Cheshire County, NH tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Cheshire 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 Cheshire County, seat of Keene: 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
- County seat collector
- (603) 357-9801
On this page
How Cheshire 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 The authority lasts one year unless voted 'indefinitely, until rescinded' (80:80 IV).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 and the City of Keene. The tax collector deeds unredeemed land to the town, and the selectboard or city council sells it by public auction or advertised sealed bids (RSA 80:80).
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No countywide schedule; each town sets its own date.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
For town auctions run by NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions, register on site before the auction with a $1,000 deposit in cash, personal check or certified check payable to Sager & Smith, PLLC Trust Account. Winning bidders sign a Memorandum of Sale and pay at least 10 percent of the price at the auction, plus a 10 percent buyer's premium, and close within 30 days. Registration usually opens at 10 AM and bidding starts at 11 AM. Ask the auctioneer at (603) 301-0185 about absentee or webcast bidding.
Sale format and venue
Cheshire County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Cheshire 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 Upcoming town auctions, NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions (Alstead parcel list to follow) 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
Ask the collector of the city or town holding the sale how and when to register; many close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
Bidding runs on Online; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.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 Cheshire County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
Open Upcoming town auctions, NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions (Alstead parcel list to follow). 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
For town auctions run by NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions, register on site before the auction with a $1,000 deposit in cash, personal check or certified check payable to Sager & Smith, PLLC Trust Account. Winning bidders sign a Memorandum of Sale and pay at least 10 percent of the price at the auction, plus a 10 percent buyer's premium, and close within 30 days. Registration usually opens at 10 AM and bidding starts at 11 AM. Ask the auctioneer at (603) 301-0185 about absentee or webcast bidding.
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
- Cheshire County government holds no tax sales. Each town and the City of Keene takes tax-deeded land and sells it on its own schedule, by public auction or advertised sealed bids.
- Alstead: 8 town-owned properties go to auction on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at the Alstead Fire Department/Town Hall, 9 Main Street, run by NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions. Registration starts at 10 AM and the auction at 11 AM. The parcel list will appear on the auctioneer's upcoming auctions page. Town Clerk/Tax Collector: P.O. Box 65, Alstead, NH 03602, (603) 835-2242.
- Westmoreland: four vacant town-owned parcels went to absolute auction, with no minimum bid, on August 8, 2026 at Westmoreland Town Hall, 780 Route 63. The parcel list appears on the auctioneer's Westmoreland auction page. Tax Collector: PO Box 112, Westmoreland, NH 03467, (603) 399-7211.
- Gilsum: 13 town-owned land parcels, many along the Ashuelot River, went to absolute auction on June 14, 2025 at the Gilsum Community Center, 640 Route 10. The parcel list appears on the auctioneer's Gilsum auction page.
- Stoddard: land the town took by tax deed, including a cabin lot near Hidden Lake, went to auction on December 14, 2024 at Stoddard Town Hall. The parcel list appears on the auctioneer's Stoddard auction page. Town Clerk/Tax Collector: PO Box 373, Stoddard, NH 03464, 603-446-3326 ext. 1.
- Hinsdale: the Tax Collector's page lists results from the town's last property auction, with five parcels selling for $21,000 to $130,000. No current list is posted, so watch the town newsletter for the next auction. Tax Collector: PO Box 52, Hinsdale, NH 03451, 603-336-5712.
- Fitzwilliam: a lien not redeemed within 2 years of the lien date is deeded to the town. The town posts no sale date or list; call the Selectmen's office at 603-585-7723.
- Keene: the City Council sells city-owned real property under Council Policy CP-LAND-007.1. The city posts no tax-deeded property sale or list; call Revenue Collection, City Hall, 3 Washington St., (603) 357-9801.
- Swanzey, Jaffrey, Rindge, Winchester, Marlborough, Walpole, Chesterfield and the county's other towns post no tax-deeded property sale or list online. Call the town tax collector or selectboard office, and watch Keene-area newspaper legal notices.
- Auctions run by NH Tax Deed & Property Auctions require a $1,000 registration deposit and charge a 10 percent buyer's premium. Winners pay at least 10 percent of the price at the sale and close within 30 days.
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 Cheshire 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 Cheshire 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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