Franklin County, MA tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Franklin County, MA tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Massachusetts sells redeemable deeds the owner can buy back with a statutory penalty. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Sep 28, 2026.
How tax deed sales work in Franklin County, seat of Greenfield: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Massachusetts tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- No countywide sale date.
- Registration
- No online registration.
- County office
- 413-772-1567
On this page
How Franklin County sells delinquent taxes
No tax lien certificate sale
as a certificate sale. Massachusetts issues no tax lien certificate. What an investor buys is a tax title: either a collector's deed from a collector's sale (s. 43) or an instrument of assignment from the treasurer's auction of tax titles the town already holds (s. 52). Both are subject to redemption, and both are often called 'tax liens' on municipal pages, which describes how they work (held as security) rather than a separate instrument.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Each city or town Treasurer/Collector in Franklin County (26 municipalities); the county holds no sale
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No countywide sale date.
- Registration
- No online registration.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
Franklin County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Franklin 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. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.
Get the advertised list
Use Town of Montague list of parcels to be taken (tax taking notice) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
No countywide sale date. Each city or town picks its own platform or in-person venue. Confirm the date and registration window with that town’s collector before you bid.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Each city or town Treasurer/Collector in Franklin County (26 municipalities); the county holds no sale as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Franklin County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Town of Montague list of parcels to be taken (tax taking notice). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Massachusetts due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Massachusetts before you price the title work.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
No standing over-the-counter list. A town's tax titles can be assigned only at a public auction after notice, and its foreclosed land is sold by public auction or broker listing when the town chooses. Ask the city or town treasurer what it holds.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Massachusetts calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
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.
- Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Hawley, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, New Salem, Rowe, Shelburne, 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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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 Franklin County, Massachusetts sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Franklin County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Franklin County tax sale list?
Verified Sep 28, 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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