Lake County, OR tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Lake County, OR tax sale, one of 2,957 counties in 40 states. Oregon sells the deed itself, so no statutory investor interest rate applies. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Sep 26, 2026.
How tax deed sales work in Lake County, seat of Lakeview: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Oregon tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Announcements
- The Lake County Assessor/Tax Collector, 541-947-6000, publishes an annual certified foreclosure list of delinquent parcels.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- No advance registration is described.
- County office
- 541-947-6036
On this page
How Lake County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Lake County Board of County Commissioners, with land sales administered by the Lake County Planning Department
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- No advance registration is described.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
No advance registration is described. Bid in person at the courthouse auction and pay in full on the day of sale by cash, cashier's check, personal check or money order payable to Lake County, plus a $185 administrative fee per parcel. Over-the-counter parcels can be bought by mail or at the office with a separate payment for each parcel.
Sale format and venue
Lake County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Lake 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.
Get the advertised list
Use Available Over the Counter Land Sale List (dated July 12, 2023) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
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.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Lake County Board of County Commissioners, with land sales administered by the Lake County Planning Department as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Lake County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Available Over the Counter Land Sale List (dated July 12, 2023). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
No advance registration is described. Bid in person at the courthouse auction and pay in full on the day of sale by cash, cashier's check, personal check or money order payable to Lake County, plus a $185 administrative fee per parcel. Over-the-counter parcels can be bought by mail or at the office with a separate payment for each parcel.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Oregon 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 Oregon 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 properties
Oregon counties keep no statewide over-the-counter list. Land left unsold after the sheriff's sale may be sold privately under ORS 275.200 at not less than the highest bid received or, with no bid, at a price the county considers reasonable but at least 15 percent of the sale minimum. Whether this county holds any such inventory must be confirmed with the county office that manages tax-foreclosed property.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Oregon calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Lake County sells tax-foreclosed land at an in-person auction at the Lake County Courthouse. Under county policy the auction is held on the first Monday of May at 10:00am, unless the Board of County Commissioners sets another date by Board Order.
- Parcels left unsold after the auction stay on an over-the-counter list and go to the first buyer who pays in full plus a $185 fee per parcel. You can buy by mail or at the Planning Department, 513 Center Street, Lakeview, 541-947-6036. The most recent posted list is dated July 12, 2023.
- The Lake County Assessor/Tax Collector, 541-947-6000, publishes an annual certified foreclosure list of delinquent parcels. Owners can still redeem those parcels; only parcels later deeded to the county are offered at the land sale.
Oregon rules
- Redemption
- Redemption in Oregon runs before the public ever buys. After judgment the parcels are held by the county for two years from the date of the judgment of foreclosure, unless redeemed sooner, and the former owner keeps possession during that period unless waste is committed. At least one year before the period ends the tax collector mails a notice of expiration of redemption, and 10 to 30 days before it ends the tax collector publishes a general notice. Unredeemed parcels are then deeded to the county, and all rights of redemption terminate when the deed to the county is executed. A buyer at the county's later sale therefore takes property that is no longer subject to any redemption right. ORS 275.180 separately lets the county governing body sell a parcel back to the record owner or contract purchaser of record at any time, without notice, for the taxes and interest charged when the county acquired it plus six percent a year; that is a discretionary repurchase, not a redemption right.
- Deed deposit
- No statewide deposit amount. ORS 275.110 leaves the conditions and terms of sale to the county governing body's order, and the notice of sale states them. Deposits, bidder registration, and accepted forms of payment therefore vary by county; read the county's notice of sale before the auction.
- Surplus proceeds
- Oregon now returns equity to the former owner. Under ORS 312.530 the surplus is the value of the property, which is the sale price at a broker or auction sale, less the county's allowable costs: the judgment and post-judgment interest, taxes that would have accrued through the sale, county maintenance and title costs, local improvement liens filed with the county, nuisance abatement costs, and reasonable foreclosure and disposition fees including legal, appraisal, commission, and auction fees. The county holds the gross proceeds in a separate interest-bearing account, determines the surplus within 60 days, gives the former owner an itemized accounting, and delivers the surplus to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property within 30 days of determining it. The former owner, or heirs and certain successors, claim it from the State Treasurer; a creditor with a valid lien or debt may also claim against it. These rules apply to claims where the owner received the ORS 312.125 notice on or after May 25, 2023.
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 Lake County, Oregon sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Lake County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Lake County tax sale list?
Verified Sep 26, 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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Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.