The short answer
At least 12 months from the sale or taking (six months for a tax title taken or sold before November 1, 2024), then until a foreclosure petition is filed in the Land Court
Massachusetts runs 6 different redemption windows
Which one applies is decided by the parcel, not by the state, so read the condition before trusting the headline figure.
How the clock works
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.
Who can redeem
Any person having an interest in the land, or that person's heirs or assigns (s. 62). A mortgagee who redeems may add the amount to the mortgage debt.
What the owner pays to redeem
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.
How your return accrues
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. 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.
How the bidding works
Nothing is bid down. At a treasurer's tax title auction (s. 52) the opening price is the full amount needed to redeem and bidders compete upward; the redemption interest is fixed by statute at 8 percent a year (16 percent on a title taken or sold before November 1, 2024) and runs only on the principal stated in the instrument of assignment, so any amount bid above the redemption amount earns nothing and is not repaid on redemption. At a collector's sale (s. 43) the price is fixed at the tax, interest and charges, and bidders compete on the smallest undivided part of the land they will take. Several statutory steps look like a sale and are not an investor sale: (1) a TAKING under s. 53 is the collector recording an instrument that vests the tax title in the city or town; it is preceded by a published or posted 'notice of tax taking' that lists parcels, date and place, and it admits no bidder; (2) when no bid equals the tax at a collector's sale, the collector 'purchases for the town' (s. 48), which likewise admits no investor; (3) a bulk transfer of tax receivables under s. 2C is a public sale to the 'most responsible and responsive offeror', judged on price, qualifications and experience and a taxpayer-communication plan, after the list is published at least 60 days ahead; it is not a parcel auction open to individual bidders; (4) the recording of a Land Court judgment and the s. 64A election to retain or sell are post-foreclosure steps, not sales of a tax title. The real investor auctions are the treasurer's tax title auction (s. 52), the rare collector's sale (s. 43), and sales of land the town already owns after foreclosure (ss. 64A, 77B, 79).
What happens when it ends
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. 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. You receive a deed after the sale, but it gives you a redeemable tax title, not ownership: once the minimum window has passed you must petition the court to foreclose the right of redemption, and title becomes absolute only on the court’s decree.
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.
A redemption repays your price with statutory interest, which runs on the amount the statute sets, not on any premium you bid above it, which is what makes the wait profitable; see how redemption periods work across states. You receive a deed after the sale, but it gives you a redeemable tax title, not ownership: once the minimum window has passed you must petition the court to foreclose the right of redemption, and title becomes absolute only on the court’s decree. What the Massachusetts tax deed conveys is set by statute, in the card above; budget for a quiet title action if an insurer will not accept that title.
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.