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Tax Sale Atlas

Hill County, MT tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Hill 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 state rules plus what the county publishes on Sep 11, 2026.

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Hill County, seat of Havre: 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.

Next sale
Liens attach in early August and there is no sale day.
Format
In person
Registration
Bidders do not pre-register, but three rules bind at the auction itself.
County office
(406) 265-5481
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

Hill County Treasurer. In person. annual

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

Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220, Sale at public auction, notice of auction, cancellation of assignment for unsuccessful auction, foreign entity prohibition (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 Hill County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Hill County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Liens attach in early August and there is no sale day.
Registration
There is no bidder registration, no deposit and no auction to register for.
When it runs
Liens attach in early August and there is no sale day. The treasurer's office posts the notice in capital letters: "ALL REAL PROPERTY THAT IS DELINQUENT ON AUGUST 1, 2026 A TAX LIEN WILL BE ATTACHED." From that moment the county holds the lien and it stays available for assignment until someone takes it or the owner redeems. A buyer's own notice of pending assignment cannot be mailed before August 15, has to go out at least 2 weeks before payment and no more than 60 days before the purchase, so the earliest a Hill County lien changes hands is around the end of August. Hill County publishes no assignment day, no ranked list cutoff and no seasonal deadline of its own, so confirm the current year's schedule with the treasurer before mailing notices.
Registration and deposit

There is no bidder registration, no deposit and no auction to register for. Mail the person to whom the property was assessed a notice of pending assignment by certified mail, in the form set out in Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323(6), no earlier than August 15, at least 2 weeks before you pay and no more than 60 days before the purchase. Then bring the certified mailing receipt and a copy of the notice to the Hill County Treasurer at 315 4th Street in Havre and pay the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs plus the county's assignment fee. Hill County does not publish its assignment fee, its assignment form or its policy for two buyers who want the same parcel, so call (406) 265-5481 first and ask for all three.

Sale format and venue
Hill County runs no tax lien auction and there is nothing to bid on. The lien attaches to the county itself, and the treasurer's notice tells owners that the attachment lets a third party purchase the lien from the county, while warning that buying the lien does not make the purchaser the owner and that the tax deed laws still have to be followed. The only way in is an assignment under Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323, where the price is the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs plus the county's fee and every assignee earns the same statutory rate, so nothing is bid up and nothing is bid down. On the parcel list: Hill County publishes no delinquent or liened parcel list on its website. The county's online tax portal answers one parcel at a time by parcel number, owner name or address and does not produce a list, so the list has to be requested from the treasurer's office at the courthouse. A Montana sheriff's sale or foreclosure sale notice is a mortgage foreclosure and has nothing to do with this process. In person at the Hill County Treasurer's counter in the courthouse at 315 4th Street, Havre. Montana holds no tax lien auction, so there is no online bidding platform, no bidder portal and no vendor to sign up with.
Source: Hill County Treasurer, official department page with the pending tax lien notice and office contacts· Verified Sep 11, 2026

Tax deed sale

In person
Run by
Hill County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Registration
Bidders do not pre-register, but three rules bind at the auction itself.
When it runs
Nothing is scheduled in advance and Hill County publishes no tax deed calendar, because a deed follows an individual assignee's application rather than a recurring county event. Once the redemption period runs out the path forks on what is standing on the parcel. Ordinary property is deeded straight to the assignee with no auction and no bidders. Property with a dwelling occupied by the legal titleholder of record goes to a public auction instead, and the treasurer must hold that auction in the county within 60 days of receiving the application, with the date, time, location, legal description, deposit requirement and minimum opening bid published in the auction notice.
Registration and deposit

Bidders do not pre-register, but three rules bind at the auction itself. An entity must give the treasurer written proof that it is a domestic entity before its opening bid is accepted, and a foreign entity may not buy at all. The high bidder posts a nonrefundable deposit at the time of sale of 5 percent of the bid or 200 dollars, whichever is greater. Full payment is due within 24 hours of the sale, excluding weekends and legal holidays. Confirm accepted payment methods with the Hill County Treasurer at (406) 265-5481 before the auction opens.

Sale format and venue
These deed rules are the statewide Montana procedure. Hill County has not published its own tax deed auction page, notice archive or bidder instructions, so the auction notice for a specific parcel comes from the treasurer's published notice rather than from a standing county web page. Ask the treasurer's office what is pending before planning around a deed auction. In person at the Hill County Treasurer's office in the courthouse at 315 4th Street, Havre. Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220(6) allows a Montana county to conduct the auction electronically but does not require it, and Hill County names no online platform.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220, Sale at public auction, notice of auction, cancellation of assignment for unsuccessful auction, foreign entity prohibition· Verified Sep 11, 2026

Hill County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Hill 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

    Hill County publishes no tax sale list online. The Hill County Treasurer 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) 265-5481 to ask for the current advertisement.

  2. Register to bid

    Bidders do not pre-register, but three rules bind at the auction itself. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    Liens attach in early August and there is no 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 Hill County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Hill County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    There is no online list to price against. Hill County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on (406) 265-5481 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Bidders do not pre-register, but three rules bind at the auction itself. An entity must give the treasurer written proof that it is a domestic entity before its opening bid is accepted, and a foreign entity may not buy at all. The high bidder posts a nonrefundable deposit at the time of sale of 5 percent of the bid or 200 dollars, whichever is greater. Full payment is due within 24 hours of the sale, excluding weekends and legal holidays. Confirm accepted payment methods with the Hill County Treasurer at (406) 265-5481 before the auction opens.

  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)

Hill County Treasurer

(406) 265-5481

Hill County Courthouse, 315 4th Street, Havre, MT 59501

Official website

County notes

  • There is no tax lien auction in Hill County and no bidding method to learn. The lien attaches to the county in early August, and a private buyer acquires it only by assignment from the Hill County Treasurer under Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323.
  • About the parcel list: Hill County publishes no delinquent or liened parcel list on its website, and the county's online tax lookup answers one parcel at a time by parcel number, owner name or address rather than producing a list. Call the Hill County Treasurer at (406) 265-5481 and ask for the current delinquent list before planning any assignment purchases.
  • Hill County does not publish an assignment fee, an assignment form or a written policy for competing buyers. Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323(1)(b) requires every Montana treasurer to have such a policy, developed with the county clerk and recorder and the county attorney, so ask the Hill County Treasurer for the version in force this year and for the fee per parcel before you mail any notice of pending assignment.
  • The office is listed as Treasurer and Assessor and also handles motor vehicle titling and registration, so ask for the property tax side when you call. Treasurer Sandy Brown is at (406) 265-5481 extension 2338, and the deputy handling property tax questions is at extension 2341.

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 Hill County, Montana sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Hill County follows Montana's tax lien state system.

When is the Hill County tax certificate sale?

Liens attach in early August and there is no sale day. The treasurer's office posts the notice in capital letters: "ALL REAL PROPERTY THAT IS DELINQUENT ON AUGUST 1, 2026 A TAX LIEN WILL BE ATTACHED." From that moment the county holds the lien and it stays available for assignment until someone takes it or the owner redeems. A buyer's own notice of pending assignment cannot be mailed before August 15, has to go out at least 2 weeks before payment and no more than 60 days before the purchase, so the earliest a Hill County lien changes hands is around the end of August. Hill County publishes no assignment day, no ranked list cutoff and no seasonal deadline of its own, so confirm the current year's schedule with the treasurer before mailing notices. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Hill County hold tax deed sales?

Hill 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 Hill County Treasurer 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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