Lake of the Woods County, MN tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Auditor-Treasurer's Office administers tax-forfeited land for the county. Call (218) 634-2836 for the next sale date, the current parcel list and anything left unsold.
• •Nothing is sold as a lien or a certificate here. Title forfeits to the State of Minnesota first, and the buyer at the county auction receives a State Deed applied for through the Minnesota Department of Revenue and then recorded by the county.
• •The minimum sale price equals the parcel's most current Estimated Market Value, not the delinquent tax amount. The single parcel offered on May 30, 2025 was 0.92 acres in the City of Williams carrying a $12,000 minimum.
• •The County Board views and classifies every parcel as conservation or non-conservation before it can be offered, then asks the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to approve the sale. Its March 2025 resolution classified six non-conservation parcels for sale and held one conservation parcel back.
• •Unsold parcels remain buyable afterward. The county states that any parcels remaining unsold after public auction can be purchased for the minimum bid established by the County Board of Commissioners, and its adopted terms add that the price changes only if the parcel is reappraised, republished and reoffered at a later sale.
• •Bidder eligibility is screened. Anyone carrying delinquent property taxes on any parcel in the county is passed over in favor of the next highest bidder, as is anyone who has let previously purchased tax-forfeited land forfeit again for non-payment in the last 10 years.
• •Land outside a platted subdivision carries restrictive covenants for marginal lands and wetlands under Minn. Stat. 103F.535 subd. 2 and 282.018 subd. 2, which can limit clearing and drainage on the kind of acreage this county sells.
• •A former owner can still reclaim the property. The county's adopted terms state that former owners must pay the purchase price or the amount of delinquency, whichever is more, under Minn. Stat. 282.01 subd. 7, 282.012 and 282.241, the repurchase route that can unwind a sale.
• •For residential parcels the county's notice carries a Minnesota Department of Health radon warning and states the county has no knowledge of radon and does no radon testing on tax-forfeited residential property.
• •Access and boundaries are the buyer's problem. The county states it is not responsible for determining property lines or boundaries and that access to the property is the responsibility of the buyer, which matters on remote acreage in this part of northern Minnesota.

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.

See the full Minnesotarules and every county →