Charles Mix County, SD tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Charles Mix County, SD tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. South Dakota sells tax lien certificates paying up to 10%. 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 Charles Mix County, seat of Lake Andes: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how South Dakota tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next tax deed sale
- The county has held its sale of county-held tax-deed properties in the fall.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- The commission minutes name the auctioneer but give no bidder terms.
- County office
- 605-487-7542
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Oct 6, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page
How Charles Mix County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Charles Mix County Treasurer
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- South Dakota fixes one annual certificate sale date for every county.
- Next expected
- on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
South Dakota fixes one annual certificate sale date for every county. SDCL 10-23-7 directs that "On the third Monday of December in each year, between the hours of nine a.m. and four p.m. the treasurer shall offer at public sale at the courthouse a tax certificate for any real property that is liable for taxes of any description for the preceding year or years, and that remains due and unpaid," and lets the treasurer adjourn the sale from day to day until every certificate has been offered. Charles Mix County publishes no separate certificate sale calendar, so confirm the current year's start time and room with the Treasurer's office at (605) 487-7542 before travelling to Lake Andes.
Registration and deposit
There is no online bidder portal, no published registration form and no posted deposit schedule for this sale. Bidding is done in person at the courthouse on the sale day, so call the Charles Mix County Treasurer at (605) 487-7542 ahead of the third Monday in December to confirm that certificates will be offered to the public that year and to ask what identification and form of payment the office accepts. A winning bidder pays the full delinquent tax, interest and costs on the parcel at the sale.
Sale format and venue
Charles Mix County certificates are sold by the Treasurer at the courthouse in Lake Andes, not through an auction website. Bidding is bid-down-interest: under SDCL 10-23-8 a bidder offers the full amount of the taxes, interest and costs due and states the lowest annual interest rate at which the bidder will carry the taxes, and the lowest rate stated is the best bid. The purchase price is therefore fixed by the delinquency, and there is no premium to bid over it. The statute caps the rate, saying "No rate of interest higher than ten percent per year is a valid bid," and sets no minimum, so competitive bidding can in principle carry a rate all the way down to zero. Before planning to bid, confirm one thing with the office: SDCL 10-23-28.1 provides that no county may sell any tax certificate unless the board of county commissioners has adopted a resolution waiving that prohibition, and that the county itself holds any certificate it issues where no waiver is in force. Where a county has waived it and no bidder takes a parcel, the treasurer bids the certificate off in the name of the county, and a buyer may later take an assignment of a county-held certificate by paying the taxes, penalty, interest, costs and every subsequent tax. Redemption stays open at any time before a tax deed issues, and the redeeming party pays the certificate amount plus interest at the rate bid from the date of purchase, plus any subsequent taxes the holder paid with the same rate from the date of each payment. A holder may begin tax deed proceedings only after three years from the certificate sale date, and must serve a notice of intention to take tax deed personally on the owner of record, the person in possession and the person in whose name the property is taxed, with mortgagees, lienholders and other interested parties served the same way, by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, or by publication once a week for two successive weeks in the county's legal newspapers. Redemption does not close until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer. Certificates expire: if the deed proceeding is not completed within six years of the sale date, the sale, the tax lien and every subsequent tax lien held by the certificate holder are forever barred and the treasurer cancels the certificate.
Source: SDCL 10-23-7, Time and Place of Annual Tax Certificate Sale· Verified Oct 6, 2026
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Charles Mix County Board of Commissioners and County Auditor
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The county has held its sale of county-held tax-deed properties in the fall.
- Registration
- The commission minutes name the auctioneer but give no bidder terms.
When it runs
The county has held its sale of county-held tax-deed properties in the fall. At its August 27, 2026 meeting the board reviewed five County Tax Sale properties scheduled for auction online with Wieman Auction Services on October 8, 2026. Earlier sales were held in Lake Andes: the 2019 sale began at 1:00 p.m. on October 10, 2019, and the 2020 sale was set for September 15, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. in the courthouse by commission motion at the Treasurer's request.
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
These are parcels the county already owns through tax deed, not certificates. SDCL 10-25-39.1 requires a county that takes a tax deed to declare the property surplus and sell it within a year. The county may also transfer parcels directly to other governments before the auction: on August 27, 2026 the board approved selling two county-held parcels inside Wagner city limits to the City of Wagner for $1 each, so the number of parcels offered can shrink before sale day. The commission can also reconvey a tax-deed parcel to its former record owner by resolution under SDCL 10-25-41, as it did in October 2019, which removes that parcel from the sale. Online auction through Wieman Auction Services.
Source: Board of Commissioners Minutes, August 27, 2026, Charles Mix County· Verified Oct 6, 2026
Charles Mix County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Charles Mix 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
Charles Mix County publishes no tax sale list online. The Charles Mix 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 605-487-7542 to ask for the current advertisement.Register to bid
Sale day
The county has held its sale of county-held tax-deed properties in the fall. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the Charles Mix County Treasurer before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the Charles Mix County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Charles Mix County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
There is no online list to price against. Charles Mix County advertises the parcels before the sale rather than posting them, so get the advertisement from the office on 605-487-7542 and price from the parcel numbers it carries.Confirm registration and deposit
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the South Dakota 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 South Dakota 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
Three routes exist and each runs through a county office. A certificate that stayed unsold for want of bidders must be sold at private sale at the treasurer's office to any person who pays the taxes, penalty and costs due. A person may also buy the county's interest in a certificate the treasurer bid off, by paying the taxes, penalty, interest and costs of sale and transfer plus every unpaid and subsequent tax, after which the treasurer assigns the certificate and the buyer holds the rights of an original purchaser. Both routes are closed in a county whose commissioners have not waived SDCL 10-23-28.1. Separately, tax deed property the county offered that drew no bid may be sold at private sale within twelve months for not less than ninety percent of the appraised value, without further publication or appraisal. Ask the county treasurer about certificates and the county auditor about unsold deeded parcels.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what South Dakota calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Charles Mix County Courthouse, 400 Main Street, PO Box 339, Lake Andes, SD 57356
Official websiteCounty notes
- Michelle Wentland is the Charles Mix County Treasurer. Mail goes to PO Box 339, Lake Andes, SD 57356, the direct line is (605) 487-7542 and the fax is (605) 487-7221.
