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Tax Sale Atlas

Lawrence County, MO tax sales

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Lawrence County, seat of Mount Vernon: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Missouri tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
There is no separate deed auction.
Format
In person
Registration
Bidding is in person at the courthouse and there is no online bidding.
County office
417-466-2410
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 22, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Lawrence County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Lawrence County Collector of Revenue
Frequency
annual
Registration
Bidding is in person at the courthouse and there is no online bidding.
When it runs
The Collector's office states that "The County Tax Sale occurs on the 4th Monday in August of every year." The county calendar sets the sale for Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. in the second floor courtroom of the Historic Courthouse, and the offering runs from day to day until every parcel has been offered.
Registration and deposit

Bidding is in person at the courthouse and there is no online bidding. Register with the Collector's office on the first floor of the Historic Courthouse ahead of the sale; the office is open 8:00 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. Monday through Friday and stays open through the lunch hour. Every bidder signs an affidavit that they are not delinquent on any other property tax, and a bidder who sends an agent needs an affidavit from that agent too. A buyer who is not a Missouri resident must appoint a Lawrence County citizen as agent for service of process and file a written consent to the jurisdiction of the county court, and the certificate of purchase then issues to that agent. The winning bidder pays the full bid to the Collector immediately. The office does not post a registration form or a cutoff date, so call 417-466-2410 for what to bring.

Sale format and venue
Lawrence County runs the Chapter 140 Jones-Munger certificate sale live at the Historic Courthouse in Mt. Vernon, with no online bidding and no auction platform. The Collector runs the delinquent real estate tax auction each year in August. Bidding opens at the delinquent taxes, interest, penalty and costs, and the parcel goes to the highest bidder, with no interest paid on the surplus above taxes and costs. The Collector does not post the eligible parcel list on its website, so request it from the office; the statutory notice runs in a local newspaper ahead of the sale, and lower value parcels can appear on an abbreviated list without legal descriptions or owner names, so the published notice is not always the full offering. The Collector publishes the Missouri State Tax Commission's Chapter 140 Tax Sale Procedure Manual as the office's procedure reference. An older sale notice page on the Collector's website still shows a past sale year and names a different courthouse city, so take the date, time and room from the county calendar and confirm with the office before travelling.
Source: Annual Tax Sale Calendar and Offices Directory, Lawrence County Missouri· Verified Aug 22, 2026

Tax deed sale

Run by
County Collector
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
There is no separate deed auction.
When it runs
There is no separate deed auction. Deeds come out of the same August sale once a parcel has cycled past the third offering, and unsold post third offering parcels are re-offered at least once every 30 days. A purchaser at a post third offering sale takes an immediate collector's deed with no redemption period.
Sale format and venue
A first or second offering buyer holds a certificate and must wait out the one year redemption period, obtain a title search, serve the 90 day notice of the right to redeem on the owner and every recorded claimant by both first class and certified mail, file the affidavit with the collector, pay all subsequent taxes and the recording fee, and get the deed executed and recorded within 18 months of the sale. Miss the 18 months and the amount due the purchaser stops being a lien. A third offering buyer follows a shorter version, with a 90 day redemption period and notice to recorded claimants within 45 days of the sale. Counties that have elected the Land Tax Collection Law in Chapter 141 pull those parcels out of the collector's offering lists entirely and foreclose in court, and the sheriff sells them there, so confirm which chapter this county runs.
Source: Missouri Revised Statutes 140.405 - Purchaser of property at delinquent land tax auction, deed issued to, when, notice of right of redemptionMo. Rev. Stat. 140.405· Verified Aug 18, 2026

Lawrence County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Lawrence 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    A county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the office and platform details on this page before relying on a copied list.

  2. Register to bid

    Bidding is in person at the courthouse and there is no online bidding. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    There is no separate deed auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use County Collector as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Lawrence County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    The county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the county office contacts below and confirm the advertised parcels directly before you price a bid.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Bidding is in person at the courthouse and there is no online bidding. Register with the Collector's office on the first floor of the Historic Courthouse ahead of the sale; the office is open 8:00 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. Monday through Friday and stays open through the lunch hour. Every bidder signs an affidavit that they are not delinquent on any other property tax, and a bidder who sends an agent needs an affidavit from that agent too. A buyer who is not a Missouri resident must appoint a Lawrence County citizen as agent for service of process and file a written consent to the jurisdiction of the county court, and the certificate of purchase then issues to that agent. The winning bidder pays the full bid to the Collector immediately. The office does not post a registration form or a cutoff date, so call 417-466-2410 for what to bring.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Missouri due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  4. 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

