Each step below is drawn from Maryland statute, not general advice. The exact sale dates, platform, and deposit amounts are set county by county, so confirm the specifics on your county page before you register.
New here? Most beginners start with a certificate (the lien path). The deed steps below apply once you hold a certificate long enough to force a sale, or you bid directly at a tax deed auction. Not sure which is for you? Start with tax lien vs tax deed.
Learn the timeline and lien priority
Maryland property tax is due on July 1 of each taxable year. It may be paid without interest on or before September 30, and it is in arrears after September 30. Interest then runs monthly: two-thirds of 1 percent a month is the default rate for county and municipal tax, and named jurisdictions charge more, with Garrett County at 1.5 percent a month and Washington County, Somerset County and the City of Salisbury at 1 percent, while charter counties and Baltimore City set their own rate by law. Overdue State property tax runs at 1 percent a month. All unpaid taxes on real property are liens on that property from the date they became payable until they are paid, and a first lien attaches from the date the tax is due, which is what makes a Maryland certificate senior collateral. Parcels still in arrears go to the county tax sale under Title 14, Subtitle 8, Part III. Understand this before you commit any money.
Find the advertised delinquent list
Before the certificate sale, the County Collector of Taxes, which is the county treasurer, director of finance or comptroller depending on the jurisdiction, and the Director of Finance in Baltimore City advertises the delinquent parcels. The statute does not fix a month. It requires the collector to sell all property on which the tax is in arrears at the time required by local law, and it provides that missing that time does not invalidate the tax or a later sale. In practice the sales cluster in May and June. On the state schedule for 2026, St. Mary's County sells in March, most jurisdictions sell between May 11 and June 26, and Caroline County and Baltimore County sell in August. Check the county date before planning a bid. Pull that list for your target county and shortlist the parcels worth researching.
Register, deposit, and bid
Register on the county’s certificate-sale platform and fund the required deposit. Bidding runs upward from a statutory minimum bid, and the highest bid wins. Anything you pay above that minimum is a premium, so check how your state treats it before you bid: a premium can earn a different return than the base amount, or none at all. There is no statutory minimum return, so what you earn is decided at the sale. Maryland does not bid the interest rate down, so there is no zero-rate outcome. Every certificate carries the rate of redemption that the statute or the county sets, and bidders compete on price instead. The lien may not be sold for less than the certified taxes plus interest, penalties and the expenses of the sale, and the property goes to the person who makes the highest good faith accepted bid. Where the collector adopts a high-bid premium, the highest bidder also pays 20 percent of the amount by which the bid exceeds 40 percent of the property's full cash value, and Baltimore City and Prince George's County measure that excess against the greater of the lien amount or 40 percent of full cash value. The premium is refunded without interest on redemption or on delivery of the deed, so it is dead capital in the meantime, and it is forfeited entirely if the holder never files the foreclosure in time. Abandoned property that is a vacant lot or is cited as unfit for habitation may be sold below the full lien amount at a minimum bid the collector sets.
Collect interest or wait out redemption
Redemption interest runs from the date of the tax sale to the date of the redemption payment on the total lien amount paid at the sale, at the rate set under Md. Code Ann., Tax-Prop. 14-820. That rate is 6 percent a year unless the county's figure applies: the statute names 10 percent for Calvert, Caroline, Dorchester and Garrett counties and 14 percent for Carroll County, allows those and other counties to fix their own rate, and caps the rate on owner-occupied residential property at 10 percent a year. Interest does not run on the part of the bid above the lien amount, because that residue is never paid to the collector while the certificate is outstanding, and it does not run on the high-bid premium, which is refunded without interest. There is no minimum-return floor in the redemption statute, and Maryland pays nothing extra for a fast redemption. Maryland sets no fixed redemption deadline. The right to redeem continues until it is finally barred by decree of the circuit court in which the foreclosure proceeding is filed. What the statute fixes is the earliest date the certificate holder may start that case, and the outside date by which the holder must start it. A certificate is void unless a proceeding to foreclose the right of redemption is filed within 2 years of the date of the certificate of sale, and if the certificate goes void the holder's rights end and the money paid at the sale is forfeited and applied to the taxes in arrears. A Baltimore City certificate on abandoned property sold below the lien amount must be filed on within 3 months and reverts to the city otherwise. To redeem, the owner pays The total lien amount paid at the tax sale together with interest from the date of sale to the date of the redemption payment, plus any taxes, interest and penalties the certificate holder paid, plus any post-sale delinquent taxes, interest and penalties, which are excluded for owner-occupied residential property, plus the expenses and fees the holder may recover under Md. Code Ann., Tax-Prop. 14-843, plus the shortfall where vacant and abandoned property sold for less than the amount due. The high-bid premium is refunded to the holder without interest. The recoverable expenses are a closed list: nothing outside 14-843 may be charged. Before suit and more than 4 months after the sale, or more than 7 months for owner-occupied residential property, the holder may add recording costs, a title search fee up to 250 dollars, notice postage and certified mail, and attorney's fees up to 500 dollars. Once the foreclosure is filed the holder may add attorney's fees of 1,300 dollars, or 1,500 dollars where an affidavit of compliance has been filed, plus filing, service, publication, posting and other listed costs. If they redeem, that payoff is your return; if they never do, the certificate becomes your path to the property.
Or buy over the counter
You do not have to wait for an auction. A county or other taxing agency must buy in and hold any property offered at the tax sale for which there is no private purchaser, and the collector issues the certificate of sale in the county's name. Once it holds that certificate the governing body may sell and assign it, or after foreclosure sell the property itself. That assignment is the Maryland equivalent of an over-the-counter purchase, and an assigned certificate carries the same right to foreclose as one bought at the sale, since a certificate of sale is assignable and the assignment vests all the right, title and interest of the original purchaser. Whether a county actually offers its held certificates, how it prices them, and whether it publishes a list are local decisions, so ask the collector of taxes. A county may also ask the court to have a private holder's certificate assigned to the county when the foreclosure has stalled, in which case the private holder forfeits both its rights and the money it paid. Maryland has no statewide lands-available list of the Florida type. County-held certificates sit with the county governing body, and property the county takes by foreclosure is disposed of under the county's own surplus property process. Unclaimed tax sale surplus is the money side of the same problem: the collector must notify the prior owner within 90 days after delivering a deed, and each county must run a uniform claim process for it.
One more step: clear the title
Winning a tax deed does not hand you marketable title. Before you can resell to a normal buyer or insure the parcel, you will usually need a quiet title action, which takes months and costs money. Fold that cost into your maximum bid and read what you actually own after a tax deed before you bid. A tax deed also does not wipe out everything: select governmental and municipal liens can survive, and a federal tax lien carries a 120-day IRS redemption right, so check what survives a tax deed too.
New to this? Start with tax lien vs tax deed and the full Maryland walkthrough, then value a parcel with the due diligence guide.
Steps verified Aug 9, 2026 against Maryland statutes.
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.