Carroll County, NH tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Carroll County, NH tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. New Hampshire cities and towns sell tax-foreclosed land the government already owns, so no statutory investor interest rate applies. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus city and town notices on Oct 6, 2026.
How tax deed sales work in Carroll County, seat of Ossipee: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how New Hampshire tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Set by each city or town
- Registration
- No advance registration.
- County seat collector
- 603-476-2347
On this page
How Carroll County sells delinquent taxes
No tax lien certificate sale
The town or city tax collector executes the real estate tax lien to the municipality itself (RSA 80:61), and only the municipality, the county or the state may acquire a tax lien on land and buildings (80:63). The one exception is 80:80 II-a: a town, by majority vote at its annual meeting, or a city council, may authorize its governing body to transfer its liens during the two-year redemption period by public auction or advertised sealed bids, with minimum bids and terms the governing body sets, singly or in combination but never as a fractional interest. The buyer becomes the lienholder, receives any redemption payment and takes the collector's deed if the lien is not redeemed. The authority lasts one year unless voted 'indefinitely, until rescinded' (80:80 IV). No statewide list shows which towns have voted it; it is uncommon, so treat any New Hampshire lien auction as a single town's own event.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Each town's Board of Selectmen (Select Board), after the town Tax Collector deeds unredeemed property to the town; Carroll County itself holds no sale
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No countywide calendar; each town sets its own date.
- Registration
- No advance registration.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
No advance registration. In Moultonborough's 2025 sale each parcel took its own bid form in a separate sealed envelope with a $350 deposit in cash or bank check, there was no minimum bid, abutters could match the high bid, and the buyer paid a $350 attorney and recording fee plus transfer tax. Wolfeboro's policy calls for a 10 percent deposit by certified or bank check, the balance within 30 days, and a quitclaim deed.
Sale format and venue
Carroll County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Carroll County tax sale 2026 searches, use the city and town sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the collector of the city or town holding the sale 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
Use Moultonborough 2025 offering packet (14-parcel list) as a starting reference. Check which sale or list it covers; a Lands Available or office information page is separate from an auction parcel list. Ask the sale office for the advertised parcels for the auction you plan to attend.Register to bid
Sale day
Each city or town picks its own platform or in-person venue. Confirm the date and registration window with that town’s collector before you bid.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, treat the collector of the city or town holding the sale as the source for which parcels are actually offered. Do not rely on a third-party list for final parcel status.
Before you bid in Carroll County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
Open Moultonborough 2025 offering packet (14-parcel list). Confirm whether this reference contains the auction parcels or covers a different list. Get the advertised parcel list from the town before you price a bid, and recheck it before the sale.Confirm registration and deposit
No advance registration. In Moultonborough's 2025 sale each parcel took its own bid form in a separate sealed envelope with a $350 deposit in cash or bank check, there was no minimum bid, abutters could match the high bid, and the buyer paid a $350 attorney and recording fee plus transfer tax. Wolfeboro's policy calls for a 10 percent deposit by certified or bank check, the balance within 30 days, and a quitclaim deed.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
Local offices
County notes
- Carroll County's towns are Albany, Bartlett, Brookfield, Chatham, Conway, Eaton, Effingham, Freedom, Hart's Location, Jackson, Madison, Moultonborough, Ossipee, Sandwich, Tamworth, Tuftonboro, Wakefield and Wolfeboro. Each town sells its own tax-deeded land on its own schedule.
- Ossipee (county seat): NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions lists an Ossipee town-owned property auction as upcoming, with the date and property list to follow on its upcoming auctions page. Earlier Ossipee auctions through the same firm ran on September 19, 2015, June 24, 2017, October 20, 2018 and December 4, 2021.
- Moultonborough: offered 14 tax-deeded parcels by sealed bid, opened at 2:00 p.m. on May 1, 2025 at the Select Board office, 6 Holland Street. The parcel list is in the offering packet on the town's Bids and Jobs page. Posted bids ranged from $7 to $61,500, and three parcels drew no bids.
- Moultonborough terms: no minimum bid, a separate sealed envelope and $350 deposit for each parcel, rights of first refusal at the high bid for abutters and some associations, and a $350 attorney and recording fee plus transfer tax on closing.
