Beltrami County, MN tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Beltrami County does not run a tax deed sale in the Florida sense, and says so directly. Delinquent parcels forfeit to the State of Minnesota, and the county then sells that state-forfeited land under Minn. Stat. Chapter 282. What you buy is land the county is disposing of on the state's behalf, not a lien and not a tax certificate.
• •There is no auction calendar to plan around, so watch four channels: the county's tax-forfeited land sales page, the legal advertisement section of the Bemidji Pioneer as the official county newspaper, the county's email notification signup, and a call to Natural Resource Management at 218-333-4210. The department also notifies landowners adjacent to parcels being offered.
• •The over-the-counter list is the dependable inventory between auctions. It has recently carried a handful of parcels in the City of Bemidji and in Northern, Shotley, Waskish and Hornet townships, ranging from a small city lot near $9,500 to four-acre tracts with a house or outbuildings up to roughly $84,900. Prices are the board-set purchase price and taxes and fees are added at closing.
• •A former owner can apply to repurchase forfeited land under Minn. Stat. 282.241, which can pull a parcel back out of the county's inventory before an investor ever sees it. Anyone who was eligible to repurchase a parcel is also barred from buying that same parcel at public or private sale for less than the full taxes, special assessments, penalties, interest and costs owed at forfeiture, plus any special assessments certified as of the sale date.
• •County officials cannot bid. The auditor, treasurer, attorney, district court administrator, assessor, land commissioner and their deputies and employees may not buy tax-forfeited land unless they owned the parcel before it forfeited. The auditor may also exclude a bidder who owes delinquent taxes on other property in the county, had a rental license revoked in the last five years, or was the buyer on a cancelled tax-forfeited land contract in the last five years.
• •Do the diligence before you bid, because the county splits it across offices: tax questions go to Real Estate and Tax Services at 218-333-4138, recorded easements, liens and encumbrances to the Recorder at 218-333-4170, wetland, shoreland and septic questions to Environmental Services at 218-333-4158, and zoning or building questions to the city or township clerk. Special assessments levied before forfeiture are cancelled at forfeiture, but a city or township may recertify them once the parcel sells.
• •Property taxes on a purchased parcel start the year after the sale, and the appraised value or price paid does not set the future assessed value. Tax-forfeited land sales are also separate from sheriff's mortgage foreclosure sales, which the Sheriff's Office handles at 218-333-8391.

Minnesota rules

Redemption

Redemption in Minnesota runs BEFORE forfeiture and there is no redemption after a tax-forfeited land sale. The clock starts on the second Monday in May, when the county auditor bids the parcel in for the state, and it runs three years for most property. Once the parcel is unredeemed 120 days before that period ends, the county auditor gives notice of expiration of redemption, which is posted in the auditor's office, published for two successive weeks in the official county newspaper, mailed by certified mail to taxpayers, fee owners, and anyone who filed an address under Minn. Stat. 276.041, and personally served on anyone in possession of an occupied parcel. Redemption ends on the later of the end of the statutory period and 60 days after that notice is given and proof of it is filed with the auditor, and the Department of Revenue's manual states the exact forfeiture date the same way. On that date absolute title vests in the state of Minnesota. A district court can cut the period to five weeks on a city or county petition for abandoned or certain vacant property, so a parcel can reach forfeiture far sooner than three years. Forfeiture extinguishes redemption rights along with almost everything else, with one carve-out that Minn. Stat. 282.005, subd. 10 preserves in terms: rights of redemption provided under federal law, which is where an unreleased federal tax lien can still reach a parcel after the sale. The right to REPURCHASE after forfeiture, under Minn. Stat. 282.241, is a separate remedy and not a redemption right.Minnesota Statutes 281.17 - the three-year redemption period and the one-year exceptions for targeted-community and qualified solid waste facility landMinn. Stat. 281.17Verified Aug 24, 2026

Deed deposit

Minnesota fixes no statutory bidder deposit and no statutory registration deadline. Terms are set locally, and the Department of Revenue's manual treats a cash-only initial sale as best practice because everything above the minimum bid has to stay available for surplus claims. On a Chapter 282.01 sale, parcels are sold for cash only unless the county board has adopted a resolution allowing terms. Where terms are allowed, at least 10 percent of the purchase price is due at the time of purchase and the balance runs in no more than ten equal annual installments, or under a county board policy of no more than 12 installments a year over a term of no more than ten years. Confirm the county's published terms before registering.Minnesota Statutes 282.005 - the required initial public auction of tax-forfeited land, the estimated-market-value initial price, the minimum bid, the six-month deadline, surplus claims, and what forfeiture extinguishesMinn. Stat. 282.005Verified Aug 24, 2026

Surplus proceeds

Minnesota built a surplus claim process in response to Tyler v. Hennepin County, and the Revisor's note under Minn. Stat. 282.08 records that decision. It applies to forfeitures occurring after December 31, 2023. The minimum bid goes into the county's forfeited tax sale fund and everything above it is available to interested parties, meaning any party with an interest in the real estate, including the owner, a lienholder, and anyone who filed their name under Minn. Stat. 276.041. Within 60 days of the sale the county auditor must send notice and a claim form by certified mail to every interested party of record, mail a second notice by first class mail between 90 and 120 days if no claim has been filed, mail notice to the occupants unless the land is vacant, and publish a list of sales with unexpired claim periods on the county website. A claim must be filed within six months of the date the first notice is mailed. Multiple claims are divided in proportion to each claimant's interest, and a disputed claim can be deposited with the district court. Unclaimed surplus returns to the county's forfeited tax sale fund. A separate claim process covers iron-bearing stockpiles, minerals, and mineral interests, which are sold to the state for $50 at forfeiture and valued by the commissioner of natural resources if a claim is filed.Minnesota Statutes 282.005 - the required initial public auction of tax-forfeited land, the estimated-market-value initial price, the minimum bid, the six-month deadline, surplus claims, and what forfeiture extinguishesMinn. Stat. 282.005Verified Aug 24, 2026

Governing statute

Minn. Stat. Chapter 279Minnesota Statutes 279.05 - the county auditor files the delinquent list with the district court by February 15 and the filing acts as a complaint against each parcelMinn. Stat. 279.05Verified Aug 24, 2026

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.

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