Franklin County, MA tax sales

Local offices

County notes

• •Franklin County has 26 cities and towns, and each one's treasurer or collector runs its own tax takings and any tax title auction; the county government holds no sale.
• •Greenfield: the Treasurer/Collector (City Hall, Room 105, 14 Court Square, 413-772-1567) resolves tax titles, is custodian of foreclosed property and holds auctions for tax foreclosure properties when needed. No auction list or date is posted.
• •Greenfield: surplus city-owned real estate, once declared surplus by the City Council and Mayor, is sold through a competitive process run by Purchasing and Procurement (413-772-1569).
• •Montague: the Treasurer/Collector (1 Avenue A, Turners Falls, 413-863-3200 ext. 202) posted a Notice of Tax Taking dated September 10, 2026, and the list of parcels to be taken appears as a PDF attached to that notice on the town website. A taking is not a sale.
• •Orange: the Treasurer (6 Prospect Street) has authority to auction tax title property, and the town runs a Public Auctions notification list that residents can subscribe to for auction notices.
• •Orange: tax bills and municipal lien certificates go through the Collector's Office (978-544-1100 ext. 300); tax title payoffs go through the Treasurer.
• •Erving: the Treasurer (12 East Main Street, 413-422-2800 ext. 1112) publishes tax taking notices on its Tax Taking Notices and Information page; the town may begin foreclosure once a lien stays unpaid for twelve months. No parcel list or auction date is posted there.
• •Gill: the Treasurer (325 Main Road, 413-863-0192) posts its tax taking notice as a 2025 file on the town website; no auction list or date is posted.
• •Northfield: contact the Treasurer/Collector at 69 Main Street, 413-498-2901 ext. 113; no tax title auction list is posted.
• •Shelburne: Sullivan & Sullivan Auctioneers lists a Town of Shelburne Municipal Public Auction for Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. at 51 Bridge Street, offering five town-owned properties: 46.4 wooded acres on Fiske Mill Road, 8 wooded acres on Brook Road, two lots totaling 2.8 acres at 375 and 379 Main Street, 3.65 wooded acres on South Shelburne Road, and a 10,454 sq ft lot with an existing structure at 49 Mechanic Street. Terms: a $5,000 deposit by bank check, balance due in 30 days.
• •Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Hawley, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, New Salem, Rowe, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell and Whately post no tax title auction list or date; call each town's treasurer or collector and watch the local paper for published notices.

Massachusetts rules

Redemption

Anyone with an interest in the land may redeem at any time before a foreclosure petition is filed, and a holder generally cannot petition until 12 months after the sale or taking, so the owner usually has at least a year and there is no fixed outer deadline. On a tax title taken or sold before November 1, 2024 the wait before a petition is six months, not 12. After a petition is filed, a party may still redeem through the Land Court by filing an answer and paying on the terms the court fixes, until a judgment forever bars redemption. The treasurer may extend the no-foreclosure period by up to 2 years when accepting a partial payment, and a town may by bylaw or ordinance offer payment agreements of up to 10 years during which it may not foreclose. Shorter routes apply where buildings on town-held land are found abandoned or the redemption amount exceeds the assessed value.M.G.L. c. 60, s. 62, redemption at 8 percent interest on the original sum, before a foreclosure petition is filedM.G.L. c. 60, s. 62Verified Sep 28, 2026

Deed deposit

At a collector's sale, the purchaser must make an immediate deposit of whatever sum the collector considers necessary to show good faith, or the sale is void (s. 43). No statute sets a deposit for a treasurer's tax title auction or a custodian's auction; each municipality sets it in its terms of sale.M.G.L. c. 60, s. 52, treasurer's public auction assigning tax titles, individually or bundled, to the highest bidder for not less than the redemption amountM.G.L. c. 60, s. 52Verified Sep 28, 2026

Surplus proceeds

Since November 1, 2024 (St. 2024, c. 140), the owner at the time of a Land Court foreclosure keeps a right to any excess equity, and that applies to a municipality AND to a private purchaser of tax receivables (s. 64). Within 30 days after the judgment becomes final, the judgment holder must elect to retain or sell. If it retains, it must obtain an independent appraisal within 120 days and pay out the appraised value above the tax title balance and costs. If it sells, it must list with a licensed broker within 180 days, then auction at not less than two-thirds of appraised value if unsold after 12 months. Excess equity is held in a segregated interest-bearing escrow; claims may be made for 18 months after notice where owners are unknown, unclaimed funds go to the state's abandoned property process after 19 months, and disputes go to the Superior Court with a jury trial right (s. 64A). Owners foreclosed on or after May 25, 2021 had 12 months from the act to sue for excess equity (St. 2024, c. 140, s. 212). Surplus from a s. 79 sale without foreclosure is held for the person entitled for five years, then goes to the town.M.G.L. c. 60, s. 64A, post-foreclosure election to retain or sell, appraisal, broker listing, auction at not less than two-thirds of appraised value, excess equity claimsM.G.L. c. 60, s. 64AVerified Sep 28, 2026

Governing statute

M.G.L. c. 60, s. 52M.G.L. c. 60, s. 52, treasurer's public auction assigning tax titles, individually or bundled, to the highest bidder for not less than the redemption amountM.G.L. c. 60, s. 52Verified Sep 28, 2026

What the deed conveys: The tax lien dates from January 1 of the assessment year and the holder's title is prima facie valid once the deed, instrument of taking or assignment is recorded in time (ss. 37, 45, 52, 54). The Land Court judgment bars redemption, but any interested person other than the petitioner may move to vacate it within 1 year for extraordinary circumstances (90 days where the petition rested on abandonment or an s. 81B certification; up to 1 year where record title stands in the name of a deceased person or a person under guardianship or conservatorship). A sale to an innocent purchaser for value or a paid excess equity claim ordinarily protects the judgment, but not absolutely: s. 69A lets the court vacate anyway if it 'makes appropriate equitable orders to protect the rights of the purchaser of the property or the payor of the excess equity'. After the deadline, a challenge requires a showing that the moving party's due process rights were violated. A foreclosed tax title remains subject to easements, restrictions and most covenants running with the land. After foreclosure the excess equity owed to the former owner is a cost the judgment holder must account for, which changes the economics of buying a tax title with the aim of taking the property.M.G.L. c. 60, s. 69A, motion to vacate a foreclosure decree within 1 year (90 days for abandoned property or 81B certifications)M.G.L. c. 60, s. 69AVerified Sep 28, 2026 See the due diligence guide.

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