Missouri publishes no standing over the counter certificate list. The equivalent route is the post third offering sale. Parcels that draw no buyer at a third offering must be advertised or offered again once every 30 days, and where the county's appointed trustee declines to take a parcel the collector may sell it at any time and for any amount. A buyer at any of these sales gets an immediate collector's deed, no redemption period, and must first pay every tax that fell due after the taxes named in the advertisement. Parcels the trustee did take are held for the taxing funds and sold on order of the county commission. Ask the collector for the current post third offering list and its bidding terms, because the format varies by county.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Lawrence County Collector of Revenue

417-466-2410

Lawrence County Courthouse, 1st Floor, 1 Courthouse Square, P.O. Box 29, Mt. Vernon, MO 65712

Official website

County notes

  • The sale is held in the second floor courtroom of the Historic Courthouse at 1 Courthouse Square in Mt. Vernon, not in the Collector's first floor office.
  • The Collector's office is on the first floor of the Historic Courthouse and is open 8:00 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. Monday through Friday, staying open through the lunch hour. Most other county offices close at 4 p.m.
  • Bidding is limited to Missouri residents unless a buyer appoints a Lawrence County citizen as agent, in which case the certificate of purchase issues to the agent, who then conveys the property on.
  • The Collector's website carries a real estate tax search for looking up parcels and printing receipts and statements, which is the fastest way to see what a listed parcel owes before sale day.
  • The Collector publishes the Missouri State Tax Commission's Chapter 140 Tax Sale Procedure Manual, covering first, second and third offerings, certificates of purchase, collector's deeds and redemption.
  • Lawrence County operates under Chapter 140, the collector's certificate sale, not the Chapter 141 court supervised process used in the City of St. Louis and first class charter counties, so there is no land trust or land reutilization authority holding unsold parcels here.

Missouri rules

Max interest rate
10% per year, set by statute (bidding is on price)
Minimum return
No statutory minimum return; what you earn is set by the price at the sale
Redemption
After a first or second offering sale, the owner and other interested parties hold an absolute right to redeem for one year, then a defeasible right that lasts until the purchaser actually acquires the deed. A purchaser must serve the 90 day notice of the right to redeem before the date on which the deed can be acquired, so the practical window usually runs past the one year mark. After a third offering sale, redemption runs 90 days, and the purchaser must give notice to recorded claimants within 45 days of the sale. After a post third offering sale, there is no redemption period and the deed issues immediately. Minors and incapacitated or disabled persons have a longer right, running five years from the last payment of taxes by that person or a predecessor. The right also ends if the certificate lapses because the purchaser failed to record the deed within 18 months.
Deed deposit
The winning bidder must pay the full amount of the bid to the collector immediately at the sale. Chapter 140 sets no advance bidder deposit and no balance due window. A bidder who fails to pay forfeits a penalty of 25 percent of the bid to the county school fund and the parcel is offered again at once as though no sale had been made. Counties running an online or registered sale may impose their own deposit and registration terms on top of the statute, so confirm them with the collector.
Surplus proceeds
Any amount above the taxes and costs is surplus. The collector pays it into the county treasury, where the treasurer holds it in trust for the lesser of three years or 90 days after the redemption period expires. It is distributed first to the former lienholders of record in the priority their liens held on the date of the sale, then to the former owner. No distribution other than through the redemption process may occur until 90 days after the redemption period ends, and a claimant must file a written claim with the county commission within those 90 days, referencing the recorded lien it rests on. The county pays no interest on the fund. Anything still unclaimed at three years becomes the permanent school fund of the county.
Governing statute
Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 140

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 Missourirules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Lawrence County, Missouri sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Lawrence County follows Missouri's tax lien state system.

When is the Lawrence County tax certificate sale?

The Collector's office states that "The County Tax Sale occurs on the 4th Monday in August of every year." The county calendar sets the sale for Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. in the second floor courtroom of the Historic Courthouse, and the offering runs from day to day until every parcel has been offered. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Collector before the sale.

How often does Lawrence County hold tax deed sales?

Lawrence County holds its tax deed sale once a year. There is no separate deed auction. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Missouri's redemption rule: 1 year from a first or second offering sale, 90 days from a third offering sale, and none after a post third offering sale. Call the County Collector as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Verified Aug 22, 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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Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.

Missouri tax salesDue diligence guide
Call Lawrence County Collector of Revenue