Norfolk County, MA tax sales

Local offices

County notes

• •Norfolk County holds no tax sale. Each of its 28 cities and towns takes delinquent parcels for itself through its own treasurer/collector, and the town, not an investor, holds the resulting tax title.
• •Weymouth: Town Hall, 75 Middle Street, Weymouth, MA 02189, (781) 335-2000. The Collector's Notice of Delinquent Real Estate Taxes page says the town intends to assign the tax titles it holds to the highest bidder at public auction, for all taxes, interest and charges owed, with the auction still to be scheduled. It links a list of tax titles taken from 1964 to 2023 with amounts due as of April 27, 2026, and says an auction list will be posted when appropriate.
• •Braintree: Treasurer's Office, 1 John F. Kennedy Memorial Drive, Braintree, MA 02184, 781-794-8130. The town posts a list of active tax titles by year of initial taking, dated August 24, 2026, and may petition the Land Court to foreclose unredeemed titles.
• •Randolph: Treasurer/Collector, Town Hall, 41 South Main Street, Randolph, MA 02368, 781-961-0913. The office posts a monthly tax title list with payoff amounts as of September 30, 2026.
• •Medway: Treasurer/Collector, 155 Village Street, Medway, MA 02053, (508) 533-3205. The department page links a Current Tax Title Parcels list with interest computed through November 2, 2026.
• •Avon: Treasurer/Collector, Town Hall, 65 East Main Street, Avon, MA 02322, 508-588-0414. A Tax Title Report list is linked from the Treasurer/Collector page.
• •Holbrook: Treasurer/Collector, Town Hall, 50 North Franklin Street, Holbrook, 781-767-4316. Holbrook auctions tax possessions, meaning land already foreclosed by Land Court judgment. Its posted Regulations for Auction Sale of Tax Possessions, filed with the Town Clerk on June 22, 2015, sell parcels as is and subject to any occupants, with a $5,000 deposit per parcel by certified check payable to the Town of Holbrook at the auction and the balance by certified or bank check within 30 days. No upcoming auction date is posted. Ask the treasurer whether the 2015 terms still apply.
• •Holbrook's 2015 regulations bar prior owners, anyone delinquent to the town, anyone who failed to close on an earlier town auction purchase and anyone subject to a town tax title foreclosure from bidding.
• •Quincy: Collector's Office, City Hall, 1305 Hancock Street, Quincy, MA 02169, (617) 376-1085. The Tax Titles page carries the notice and parcel list for a taking of fiscal 2024 parcels set for September 11, 2026. A taking moves the lien to the city and is not a sale to investors.
• •Wellesley: Treasurer/Collector, 525 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482, 781-431-1019 ext. 2266. The page links the fiscal 2025 notice of tax taking list for a taking held December 30, 2025.
• •Sharon: Treasurer/Collector, 90 South Main Street, Sharon, MA 02067, 781-784-1500 ext. 1200. The page links a Property Subject to Tax Taking list for a taking held March 31, 2025.
• •Norfolk (town): Treasurer/Collector, One Liberty Lane, Norfolk, MA 02056, 508-520-0058. The Notice of Tax Takings page carries the fiscal 2026 taking list and states the town may begin foreclosure if a lien is unpaid 12 months after filing. Medfield: Treasurer/Tax Collector, 459 Main Street, 508-906-3017, gives its tax title list on request and states the treasurer may auction tax title property.
• •Bellingham, Brookline, Canton, Cohasset, Dedham, Dover, Foxborough, Franklin, Millis, Milton, Needham, Norwood, Plainville, Stoughton, Walpole, Westwood and Wrentham post no tax title auction or public tax title list. Call each treasurer/collector and watch local legal notices for an auction.

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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