Brown County, KS tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Brown County, seat of Hiawatha: 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
- About once a year, in the spring.
- Format
- In person
- County office
- 785-742-2051
On this page
How Brown County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Brown County Sheriff's Office, selling under an Order for Sale issued by the District Court of Brown County (22nd Judicial District). Bidder registration is handled by the Brown County Treasurer's Office, and the foreclosure case is prosecuted for the Board of County Commissioners by outside counsel Klenda Austerman LLC of Wichita.
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- About once a year, in the spring.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Every bidder must register in advance with the Brown County Treasurer's Office at 601 Oregon St., Suite 201, Hiawatha. For the spring 2026 auction the sale bill opened registration on April 16, 2026 and closed it at 4:00 p.m. on May 19, 2026, the day before the sale, and states that "all persons wishing to bid at the sale must first register" and "all bidders must be registered in order to bid." Registration means completing a Bidder's Declaration attesting the bidder holds no Brown County property with delinquent taxes; anyone who owes delinquent county taxes cannot bid. Each registered bidder receives a bidder number and no bid is recognized without one. Payment at the auction is cash or check only, and the full purchase price is due before the winning bidder leaves the sale, plus a $21 deed recording fee and a $100 processing fee for each parcel won (the sale bill calls the second charge a court cost fee). Change is not given, so bring exact amounts; any overage is added to the parcel's purchase price. Winning bidders also sign a Purchaser's Declaration confirming they are not buying on behalf of, and are not related to, anyone holding an interest in the parcel.
Sale format and venue
Brown County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Brown 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 Notice of Tax Sale, with the sale bill and bidder announcements for Brown County 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
About once a year, in the spring. 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 Brown County Sheriff's Office, selling under an Order for Sale issued by the District Court of Brown County (22nd Judicial District). Bidder registration is handled by the Brown County Treasurer's Office, and the foreclosure case is prosecuted for the Board of County Commissioners by outside counsel Klenda Austerman LLC of Wichita. as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Brown County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Notice of Tax Sale, with the sale bill and bidder announcements for Brown County. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Every bidder must register in advance with the Brown County Treasurer's Office at 601 Oregon St., Suite 201, Hiawatha. For the spring 2026 auction the sale bill opened registration on April 16, 2026 and closed it at 4:00 p.m. on May 19, 2026, the day before the sale, and states that "all persons wishing to bid at the sale must first register" and "all bidders must be registered in order to bid." Registration means completing a Bidder's Declaration attesting the bidder holds no Brown County property with delinquent taxes; anyone who owes delinquent county taxes cannot bid. Each registered bidder receives a bidder number and no bid is recognized without one. Payment at the auction is cash or check only, and the full purchase price is due before the winning bidder leaves the sale, plus a $21 deed recording fee and a $100 processing fee for each parcel won (the sale bill calls the second charge a court cost fee). Change is not given, so bring exact amounts; any overage is added to the parcel's purchase price. Winning bidders also sign a Purchaser's Declaration confirming they are not buying on behalf of, and are not related to, anyone holding an interest in the parcel.
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
- Bidder registration runs through the Treasurer's office at 601 Oregon Street, Suite 201, and closes at 4:00 p.m. the day before the auction, so there is no signing up at the door.
- Anyone owing delinquent real estate taxes in Brown County is barred from bidding, and each winning bidder signs a declaration that they are not buying for, or related to, an owner of the parcel.
- Budget $121 per parcel on top of the winning bid: a $21 deed recording fee and a $100 processing fee, payable in cash or check before leaving the sale. Change is not given, so bring exact amounts.
- Details of the next sale come from the Brown County Attorney's office at 785-740-7401, and the sale bill is published three times in the Horton Headlight in the weeks before the auction.
- The county contracts the foreclosure case to outside counsel, Klenda Austerman LLC of Wichita, which prepares the notice of sale and the bidder announcements. Brown County also has a County Counselor, Austin Parker, listed in the courthouse directory.
- The Sheriff's deed is recorded roughly 90 to 120 days after the auction, once the district court confirms the sale. Until confirmation a buyer cannot collect rent, change locks, clean up, or enter the property.
- Real estate becomes eligible for foreclosure once taxes run three years delinquent. The Treasurer also offers a payment plan on delinquent taxes, which can pull parcels off the list before the sale.
- The published parcel list carries a redemption amount calculated as of the judgment date; current payoff figures come from the Treasurer's office.
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 Brown County, Kansas sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Brown County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Brown 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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