- The courthouse at 400 Main Street in Lake Andes is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the main courthouse number is (605) 487-6000.
- Charles Mix County publishes no delinquent tax list or certificate sale notice on its website. SDCL 10-23-2 requires the treasurer to publish notice of the sale once during the week before the sale in the official newspapers of the county, and to post notice on the courthouse door for two weeks instead if no newspaper is published in the county, so watch the county's legal newspapers in the first half of December. SDCL 10-23-3 requires that notice to carry the time and place of the sale, the parcels, the names the taxes are assessed against or the current owner of record, and the amount due.
- The published list covers taxes unpaid as of the close of business on the first Monday of December, which is the practical cutoff for a parcel dropping off the sale.
- County-held tax-deed parcels are announced in the commission minutes, posted on the county's Agenda/Minutes page. The 2026 auction of five such properties runs online with Wieman Auction Services on October 8, 2026.
- SDCL 10-23-8 lets the county commission set a fee of up to fifty dollars, deducted from the proceeds paid to a certificate holder on redemption. Ask the Treasurer what fee Charles Mix County has adopted before modelling a return.
- A certificate the county keeps earns the Category G rate under SDCL 10-23-25, which SDCL 54-3-16 sets at five-sixths of one percent per month, or ten percent a year.
- Taking the deed does not let a private holder keep the property. SDCL 10-25-39.2 requires any holder other than a county that acquires real property by tax deed to offer it at public auction within one year of the deed, and the seller is then compensated only in the same manner as a redemption under SDCL 10-24-1. A county that takes a tax deed must declare the property surplus and sell it within a year under SDCL 10-25-39.1.
- If the county assigns a certificate that is already more than four years old, the buyer has one year from the assignment date to start the deed proceeding under SDCL 10-25-17.
- Julie Pavel is the Register of Deeds, the office that records the tax deed, and Jason Gant is the County Auditor, who receives the treasurer's return of the sale on or before the last Monday of December.
South Dakota rules
- Redemption
- There is no fixed redemption deadline that starts at the sale. SDCL 10-24-1 lets any person redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued. What sets the outer limit is the deed process: SDCL 10-25-1 bars the certificate holder from starting that process until three years after the certificate sale, and SDCL 10-25-8 keeps the right to redeem alive until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service of the notice of intention is filed with the treasurer. Missing that sixty-day window passes the owner's, mortgagee's and lienholder's interests to the certificate holder. After the deed is recorded, the former owner has one hundred eighty days to bring an action to recover possession or to avoid the deed, which is a limitation period rather than a further right to redeem.
- Deed deposit
- Chapter 6-13 sets no deposit for a cash sale. A buyer taking an installment contract must deposit the cash portion with the fiscal officer as soon as the bid is accepted, and the board can still decline to approve the sale, in which case the deposit is returned. A separate rule bars a bidder from the sale entirely: under SDCL 10-25-45 a county may refuse a bid from any person who is not current on all property taxes due within that county. Payment methods and any county-set deposit are county practice rather than statute, so confirm them with the county before bidding.
- Surplus proceeds
- The county first deducts the expenses of taking the tax deed and of the sale. What remains is prorated to the taxing districts on the levies for the most recent year included in the proceeds until all tax and interest is paid. Any surplus left after taxes, penalty, interest, county liens and other costs must be returned to the prior owner of record, and if that owner cannot be found within one hundred eighty days the surplus is transferred to the Unclaimed Property Division under SDCL chapter 43-41B. The same distribution binds a private buyer. SDCL 10-25-39.2, effective February 12, 2024, requires any person other than a county who acquires property by tax deed after being issued a tax certificate to offer that property at public auction under chapter 6-13 within one year of the deed, and entitles that seller only to compensation in the same manner as a redemption under SDCL 10-24-1. A South Dakota certificate is therefore a route to being paid what the certificate is worth, not a route to keeping the land.
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 Charles Mix County, South Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?
Charles Mix County follows South Dakota's tax lien state system.
When is the Charles Mix County tax certificate sale?
South Dakota fixes one annual certificate sale date for every county. SDCL 10-23-7 directs that "On the third Monday of December in each year, between the hours of nine a.m. and four p.m. the treasurer shall offer at public sale at the courthouse a tax certificate for any real property that is liable for taxes of any description for the preceding year or years, and that remains due and unpaid," and lets the treasurer adjourn the sale from day to day until every certificate has been offered. Charles Mix County publishes no separate certificate sale calendar, so confirm the current year's start time and room with the Treasurer's office at (605) 487-7542 before travelling to Lake Andes. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.
How often does Charles Mix County hold tax deed sales?
Charles Mix County holds tax deed sales once a year. The county has held its sale of county-held tax-deed properties in the fall. 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. South Dakota's redemption rule: Open until a tax deed issues; a deed cannot be sought until 3 years after the certificate sale, and redemption then runs until 60 days after completed service of the notice of intention. Call the Charles Mix 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 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.
More South Dakota counties
Browse all 66 South Dakota counties
Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.