Pondera County, MT tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Pondera County, MT tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Montana sells tax lien certificates at a fixed 10% a year. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Oct 6, 2026.
How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Pondera County, seat of Conrad: 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 tax deed sale
- Nothing is scheduled in advance.
- Format
- In person
- County office
- (406) 271-4015
On this page
How Pondera County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Pondera County Treasurer / Assessor and Superintendent of Schools
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Montana runs one statewide calendar and Pondera County adds one local blackout to it.
- Registration
- There is no bidder registration and no deposit, because there is no auction.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
There is no bidder registration and no deposit, because there is no auction. Mail the person to whom the property was assessed a notice of pending assignment by certified mail in the form set out at Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323(6), no earlier than August 15, at least two 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 treasurer's counter and pay the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs plus the county's assignment fee. Pondera County does not publish its assignment fee, its assignment forms or its policy for competing requests on the same parcel, so call the treasurer at (406) 271-4015 before mailing anything. The office handles no assignment work in November or May. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, excluding holidays.
Sale format and venue
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- County Treasurer
- Frequency
- As applied for. There is no deed sale calendar, and most parcels never reach an auction at all.
- Typical timing
- Nothing is scheduled in advance.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Bidders at a Montana tax deed auction do not pre-register, but three requirements bind at the auction itself. An entity must give the treasurer written proof that it is a domestic entity before the treasurer will accept its opening bid, 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, applied to the price on full payment, and the treasurer may ask bidders to show they can post it. Full payment of the purchase price plus the treasurer's auction costs is due within 24 hours of the sale, excluding weekends and legal holidays, and a bidder who misses it loses the parcel to the next highest bidder. Confirm the accepted payment methods with the county treasurer before the auction opens.
Sale format and venue
Pondera County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Pondera 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.
Confirm the advertised parcel list
Pondera County publishes no tax sale list online. The 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) 271-4015 to ask for the current advertisement.Register to bid
Ask the County Treasurer how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
Nothing is scheduled in advance. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the County Treasurer before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Pondera County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
There is no online list to price against. Pondera County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on (406) 271-4015 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.Confirm registration and deposit
Bidders at a Montana tax deed auction do not pre-register, but three requirements bind at the auction itself. An entity must give the treasurer written proof that it is a domestic entity before the treasurer will accept its opening bid, 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, applied to the price on full payment, and the treasurer may ask bidders to show they can post it. Full payment of the purchase price plus the treasurer's auction costs is due within 24 hours of the sale, excluding weekends and legal holidays, and a bidder who misses it loses the parcel to the next highest bidder. Confirm the accepted payment methods with the county treasurer before the auction opens.
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.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
unsold liens and deeds
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
County notes
- Pondera County publishes no online list of tax lien parcels and no delinquent-tax list. The list an investor can reach is the notice of pending attachment printed in the county's legal newspaper by the last Monday in June, plus the delinquent property records on file at the treasurer's office in the courthouse. The Pondera County Tax Search on the treasurer's page looks up one parcel at a time. Call the treasurer at (406) 271-4015 for the current list before mailing any notice of pending assignment.
- The treasurer's office does no assignment work in November or May. Real estate tax is due November 30 for the first half and May 31 for the second half; mobile home tax is due May 31 for the first half and November 30 for the second half; personal property tax is due June 30.
- The assignment fee, the forms the office wants and the policy for two investors who request the same parcel are set by the county and not published. Get all three from the treasurer at (406) 271-4015 before mailing a notice of pending assignment, which cannot be mailed before August 15.
- Pondera County posts no tax deed auction notices. Most Montana assignments never reach an auction: after the redemption period runs out the treasurer issues the deed to the assignee. The exception is a property with a dwelling occupied by the legal titleholder of record, which goes to a public auction the treasurer must hold within 60 days of the assignee's application, noticed by publication in the legal newspaper.
- The treasurer, assessor and superintendent of schools are one elected office at 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 211, on the main floor of the Pondera County Courthouse in Conrad, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm except holidays. Out-of-state investors should arrange payment and paperwork with the office by phone or mail in advance.
Montana rules
- 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.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does Pondera County, Montana sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Pondera County tax certificate sale?
How often does Pondera County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Verified Oct 6, 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 office that runs the sale before you bid.
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