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Tax Sale Atlas

Blaine County, MT tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Blaine County, MT tax sale, one of 2,862 counties in 36 states. Montana sells tax lien certificates paying up to 10%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Sep 11, 2026.

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

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

Format
In person
Registration
No registration and no bidding.
County office
(406) 357-3280
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Sep 11, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page
Look up a sale detail

Blaine County Treasurer's Office. In person at the county treasurer's office during regular office hours. Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220(6) permits a county to conduct the auction electronically but does not require it, and there is no statewide platform.. annual

Record quality: high. Last verified: 2026-09-11.

Delinquent Taxes, Tax Liens, Assignments and Tax Deeds, Blaine County Treasurer (source accessed 2026-09-11)

Recorded reference information. Verify current sale conditions with the county. Read the full sale details.

Link to this detail

How Blaine County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person at the county treasurer's counter, or by mail or email where the county allows it. Montana holds no tax lien auction, so there is no online bidding platform, no registration portal and no vendor to sign up with.
Run by
Blaine County Treasurer's Office
Frequency
annual
When it runs
The Treasurer attaches a tax lien to every real estate parcel with delinquent taxes on the first working day of August, and the county's guidance states those liens are "then open to anyone to purchase as an Assignment." The August calendar is strict: a Notice of Pending Assignment cannot be mailed earlier than August 15, must be mailed at least two weeks before the payment date, and must be no more than 60 days old when the assignment is purchased. Taxes still unpaid after August 31 are open to an outside assignee. An investor who already holds an assignment can pay the subsequent year's delinquent taxes between June 1 and July 31, before the next lien attaches, and June 21 for parcels in the Property Tax Assistance Program.
Registration and deposit

There is no bidder registration, no deposit and no bidder number, because there is no auction. To take an assignment, mail a Notice of Pending Assignment by certified mail to the person the property was assessed to, observing the August 15 earliest-mailing date and the two-week minimum before payment, then bring proof of mailing to the Treasurer and pay the delinquent taxes, penalty, interest and costs plus a $25 assignment fee. A certified mailing receipt missing either an address or a postmark is not accepted as proof. The Treasurer mails back a receipt and a Certificate of Assignment.

Sale format and venue
Montana holds no tax lien auction, so there is no bid-down of the interest rate, no premium bidding and no online platform. The lien attaches to Blaine County itself, and a private investor acquires it only by assignment from the Treasurer under Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323 at the full delinquent amount plus a $25 assignment fee. The county's published guidance describes liened parcels as open to anyone who completes the notice and payment steps and sets out no lottery or ranked waiting list, so ask the Treasurer how competing requests for the same parcel are handled. Blaine County posts no list of liened parcels online: the list of all parcels with liens is kept for inspection at the Treasurer's office in the courthouse, and staff will email the list free of charge or print it for $0.25 per page, so call or email the office to get it. Before liens attach, the county runs a notice in the Blaine County Journal after the second half of taxes goes delinquent and mails a pending tax lien notice to each delinquent taxpayer two weeks before the first working day in August. Redemption runs 3 years from attachment of the oldest tax lien where the parcel has a habitable dwelling or commercial structure, and 2 years where it has neither.
Source: Delinquent Taxes, Tax Liens, Assignments and Tax Deeds, Blaine County Treasurer· Verified Sep 11, 2026

Tax deed sale

In person at the county treasurer's office during regular office hours. Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220(6) permits a county to conduct the auction electronically but does not require it, and there is no statewide platform.
Run by
Blaine County Treasurer's Office
Frequency
annual
Registration
No registration and no bidding.
When it runs
The Treasurer issues tax deeds after the first working day of August, once the redemption period has run: 3 years from attachment of the oldest tax lien where the parcel has a habitable dwelling or commercial structure, and 2 years where it has neither.
Registration and deposit

No registration and no bidding. Only the investor already holding the assignment may apply for the deed, by completing the notice, publication and filing steps and paying the $25 tax deed fee plus a minimum of $20 for recording.

Sale format and venue
Blaine County holds no tax deed auction and no public sale of tax deed property, so there is no deed sale list to watch. A deed goes only to the investor holding the assignment, and only after the redemption period expires unredeemed. The assignee must obtain a litigation guarantee from a title company, send a Notice That a Tax Deed May Be Issued by certified mail with return receipt to each interested party identified in the title report, publish that notice in the local newspaper once a week for two weeks, submit proof and all paid receipts to the Treasurer, and file proof of notice with the Clerk and Recorder within 30 days of mailing and publishing. The county recommends legal counsel before starting the deed process.
Source: Delinquent Taxes, Tax Liens, Assignments and Tax Deeds, Blaine County Treasurer· Verified Sep 11, 2026

Blaine County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Blaine 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. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Blaine County publishes no tax sale list online. The Blaine County Treasurer's Office advertises the parcels ahead of the sale rather than posting them, so the list reaches bidders through the county legal newspaper and the office itself. Call (406) 357-3280 to ask for the current advertisement.

