To buy a redeemable tax deed in Massachusetts you bid on the property at an auction that each city or town runs itself, not the county. You receive a deed after the sale, but the former owner keeps a statutory window to redeem by repaying your price with statutory interest, and your title becomes absolute only when a court grants your petition to foreclose that right.
New here? There is no certificate step in Massachusetts. You bid on the property itself, so the money is at risk on the parcel from day one and the research has to happen before the auction, not after. Not sure which is for you? Start with tax lien vs tax deed.
Step 1: Learn the timeline and lien priority
Understand this before you commit any money.
Full Massachusetts rule detail for step 1, Learn the timeline and lien priority
Real estate tax bills are due July 1 for the fiscal year, but most cities and towns have accepted quarterly (August 1, November 1, February 1, May 1) or semi-annual payment under M.G.L. c. 59, s. 57C, so due dates vary by municipality. Overdue tax bears interest at 14 percent a year. Before selling or taking, the collector must mail a demand; if the tax is still unpaid 14 days after the demand, the collector may sell or take the land after 14 days' notice. No statute fixes a minimum delinquency age, and the lien lapses if the parcel is transferred and no sale or taking is recorded within three years and six months after the end of the fiscal year.
Step 2: Learn what sends a parcel to the auction
- What starts it
- A real estate tax unpaid 14 days after the collector's demand (ss. 16, 37). The collector then either SELLS at a collector's sale after published and posted notice (ss. 40, 42, 43) or TAKES the land for the town after 14 days' notice (s. 53), recording an instrument of taking within 60 days (s. 54). The taking is not a sale: no one bids, the town becomes the tax title holder, and newspaper 'notice of tax taking' lists should not be read as auction notices. For residential (Class one) property, notices since November 1, 2024 must be mailed, posted on the property, published on the municipal website, and carry a DOR uniform notice in the seven most common languages. A tax title becomes title to the land only through a Land Court foreclosure petition filed at least 12 months after the sale or taking (s. 65).
- The opening bid
- Treasurer's tax title auction (s. 52): not less than the amount necessary for redemption, to the highest bidder, individually or bundled. Collector's sale (s. 43): the price is fixed at the tax, interest and necessary intervening charges, and the winner is the bidder who will take the smallest undivided part of the land for that amount; the whole is sold only if no one offers to take a part, and if no bid equals the tax the collector purchases for the town (s. 48).
Full Massachusetts rule detail for step 2, Learn what sends a parcel to the auction
The opening bid, continued. Low-value land sold without foreclosure (s. 79): highest bidder, and the treasurer may reject any bid he deems inadequate. Foreclosed land a town elects to sell (s. 64A): first listed with a licensed broker within 180 days; if unsold after 12 months, auctioned by a licensed auctioneer at not less than two-thirds of the appraised value.
Step 3: Bid at the tax deed auction
The city or town sells the property at public auction to the highest bidder.
Full Massachusetts rule detail for step 3, Bid at the tax deed auction
Deposit and registration, continued. 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.
Paying the balance, continued. A collector's deed must be recorded within 60 days after a collector's sale (s. 45), and an instrument of assignment within 60 days of its date (s. 52).
Step 4: Wait out the redemption window, then petition to foreclose it
- What the buyer earns
- Simple interest of 8 percent a year on a tax title taken or sold on or after November 1, 2024, and 16 percent a year on one taken or sold before that date. For a collector's sale purchaser, it runs on the original sum and on intervening taxes and costs the purchaser paid, from the date of sale. For an assignee under s. 52, the redemption amount is the figure stated in the instrument of assignment (principal plus interest accrued to the assignment date, stated separately) plus 8 percent a year on the principal only, from the date of assignment. The treasurer can accept redemption on the holder's behalf and pays it over less a $10 fee. Redemption also covers up to $3 for title examination and release plus recording costs. St. 2024, c. 140, s. 88 cut the rate from 16 to 8 percent effective November 1, 2024, and St. 2025, c. 14, s. 87 limits that cut to land purchased or taken under a tax title on or after that date.