- Wolfeboro: a written selectmen's policy calls for tax-deeded sales in July or August, advertised in a local paper two consecutive weeks ahead. Terms are a 10 percent deposit by certified or bank check, the balance within 30 days, and a quitclaim deed. The town publishes no current parcel list online.
- Conway: the 2025 Annual Town Report carries a list of land and buildings acquired by Tax Collector's deed, 16 parcel entries with $701,300 in total assessed value. The town has held auctions run by NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions on October 15, 2022, June 3, 2023 and November 9, 2024. Town Clerk and Tax Collector: 603-447-3811 ext. 218.
- Madison: the town publishes no list of land for sale; call the Tax Collector at 603-367-9931 ext. 310 (PO Box 248, Madison, NH 03849).
- Wakefield: the 2025 Annual Town Report values town land acquired by tax collector's deed at $534,800 but gives no parcel list. The town held an auction through NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions on November 15, 2025. Tax Collector: (603) 522-6205 ext. 305, 2 High Street, Sanbornville.
- Sandwich: the town sells surplus property by sealed bid through its Bids and Requests for Proposals page, but no tax-deeded land or parcel list appears there.
- Bartlett: the Selectmen's Office has run tax-deeded property auctions, most recently one advertised for October 14, 2017. It publishes no current list.
- Tuftonboro: the town held an auction through NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions on September 20, 2025. Its 2025 Annual Town Report shows no list of tax-deeded parcels.
- Effingham held an auction through NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions on December 13, 2025, Albany on November 19, 2022, Eaton on November 14, 2020 and Tamworth on April 26, 2014. Brookfield, Chatham, Freedom, Hart's Location and Jackson publish no tax-deeded sale calendar or parcel list. Call the selectmen's office and watch local papers for sale notices.
New Hampshire rules
- Redemption
- Redemption is open until the collector's deed is given, which cannot happen before two years from the lien's execution and requires 30 days' prior notice to the owner and mortgagees. Partial payments are accepted and are refunded if the deed issues before full redemption. If the town refuses the tax deed, the right to redeem continues indefinitely with interest still running. Once the deed issues, redemption ends; the former owner keeps only the repurchase right of 80:89, which is not redemption and costs more.
- Deed deposit
- No statewide deposit rule; the governing body sets deposit, registration and payment terms under 80:80 II. Read the town's terms of sale.
- Surplus proceeds
- For land acquired by tax deed, the town may keep from the sale only its 'back taxes, interest, costs and penalty' (80:88 I), defined in 80:90 to include the unpaid taxes and interest, the taxes and interest that would have accrued while the town owned the land, statutory fees, the town's legal costs, its costs of owning and selling the land (insurance, maintenance, repairs, marketing), and a penalty equal to 10 percent of the assessed value at the date of the tax deed, adjusted by the equalization ratio. Any excess must be paid into the superior court for the county within 60 days of the buyer's settlement by a bill of interpleader naming the former owners and everyone with a recorded interest; the court divides it by ownership and lien interests at the time of the tax deed, and money no one validly claims goes to the town. Where there were no record lienholders and the owners are easily identified and located, the town pays them directly without a court filing. The town's duty to distribute proceeds, and the former owner's repurchase right, end three years after the tax deed is recorded (80:89 VII), so a sale made later than that owes nothing under 80:88. These sections were last amended in 2016, and no act of the 2023 through 2026 sessions changes them after Tyler v. Hennepin County (2023), so the three-year cutoff and the 10 percent penalty remain in the statute.
What the deed conveys: No action may contest the lien's execution or the collector's deed after 10 years from the deed's recording (80:78), so a title examiner will look closely at the notice steps within that period: without the mortgagee notices of 80:65 and 80:66, no collector's deed based on the lien is valid against the mortgagee. After the tax deed the town may treat the land as its own (80:91). The statute does not prescribe what warranties, if any, the town's deed carries; read each town's terms, and order a title search and budget for a possible quiet-title action. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Carroll County, New Hampshire sell tax liens or tax deeds?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Carroll County tax sale list?
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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