Washington County, KS tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Washington County, seat of Washington: 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
- 785-325-2461
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 24, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page
How Washington County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Washington County Sheriff's Office, which sells under the order of sale issued by the Clerk of the Washington County District Court, with bidder registration taken by the Washington County Treasurer's Office
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No fixed annual date.
- Sale list
- Tax Sale notice and parcel list
When it runs
No fixed annual date. Washington County brings a judicial tax foreclosure once parcels reach three years delinquent. The Treasurer's office states that "Delinquent real estate taxes that are not paid within three years are referred to the Washington County Attorney for foreclosure action, thus putting the property in jeopardy of being sold at public auction." The most recent sale the county published was set by the district court for "the 14th day of February, 2023 at 1:00 o'clock p.m.", after a Notice of Sale that ran in The Washington County News on January 12, 19 and 26, 2023. A further foreclosure petition reaching parcel numbers into the thirties was noticed in the same paper on September 12, 19 and 26, 2024. Confirm the current sale date and time with the Treasurer at 785-325-2461 before you travel.
Registration and deposit
Only registered bidders may bid, and the notice requires that "all bidders must qualify and register prior to sale." Registration is taken in person at the Washington County Treasurer, 214 C Street, Washington. For the February 14, 2023 auction the window opened January 30, 2023 and closed at 11:00 a.m. on sale day, two hours before the 1:00 p.m. start, so allow roughly two weeks. Winning bids are payable in cash in hand at the sale. Call the Treasurer at 785-325-2461 for the payment terms of the current sale.
Sale format and venue
The auction is in person and Washington County names no online bidding platform, so plan to attend and verify any listing you see elsewhere against the county's own notice. The Sheriff sells at the Washington County District Court, 214 C Street in Washington, and the Notice of Sale directs him to "offer for sale at public auction and sell to the highest bidder for cash in hand." The Board of County Commissioners is the plaintiff, the County Attorney also serves as County Counselor and refers and prosecutes the case, and Wichita firm Klenda Austerman LLC has acted as outside counsel on the county's tax foreclosure suits. The Treasurer's office keeps the delinquent roll, takes bidder registration and quotes exact payoff figures, because the redemption amounts printed in the parcel list are estimates only. Redemption runs through the clerk of the district court and closes on the day of the sale. The court must confirm the sale before the sheriff's deed passes title. Kansas law also bars the record owner of tax-delinquent real estate in the county from bidding, and bars sales to redemption holders, close relatives and corporate insiders.
Source: Notice of Sale and Exhibit A Parcel List, Washington County Tax Foreclosure Case 22-CV-000001· Verified Aug 24, 2026
Washington County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Washington 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 notice and parcel list 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 Washington County Sheriff's Office, which sells under the order of sale issued by the Clerk of the Washington County District Court, with bidder registration taken by the Washington County Treasurer's Office as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Washington County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax Sale notice and parcel list. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Only registered bidders may bid, and the notice requires that "all bidders must qualify and register prior to sale." Registration is taken in person at the Washington County Treasurer, 214 C Street, Washington. For the February 14, 2023 auction the window opened January 30, 2023 and closed at 11:00 a.m. on sale day, two hours before the 1:00 p.m. start, so allow roughly two weeks. Winning bids are payable in cash in hand at the sale. Call the Treasurer at 785-325-2461 for the payment terms of the current sale.
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
- Washington County recovers three-year delinquent real estate taxes through a judicial tax foreclosure filed in Washington County District Court, in the Twelfth Judicial District. The Board of County Commissioners is the plaintiff, and the Sheriff then sells the parcels at a live public auction under the court's order of sale.
- The Treasurer's office is the first call for the delinquent roll, exact payoff figures and sale details. Its Tax Information page states that "Details of Tax Foreclosure Sales may be obtained by requesting information from the Washington County Treasurer's Office." Reach it at 785-325-2461 or toll free at 888-955-2974, 214 C Street, Washington.
- Real estate taxes still unpaid on August 1 are published in the official county newspaper for three consecutive weeks in August under K.S.A. 79-2301 to 79-2323a, and the taxes become delinquent the first Tuesday of September. That August publication is the earliest public signal of parcels moving toward foreclosure.
- The operative sale notice is the published sale bill in The Washington County News, which runs once a week for three consecutive weeks ahead of the auction. The county also posts the notice on its own site under Local News, but the newspaper is where the notice always appears.
- The published parcel list carries a parcel id, legal description, approximate street address, delinquent years, owners of record and an estimated redemption cost for each tract. The 2023 list ran to 28 parcels spread across Washington, Mahaska, Clifton, Morrowville and Barnes, and the 2024 foreclosure petition reached parcel numbers into the thirties. These are small rural sales, mostly town lots and farm ground.
- Treat the printed redemption figures as estimates. The list itself says amounts are estimates and directs bidders to contact the Treasurer's office for exact amounts, and parcels drop off the sale right up to auction day as owners pay through the clerk of the district court.
- Bid preparation is a two-office job. Register and settle payment terms with the Treasurer at 214 C Street, and expect the Sheriff at 301 B Street to conduct the auction itself. The County Attorney at 209 C Street, 785-325-2149, handles the foreclosure case and the parcel list behind it.
- Title does not pass at the fall of the hammer. The district court confirms the sale before the sheriff's deed issues, and Kansas allows a twelve-month window to attack the judgment or the sale. Price that as a title risk, not as a redemption right for the former owner.
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 Washington County, Kansas sell tax liens or tax deeds?
Tax deeds. Kansas sells no tax lien certificates to investors; the county sells the property itself at a public tax sale.
How often does Washington County hold tax deed sales?
Washington County holds its tax deed sale once a year. No fixed annual date. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Kansas's redemption rule: Runs BEFORE the sale and ends on the day of the sheriff's sale. One, two, or three years from the county's September bid-off depending on the parcel, then a further right to redeem at the courthouse until the day of sale. Kansas has no redemption period after the sale. Call the Washington County Sheriff's Office, which sells under the order of sale issued by the Clerk of the Washington County District Court, with bidder registration taken by the Washington County Treasurer's Office as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.
Where can I find the Washington County tax sale list?
Washington County posts its tax sale list at washingtoncountyks.gov. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.
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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