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Tax Sale Atlas

Ravalli County, MT tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Ravalli 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 Ravalli County, seat of Hamilton: 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
Nothing is scheduled in advance.
Format
In person
County office
406-375-6600
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

County Treasurer. 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.. As applied for. There is no deed sale calendar, and most parcels never reach an auction at all.

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 2026-09-10)

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

Link to this detail

How Ravalli 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
Ravalli County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Ravalli County holds no tax lien auction, so there is no sale date.
Registration
There is no bidder registration, no deposit and no bidding, because there is no auction.
When it runs
Ravalli County holds no tax lien auction, so there is no sale date. It follows the statewide assignment calendar instead. The Treasurer must "publish or post a notice of a pending attachment of a tax lien" that is "first published or posted on or before the last Monday in June," and must "attach a tax lien no later than the first working day in August" on properties whose taxes are delinquent. An investor's notice of pending assignment "must have been mailed at least 2 weeks prior to the date of the payment but not earlier than August 15 and not more than 60 days prior to purchasing the assignment," which puts the earliest possible assignment purchase at roughly August 29. After that, the Treasurer can assign the county's lien at any point while it stays unredeemed.
Registration and deposit

There is no bidder registration, no deposit and no bidding, because there is no auction. To take an assignment, first mail the statutory notice of pending assignment by certified mail to the person the property was assessed to, no earlier than August 15 and at least two weeks before you intend to pay. Then bring proof of that mailing to the Treasurer's counter at 215 South 4th Street, Suite H in Hamilton and pay the full delinquent taxes plus penalties, interest and costs. The Treasurer issues an assignment certificate in the statutory form and mails a copy to the assessed owner. Where more than one investor seeks the same lien, state law directs the Treasurer to apply a written county assignment policy developed with the clerk and recorder and the county attorney. Ravalli County does not publish that policy or its assignment fee, so call the property tax line at 406-375-6600 to confirm both, along with the current payoff amount, before you prepare notices.

Sale format and venue
Montana assigns tax liens, it does not auction them. Once the lien attaches, Ravalli County itself is the possessor, and the Treasurer assigns it to an investor who serves the required notice and pays the delinquency in full. Nothing is bid: there is no premium, no bid-down interest rate and no online platform. Ravalli County publishes no online delinquent tax list and no sale list of any kind. State law keeps that list on file in the Treasurer's office, open to public inspection, and the county's June notice of pending attachment points readers there rather than to a web page. The county's online property tax portal answers one parcel at a time and does not produce a list, so plan on an in person or telephone request for delinquent parcels. Ravalli County also posts no tax deed auction notices. Montana requires a treasurer's public auction only in the narrow case where the parcel holds a dwelling the legal titleholder still occupies, scheduled parcel by parcel on an assignee's application rather than on any annual calendar.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. 15-17-323, Assignment of Rights and Form· 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
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
Nothing is scheduled in advance. Once the redemption period runs out, 3 years after attachment or 2 years for an unimproved subdivided lot with delinquent improvement district assessments, the path forks on what is standing on the parcel. Ordinary property is deeded straight to the assignee under Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-211 for a 25 dollar deed fee plus the county's notice costs, with no auction and no bidders. Property with a dwelling currently occupied by the legal titleholder of record goes to a public auction instead: the assignee files a tax deed application with the treasurer after the redemption period expires, and the treasurer must hold the auction in the county within 60 days of receiving it. The treasurer publishes the auction notice with the date, time, location, legal description, deposit requirement and minimum opening bid. The auction runs during the treasurer's regular office hours and may be conducted electronically.
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
The opening bid is the amount needed to redeem the lien, plus everything the assignee paid on application, plus the tax deed and recording fees, plus an amount equal to half the most recent assessed value of the land and of the dwelling. An independent appraisal meeting Montana Board of Real Estate Appraisers standards and conducted within 6 months may stand in for the assessed value. The treasurer may not take a bid below that figure. The half-value component, and anything bid above the opening bid, is surplus: the treasurer repays the assignee first where someone else buys, then pays the surplus to the legal titleholder of record within 30 days. If nobody bids, or no bidder pays, or the assignee wins and fails to pay inside the 24 hours, the treasurer cancels the assignment and files a notice of cancellation, and the investor loses the lien position entirely. The owner may redeem right up to the day of the auction.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. 15-18-220 - Sale at public auction, notice of auction, cancellation of assignment for unsuccessful auction, foreign entity prohibitionMont. Code Ann. 15-18-220· Verified Sep 10, 2026

Ravalli County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Ravalli 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

    Ravalli 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 406-375-6600 to ask for the current advertisement.

  2. Register to bid

    Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.

  3. 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 office before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

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

Before you bid in Ravalli County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    There is no online list to price against. Ravalli County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on 406-375-6600 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.

  2. 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.

  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)

Ravalli County Treasurer's Office

406-375-6600

215 South 4th Street, Suite H, Hamilton, MT 59840

Official website

County notes

  • Ravalli County seats its Treasurer in Hamilton at 215 South 4th Street, Suite H. Property tax questions go to 406-375-6600, motor vehicle to 406-375-6585, and the office is open Monday through Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with a training closure from 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month.
  • No parcel list is published online. The list of properties with delinquent taxes sits in the Treasurer's office and is open to inspection, which is where the county's late June notice of pending attachment directs buyers. Request it in person or by phone.
  • The assignment fee and the Treasurer's method of allocating a lien when two or more investors want the same parcel are not posted by Ravalli County. Montana fees vary by county, so confirm the amount and the allocation rule before the August 15 notice window opens.
  • The Treasurer lists the 2025 second half real property tax deadline as 5:00 p.m. on May 31, 2026, and the 2026 first half mobile home deadline as 5:00 p.m. on June 15, 2026. Missed payments feed the lien that attaches by the first working day in August.
  • Online card payments to the county carry a 2.15 percent plus $1.25 transaction fee, and the Treasurer states that online payments cannot be refunded. Pay an assignment at the counter rather than through the payment portal.
  • A Ravalli County sheriff's sale is a mortgage foreclosure run by the Sheriff's Office and has nothing to do with delinquent property taxes. Do not treat it as a tax sale.

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 Ravalli County, Montana sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Ravalli County follows Montana's tax lien state system.

When is the Ravalli County tax certificate sale?

Ravalli County holds no tax lien auction, so there is no sale date. It follows the statewide assignment calendar instead. The Treasurer must "publish or post a notice of a pending attachment of a tax lien" that is "first published or posted on or before the last Monday in June," and must "attach a tax lien no later than the first working day in August" on properties whose taxes are delinquent. An investor's notice of pending assignment "must have been mailed at least 2 weeks prior to the date of the payment but not earlier than August 15 and not more than 60 days prior to purchasing the assignment," which puts the earliest possible assignment purchase at roughly August 29. After that, the Treasurer can assign the county's lien at any point while it stays unredeemed. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Ravalli County hold tax deed sales?

Ravalli County holds its tax deed sale As applied for. There is no deed sale calendar, and most parcels never reach an auction at all. Nothing is scheduled in advance. 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 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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Call Ravalli County Treasurer's Office