Middlesex County, MA tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Middlesex 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 Middlesex County, seat of Lowell and Cambridge: 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
- Takings follow each municipality's own calendar.
- Registration
- No countywide registration.
- County office
- 978-674-4222
On this page
How Middlesex 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 Middlesex County; the county holds no tax sale
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Takings follow each municipality's own calendar.
- Registration
- No countywide registration.
- Sale list
- Lowell Tax Title (Tax Lien) page
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
Middlesex County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Middlesex 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 Lowell Tax Title (Tax Lien) page for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Takings follow each municipality's own calendar. 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 Middlesex County; the county holds no tax sale as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Middlesex County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Lowell Tax Title (Tax Lien) page. 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
- Middlesex County has no county tax sale: each city and town treasurer/collector handles its own delinquent taxes, and this page groups them.
- Lowell: the Treasurer/Collector's Department, 375 Merrimack Street, Room 30 (978-674-4222), takes delinquent parcels for the city and can ask the Land Court to foreclose 12 months after the Instrument of Taking is recorded; its Tax Title (Tax Lien) page explains the process but carries no parcel list.
- Cambridge: the Finance Department Revenue Division, 795 Massachusetts Ave. (617-349-4220), handles tax title and foreclosure with the Law Department and posts a list of individual Tax Taking notices on its publications page; the May 2026 notices announce takings for the city, not a sale.
- Somerville: the Treasurer/Collector at 93 Highland Ave. (617-625-6600 ext. 3500) posts its Notice of Tax Taking, with the parcel list, and a Tax Title Report on its treasurer page; the latest notice set a taking for the city on May 22, 2026.
- Malden: the City Treasurer's Department, 215 Pleasant Street, Room 210 (781-397-7090), posts its taking notices as a list on its Unclaimed Property and Tax Takings page, most recently a September 17, 2026 Notice of Taking.
- Framingham: the Treasurer/Collector's Office, 150 Concord Street, Room 111 (508-532-5430), keeps a Notices of Tax Takings page as its list.
- Medford: the Collector/Treasurer, City Hall Room 108, 85 George P. Hassett Drive (781-393-2550), publishes no tax title or auction list online; call the office.
- None of these cities posts a tax title assignment auction or a foreclosed-property auction date. Taking notices name parcels the city is taking for itself, not parcels offered to bidders.
- For Newton, Waltham, Woburn, Arlington, Billerica, Chelmsford, Tewksbury, Dracut, Hudson, Marlborough and the county's other towns, no tax title or foreclosed-property auction is posted; contact each town treasurer/collector and watch the local paper for 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 Middlesex County, Massachusetts sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Middlesex County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Middlesex 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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