Howard County, MD tax sales
How tax lien sales work in Howard County, seat of Ellicott City: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Maryland tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- One tax sale per year, conducted entirely online.
- Format
- County site
- Registration
- Online only at taxsale.howardcountymd.gov.
- County office
- 410-313-2299
On this page
How Howard County sells delinquent taxes
From lien to deed
Maryland holds no county tax deed auction. Title passes only through a judicial foreclosure of the right of redemption brought by the holder of the certificate of sale. The holder may file the complaint at any time after 6 months from the date of sale, or after 9 months for owner-occupied residential property, and only after serving two statutory notices on the owner and the mortgagee. The first of those notices cannot be sent until 4 months after the sale, or 7 months for owner-occupied residential property, the second follows at least a week later, and the complaint cannot be filed until at least 2 months after the first notice and 30 days after the second. Where a government agency certifies that a building needs substantial repairs, the holder may file after 60 days, and abandoned property sold below the lien amount may be filed on immediately.
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Howard County Department of Finance, Division of Tax Sale, acting as the Collector of State and County Taxes for Howard County (also referred to as the Director of Finance)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- One tax sale per year, conducted entirely online.
- Registration
- Online only at taxsale.howardcountymd.gov.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Online only at taxsale.howardcountymd.gov. The county accepts no mail, email, telephone or fax registration and none on the day of sale. For 2026 registration opened May 21 and closed June 3 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, with every step completed by that deadline. Bidders give name, address, telephone, email and a digital signature, complete IRS Form W-9, and enter a valid bank account for ACH. A $1,000 deposit is debited by ACH at registration and is fully refunded if the bidder buys no certificate. Business entities must register in the full legal name of the entity, supply their Maryland SDAT business tax ID, and obtain a certificate of good standing before registration closes. Only one bid number is issued per individual or legal entity. Each registered bidder also files a spending budget, which caps total purchases including any high-bid premium and can be changed up to 5:00 p.m. the day before the sale.
Sale format and venue
Howard County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Howard 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 property list, downloadable in Excel for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
One tax sale per year, conducted entirely online. Bidding runs on County site; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Howard County Department of Finance, Division of Tax Sale, acting as the Collector of State and County Taxes for Howard County (also referred to as the Director of Finance) as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Howard County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax sale property list, downloadable in Excel. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Online only at taxsale.howardcountymd.gov. The county accepts no mail, email, telephone or fax registration and none on the day of sale. For 2026 registration opened May 21 and closed June 3 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, with every step completed by that deadline. Bidders give name, address, telephone, email and a digital signature, complete IRS Form W-9, and enter a valid bank account for ACH. A $1,000 deposit is debited by ACH at registration and is fully refunded if the bidder buys no certificate. Business entities must register in the full legal name of the entity, supply their Maryland SDAT business tax ID, and obtain a certificate of good standing before registration closes. Only one bid number is issued per individual or legal entity. Each registered bidder also files a spending budget, which caps total purchases including any high-bid premium and can be changed up to 5:00 p.m. the day before the sale.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Maryland 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 certificates
A county or other taxing agency must buy in any property offered at the sale for which there is no private purchaser, and the governing body may then sell and assign that certificate of sale, or after foreclosure sell the property. Several counties run this as a post-sale assignment sale of the unsold liens at lien value, usually open only to bidders who registered for the auction. Availability, pricing and whether a list is published are local decisions, so ask the collector of taxes.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
County notes
- Maryland SDAT's statewide tax sale schedule lists Howard County's 2026 date as June 3, which is actually the county's registration deadline. The county's own tax sale page and its 2026 bidder FAQ both give the sale date as Wednesday, June 10, 2026. Treat the county page as controlling and confirm each year's date with the Division of Tax Sale.
- Sale timing moves. Recent sales were June 10, 2026, August 6, 2025, and per SDAT May 1, 2024 and May 8, 2023. Watch the county page from spring onward rather than assuming a fixed month.
- The bidding mechanism is unusual for Maryland. Instead of bidding down an interest rate, Howard County runs a one-shot sealed bid by spreadsheet upload, and the redemption rate is fixed by owner-occupancy status at 6% or 18%. Competition therefore shows up as high-bid premium exposure rather than a lower yield.
- The county advertises the delinquent list in the Howard County Times for at least four weeks before the sale, while the bidder FAQ points buyers to The Baltimore Sun to purchase copies of the published list. The same list is posted free on the tax sale site, so no newspaper purchase is needed to review it.
- The 2026 bidder FAQ has a typographical error in the foreclosure answer, writing "six (4) months" for non-owner-occupied property. Md. Code Ann., Tax-Property 14-833 governs the waiting period, so verify against the statute before filing.
- The auction runs on county-operated software at taxsale.howardcountymd.gov and names no third-party auction vendor, so registration, the property list and bid upload all live on that one site.
- Liens that draw no bid are struck to Howard County. A discretionary assignment sale may follow the auction, with instructions published after sale day; that is the nearest equivalent to an over-the-counter purchase in this county.
Maryland rules
- 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.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any balance over the amount needed for taxes, interest, penalties and the costs of sale belongs to the person entitled to it, which is normally the former owner. Each county must establish a process for claiming that balance, the process must apply uniformly to all claims in the county, and it may not require a court order unless payment of the balance is disputed. Within 90 days after delivering a deed to a purchaser, the collector must notify the prior owner of record of the amount of the balance and of how to claim it. Where the balance is disputed, the collector pays it into a court of competent jurisdiction pending an order on distribution.
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 Howard County, Maryland sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Howard County tax certificate sale?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Howard County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 9, 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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