former owner to buy the property back.
- Procedure questions go to the County Counselor at (913) 367-1912. The Sheriff's Office is at 518 Parallel Street, Atchison, KS 66002, (913) 804-6080, and the Treasurer is at the courthouse, 423 N. 5th Street, (913) 804-6050.
Kansas rules
- Redemption
- Kansas redemption has two stages, and both close before the auction. Stage one is K.S.A. 79-2401a: once the treasurer bids the parcel off to the county in September, the county holds it for three years for a homestead under section 9 of article 15 of the Kansas Constitution and for all real estate not described in K.S.A. 79-2401a(a), two years where the parcel was bid off for both delinquent taxes and special assessments, and one year for an abandoned building or structure and the land accommodating it, meaning one that has been unoccupied for at least a year with a failure to perform reasonable maintenance. During that window the owner pays the county treasurer directly. On the three-year track a PARTIAL redemption is allowed: paying the taxes for one or more years, starting with the earliest year the parcel was carried on the tax-sale book, plus interest at the K.S.A. 79-2004 rate, pushes back the date a foreclosure sale may be commenced by the number of years paid. The Johnson County paragraph applies the same partial payment to the most recent year instead of the earliest, and it does not carry the extension sentence. Stage two is K.S.A. 79-2803: after the petition is filed the treasurer may no longer take ordinary payments, but the owner or holder of record title, their heirs, devisees, executors, administrators, assigns, or any mortgagee or mortgagee's assigns may still redeem at any time BEFORE THE DAY OF SALE by filing an application to redeem with the clerk of the district court and paying the clerk a share of the costs, being whatever the court orders or, absent an order, 5 percent of the lien amount stated in the petition for that parcel plus any charges chargeable separately against it. The treasurer then computes the full taxes, charges, interest, and penalties, issues a redemption certificate in triplicate, and the sheriff strikes the parcel from the order of sale. Once the sale happens the right is gone. Kansas gives no post-sale redemption period and no right to buy the property back after the sheriff's deed. What exists after the sale is a twelve-month window under K.S.A. 79-2804b to open, vacate, modify, or set aside the judgment, the order of sale, or the sale. That is a title challenge, not redemption: it is available to parties attacking the proceedings, it requires grounds, and it does not let a former owner simply pay the taxes and take the parcel back.
- Deed deposit
- Kansas fixes no statewide deposit percentage and no statutory bidder registration. K.S.A. 79-2804 is silent on deposits, so the terms are whatever the sheriff publishes for that sale. The statute does require one payment at the auction itself: the register of deeds filing fee for the sheriff's deed is collected from the successful bidder at the time of sale and deposited with the register of deeds at recording. Confirm the county's accepted funds, any registration step, and the payment deadline before bidding, and expect certified funds.
- Surplus proceeds
- If a parcel sells for more than the judgment lien for taxes, interest, penalty, and charges plus its share of the costs, charges, and expenses of the proceedings and sale, the court orders the excess paid, upon due proof, to the owner or the party entitled to it. The court apportions costs across the parcels sold as soon as practicable after the sale, deducts the total costs from the gross proceeds, and equitably apportions the balance to each parcel that sold for more than its share. The clerk pays that balance to the county treasurer, who prorates it among the state, city, township, school district, and other taxing units in proportion to their interest in the lien, and cancels the taxes charged against the parcel. Tax liens on every parcel sold or redeemed in the action are satisfied and discharged of record.
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 Atchison County, Kansas sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Atchison County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Atchison County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 24, 2026 against official county and state sources.
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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