- The redemption window
- 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.
- What the owner pays
- To redeem, the owner pays From a collector's sale purchaser: the original sum plus intervening taxes and costs the purchaser paid, with interest on the whole at 8 percent a year. From an assignee of a town-held tax title: the amount stated in the instrument of assignment plus 8 percent a year on the principal amount from the assignment date. From the town: the tax title account (the taking amount plus later taxes certified under s. 61 and charges) with 8 percent a year on the original sum from the sale and on each certified sum from its certification. In each case add up to $3 for title examination and release plus recording costs, and $10 more if paid through the treasurer. After a petition, the Land Court adds the costs of the proceeding and a reasonable counsel fee. On a tax title taken or sold before November 1, 2024 the rate is 16 percent, not 8.
- When the deed is delivered
- A collector's sale buyer receives a collector's deed that must be recorded within 60 days; a tax title auction buyer receives an instrument of assignment that must be recorded within 60 days.
- What it means for you
- If they redeem, that payoff is your return. If no one redeems, your title becomes absolute only when the court grants your petition to foreclose the right of redemption.
Full Massachusetts rule detail for step 4, Wait out the redemption window, then petition to foreclose it
What the buyer earns, continued. An older title therefore keeps earning 16 percent for as long as it stays unredeemed, including when it is assigned to an investor at a treasurer's auction today, and the Land Court rate under s. 68 follows the same date line.
When the deed is delivered, continued. Neither conveys possession: the title is held as security until redemption or foreclosure. After 12 months from the original sale or taking (an assignee is treated as a purchaser at the original sale or at the taking, so an older title may already be ripe), the holder petitions the Land Court to foreclose all rights of redemption; title becomes absolute only on the court's judgment (ss. 64, 65, 69). Land sold by a town after it has foreclosed passes by the town's deed; land sold under s. 79 is absolute on recording of the treasurer's deed without any foreclosure.
Step 5: Or buy over the counter
You do not have to wait for an auction.
- How it works
- There is no standing over-the-counter list and no statute requiring one. Tax titles held by a city or town can be assigned only after a public auction with 14 days' published and posted notice and at least 10 days' mailed notice to the owner (s. 52), so there is no private over-the-counter assignment.
- What is available
- No statewide list. Each city or town treasurer holds its own tax titles and tax possession property; some post a list of properties in tax title or of upcoming auctions on the treasurer's page (Springfield's collector-treasurer links a 'Properties with Tax Liens' page and posts its foreclosed-property auction notice, parcel list pointer and terms on its Tax Foreclosure Auction page).
Full Massachusetts rule detail for step 5, Or buy over the counter
How it works, continued. Separately, a town may assign its tax receivables in bulk to a registered purchaser through a public sale judged on price and qualifications (s. 2C), after publishing the list at least 60 days ahead. Once a town has foreclosed, it may sell the land at public auction through a custodian (s. 77B), through the s. 64A broker-then-auction process, or in any other lawful manner, subject to the excess equity accounting. Ask each treasurer what it holds and how it disposes of it.
What the deed conveys in Massachusetts
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.
Fold any title work into your maximum bid and read what you actually own after a tax deed and what survives a tax deed before you bid. A quiet title action is how a buyer clears a title an insurer will not accept.
Buying redeemable tax deeds in Massachusetts: common questions
How do you buy a redeemable tax deed in Massachusetts?
Can you buy Massachusetts redeemable tax deeds online?
More Massachusetts answers, including redemption and statute detail, are on the Massachusetts tax sale FAQ. New to this? Start with tax lien vs tax deed and the full Massachusetts walkthrough, then value a parcel with the due diligence guide.
Steps verified Sep 28, 2026 against Massachusetts 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 office that runs the sale before you bid.