  2. Register to bid

    No registration and no bidding. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    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 Blaine County Treasurer's Office as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Blaine County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    There is no online list to price against. Blaine County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on (406) 357-3280 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    No registration and no bidding. Only the investor already holding the assignment may apply for the deed, by completing the notice, publication and filing steps and paying the $25 tax deed fee plus a minimum of $20 for recording.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Montana due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Montana before you price the title work.

  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

Every Montana tax lien is effectively over the counter, because assignment is the only way one is ever acquired. The county holds each lien from the day it attaches, and the treasurer must assign it to any person who mails the assessed owner the statutory notice and pays the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs plus the county's assignment fee. After the late August allocation step, whatever is left sits with the treasurer and can be assigned on demand for the rest of the year, subject to the same notice rules: not earlier than August 15, mailed at least 2 weeks before payment and no more than 60 days before it. Older tax years are assignable the same way. Separately, land the county itself took by tax deed is sold at a public auction the county commissioners must order within 6 months of acquiring title, at a price the board fixes in advance, with the list of lands and the time and place published by the county clerk. That county land auction is not a tax lien or tax deed sale and the delinquent taxpayer may repurchase up to 24 hours before the first offering.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Montana calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Blaine County Treasurer's Office

(406) 357-3280

Blaine County Courthouse, 420 Ohio St, PO Box 547, Chinook, MT 59523

Official website

County notes

  • Blaine County runs no tax lien auction. The Treasurer assigns the county's lien to a purchaser who completes the statutory notice and pays the delinquent amount in full, so there is no bid-down of interest and no premium bidding.
  • The August calendar controls everything. The Notice of Pending Assignment cannot be mailed before August 15, must be mailed at least two weeks before you pay, and must be no more than 60 days old when you buy the assignment.
  • Budget a $25 assignment fee on top of delinquent taxes, penalty, interest and costs, plus certified mail costs on the notice. A certified mailing receipt missing either an address or a postmark will be rejected as proof.
  • No list of liened parcels is posted online. Request the list from the Treasurer's office, which emails it at no charge or prints it for $0.25 per page.
  • Redemption is 3 years on parcels with a habitable dwelling or commercial structure and 2 years on parcels with neither, measured from attachment of the oldest tax lien. The tax deed fee is $25 plus a minimum of $20 for recording.

Montana rules

Max interest rate
10% per year, fixed by statute (nothing is bid)
Minimum return
No statutory floor; every certificate earns the same statutory rate
Redemption
The clock runs from attachment of the tax lien, which happens no later than the first working day in August, and it ends on the first working day in August of the third year after that. Redemption stays open for the whole period and the assignee cannot shorten it. On the residential auction track the right to redeem runs further still: the statutory notice tells the parties that a tax deed will be auctioned unless the lien is redeemed before the date of the auction, and 15-18-112(4) lets a particular tax year be redeemed until a deed has issued under 15-18-211 or 15-18-220. Interest and costs keep accruing until the day of redemption, and the county treasurer, not the assignee, calculates the payoff as of the date of payment. A redemption before the lien is assigned goes to the county; after assignment the treasurer pays the assignee.
Deed deposit
The high bidder posts a nonrefundable deposit with the county treasurer at the time of sale of 5 percent of the bid or 200 dollars, whichever is greater, and the deposit is applied to the sale price on full payment. Notice of the deposit requirement must be posted at the auction site, and the treasurer may require bidders to show they can post it. The treasurer may refuse to recognize a bid from someone who previously bid and then refused to honor the bid.
Surplus proceeds
Montana pays the owner's equity out rather than letting it be forfeited. The portion of the opening bid equal to half the most recent assessed value of the land and of the dwelling is treated as surplus funds, and so is anything a winning bid adds above the opening bid. Where the deed is bought by someone other than the assignee, the treasurer first repays the assignee the amount paid for the assignment, including delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs, plus everything paid on the tax deed application under 15-18-219(2). The treasurer then distributes the surplus to the legal titleholder of record within 30 days of receiving payment from the purchaser, whether or not the titleholder lives in Montana. On the ordinary non-auction track there is no sale, no bidding and no surplus: the assignee receives the deed itself.
Governing statute
Mont. Code Ann. Title 15, ch. 17

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 Montanarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Blaine County, Montana sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Blaine County follows Montana's tax lien state system.

When is the Blaine County tax certificate sale?

The Treasurer attaches a tax lien to every real estate parcel with delinquent taxes on the first working day of August, and the county's guidance states those liens are "then open to anyone to purchase as an Assignment." The August calendar is strict: a Notice of Pending Assignment cannot be mailed earlier than August 15, must be mailed at least two weeks before the payment date, and must be no more than 60 days old when the assignment is purchased. Taxes still unpaid after August 31 are open to an outside assignee. An investor who already holds an assignment can pay the subsequent year's delinquent taxes between June 1 and July 31, before the next lien attaches, and June 21 for parcels in the Property Tax Assistance Program. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Blaine County hold tax deed sales?

Blaine County holds its tax deed sale once a year. 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. Montana's redemption rule: 3 years from attachment of the tax lien, ending on the first working day in August; 2 years for a subdivided residential or commercial lot with delinquent improvement district assessments and no habitable dwelling or commercial structure. Call the Blaine County Treasurer's Office 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 Sep 11, 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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Call Blaine County Treasurer's Office