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Tax Sale Atlas

Putnam County, MO tax sales

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Putnam County, seat of Unionville: 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
No online bidder registration serves this county.
County office
(660) 947-2095
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 22, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Putnam County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Putnam County Treasurer and Ex Officio Collector of Revenue
Frequency
annual
Registration
No online bidder registration serves this county.
Sale list
Missouri public notice search, filter by Putnam County
When it runs
Missouri holds the delinquent land tax certificate sale on the fourth Monday in August at 10:00 a.m. in or adjacent to the county courthouse, continuing day to day until every tract has been offered. Putnam County publishes no online sale calendar, so confirm the date, the start time and the room with the Collector at (660) 947-2095 before traveling to Unionville.
Registration and deposit

No online bidder registration serves this county. Register in person with the Treasurer and Ex Officio Collector of Revenue at the Putnam County Courthouse, 1601 Main St., Suite 200 in Unionville, ahead of the sale. Missouri requires every bidder to swear an affidavit that they owe no delinquent property tax anywhere in the state, and a bidder living outside Missouri must also file written consent to the jurisdiction of the Putnam County circuit court and appoint a county resident as agent for service of process, with the certificate issued to that agent. The winning bid is payable to the Collector at the close of the sale, so ask the office which payment forms it accepts and whether it sets a registration cutoff before sale day.

Sale format and venue
Plan on the Chapter 140 Jones-Munger certificate sale run by the Treasurer and Ex Officio Collector of Revenue, who holds both offices. No Chapter 141 land trust or court supervised process is published for Putnam County, and the Collector can confirm which track applies. Bidding is live at the courthouse in Unionville and no online auction platform serves this county, so do not plan on remote bidding. The delinquent land list reaches the public as a published newspaper legal notice rather than a county download, so call the Collector at (660) 947-2095 for the current list, the bidder affidavit and the payment terms. Putnam County is one of Missouri's smallest by population, so expect a short list and reconfirm that parcels remain on it before booking travel, because in a county this size a light year can see every delinquency paid before sale day.
Source: County Collector Directory, Missouri State Tax Commission· 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

Putnam County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Putnam 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

    Use Missouri public notice search, filter by Putnam County for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    No online bidder registration serves this county. 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 Putnam County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Missouri public notice search, filter by Putnam County. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    No online bidder registration serves this county. Register in person with the Treasurer and Ex Officio Collector of Revenue at the Putnam County Courthouse, 1601 Main St., Suite 200 in Unionville, ahead of the sale. Missouri requires every bidder to swear an affidavit that they owe no delinquent property tax anywhere in the state, and a bidder living outside Missouri must also file written consent to the jurisdiction of the Putnam County circuit court and appoint a county resident as agent for service of process, with the certificate issued to that agent. The winning bid is payable to the Collector at the close of the sale, so ask the office which payment forms it accepts and whether it sets a registration cutoff before sale day.

  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)

Putnam County Treasurer and Ex Officio Collector of Revenue

(660) 947-2095

Putnam County Courthouse, 1601 Main St., Suite 200, Unionville, MO 63565

County notes

  • The Collector's office sits inside the Putnam County Courthouse at 1601 Main St. in Unionville, Suite 200, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on legal holidays. One officeholder serves as both County Treasurer and Ex Officio Collector of Revenue, so a single office handles tax collection and the certificate paperwork.
  • Putnam County runs no county website and no online bidder portal, so the Collector's office is the only reliable channel for the parcel list, the bidder affidavit and the sale date. Reach it at (660) 947-2095, by fax at (660) 947-7774, or by email at [email protected]. The main courthouse line is (660) 947-2674.
  • The delinquent land list runs as a newspaper legal notice. The paper serving Unionville and Putnam County is the Unionville Republican, and Missouri Public Notices at mopublicnotices.com carries a statewide search of published notices that can be filtered by county and by tax sale.
  • Parcel due diligence starts with the Putnam County Assessor, which offers real estate and personal property search plus GIS mapping at putnam.missouriassessors.com and answers at (660) 947-3900.
  • Several other states also have a Putnam County, so confirm any tax sale notice you find under that name is a Missouri source before acting on it.

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 Putnam County, Missouri sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Putnam County follows Missouri's tax lien state system.

When is the Putnam County tax certificate sale?

Missouri holds the delinquent land tax certificate sale on the fourth Monday in August at 10:00 a.m. in or adjacent to the county courthouse, continuing day to day until every tract has been offered. Putnam County publishes no online sale calendar, so confirm the date, the start time and the room with the Collector at (660) 947-2095 before traveling to Unionville. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Collector before the sale.

How often does Putnam County hold tax deed sales?

Putnam 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.

Where can I find the Putnam County tax sale list?

Putnam County posts its tax sale list at mopublicnotices.com. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

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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