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Tax Sale Atlas

Codington County, SD tax sales

How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Codington County, seat of Watertown: 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 sale
There is no fixed annual date.
Format
In person
Registration
Set county by county.
County office
(605) 882-6285
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 31, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Codington County sells delinquent taxes

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Codington County Treasurer's Office
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Third Monday of December each year.
Next expected
on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Third Monday of December each year. South Dakota Codified Laws 10-23-7 provides 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 all the tax certificates have been offered." The parcel pool is drawn from taxes still unpaid "as of the close of business on the first Monday of December" under 10-23-3. Codington County posts no sale notice of its own, so confirm the room and start time with the Treasurer's Office.
Registration and deposit

Codington County publishes no bidder registration form, deposit schedule or bidder terms, so arrange to bid directly with the Treasurer's Office at (605) 882-6285 or [email protected] ahead of the sale. Bidding follows South Dakota Codified Laws 10-23-8: the treasurer offers each parcel in the numerical order of the tax list, and a bidder must offer the full amount of taxes, interest and costs due while stating the lowest annual interest rate at which the bidder will carry those taxes. The lowest rate stated is the best bid, and no rate above ten percent per year is a valid bid. A winning bidder who fails to pay forfeits the certificate, which the treasurer may re-offer after a two week posting at the courthouse door or pursue by civil action.

Sale format and venue
South Dakota sets this sale by statute rather than by county calendar, and Codington County publishes no tax certificate sale page, bidder packet or delinquent parcel list of its own, so plan around the statutory schedule and call the Treasurer to confirm. One statute decides whether an investor can buy here at all. South Dakota Codified Laws 10-23-28.1 bars any county from selling a tax certificate unless the board of county commissioners has adopted a resolution waiving that prohibition, and without such a resolution the county itself holds every certificate the treasurer issues. The treasurer still mails and publishes the required notices either way, so a published notice of sale is not proof that certificates will be offered to outside bidders. Ask the Treasurer's Office whether the commission has waived the prohibition for the current year before making travel plans. Where a sale does go forward it is a live courthouse auction, not an online auction, and no online platform is confirmed for this county. Pricing leaves no room for a premium: the price is fixed at the full delinquent taxes, interest and costs, and bidders compete only on the annual interest rate they will accept. The statute caps a valid bid at ten percent per year and names no minimum rate, so competitive bidding can carry a certificate down toward zero percent. On redemption the county deducts a fee from the proceeds paid to the certificate holder, set by commission resolution at up to fifty dollars, and never charged to the property owner. Redemption stays open to any person until a tax deed issues, and pays the sum listed in the certificate plus interest at the rate bid from the date of purchase, together with any subsequent taxes the holder paid and interest on those at the same rate. A tax deed proceeding may not begin until three years after the sale and must be completed within six years of it. The holder serves a notice of intention to take tax deed on the owner of record, the person in possession, the person in whose name the property is taxed, mortgagees, lienholders and other interested parties of record, personally or by registered or certified mail, with newspaper publication allowed for some of those parties, and the right of redemption then expires sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the Treasurer. Certificates do expire. If the deed proceeding is not completed within six years of the sale, the sale, the tax lien and the lien for subsequent taxes cease and are forever barred and the Treasurer cancels the certificate, with a six month grace to finish a proceeding commenced in time and an extra year for a certificate assigned by the county. One rule reshapes the whole return profile in South Dakota: under 10-25-39.2 any buyer other than the county who takes a tax deed must offer the property at public auction within one year of the deed, and is compensated only in the same manner as a redemption, so a tax deed here recovers the lien plus interest rather than delivering the land. Certificates that draw no bidder may be bought afterward at private sale at the Treasurer's office for the taxes, penalty and costs due, once the sale has closed and the return has been filed with the County Auditor, and a certificate the county holds may be taken by assignment on paying the taxes, penalty, interest, costs of sale and transfer and every unpaid or subsequent tax. Both of those routes sit behind the same commission waiver requirement. In person at the Codington County Courthouse
Source: South Dakota Codified Laws 10-23-7, Time and place of annual sale, Adjournment from day to day, All taxable property subject to sale except certain homesteads· Verified Aug 31, 2026

Tax deed sale

Run by
County Treasurer issues the deed; the county then sells the property under SDCL chapter 6-13, commonly through the county auditor
Frequency
as needed
Typical timing
There is no fixed annual date.
Registration
Set county by county.
When it runs
There is no fixed annual date. A tax deed sale happens parcel by parcel once a tax deed has issued. The certificate holder, which in most counties is the county itself, may begin the deed process no sooner than three years and no later than six years after the certificate sale by serving a notice of intention to take a tax deed. Sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the treasurer, redemption ends and the treasurer prepares the deed. SDCL 10-25-39.1 then requires the county to declare the property surplus and sell it within one year, with notice published at least twice and the first publication at least thirty days before the sale. Watch the county auditor and the county's legal notices for those publications.
Registration and deposit

Set county by county. SDCL chapter 6-13 lets the county take sealed bids opened at a commission meeting, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, or list the property with one or more licensed real estate brokers, and it prescribes no bidder registration. Sealed bids are filed with the county's fiscal officer and opened at the time named in the published notice. The board may reject every bid, but if it accepts one it must be the highest. A county may refuse a bid from any person who is not current on all property taxes due within that county. No deposit is required on a cash sale; a buyer taking an installment contract deposits the cash portion as soon as the bid is accepted, and gets it back if the board declines to approve the sale. Confirm the bid form, the deadline and the payment terms with the county auditor.

Sale format and venue
This is the sale most South Dakota bidders can actually take part in, and it is a sale of the property itself rather than of a lien. Costs of taking the deed and of the sale come out of the proceeds first, the remainder is prorated to the taxing districts until all tax and interest is paid, and any surplus goes back to the prior owner of record, or to the Unclaimed Property Division if that owner cannot be found within one hundred eighty days. A private certificate holder who takes a tax deed is under the same duty: SDCL 10-25-39.2 requires that holder to offer the property at public auction within one year and entitles the holder only to what a redemption would have paid. Title vests in fee simple but remains subject to any claim the state or county has for taxes, liens or encumbrances and to past-due installments of municipal special assessments, and counties commonly convey by quitclaim deed and expect the buyer to bring a quiet title action. The former owner has one hundred eighty days after the deed is recorded to sue to recover possession or to avoid the deed.
Source: S.D. Codified Laws 10-25-39.1 - County acquisition of real property; sale of property; notice of sale requiredSDCL 10-25-39.1· Verified Aug 27, 2026

Codington County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Codington 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

    A county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the office and platform details on this page before relying on a copied list.

  2. Register to bid

    Set county by county. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    There is no fixed annual date. 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 issues the deed; the county then sells the property under SDCL chapter 6-13, commonly through the county auditor as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Codington County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    The county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the county office contacts below and confirm the advertised parcels directly before you price a bid.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Set county by county. SDCL chapter 6-13 lets the county take sealed bids opened at a commission meeting, sell at public auction to the highest bidder, or list the property with one or more licensed real estate brokers, and it prescribes no bidder registration. Sealed bids are filed with the county's fiscal officer and opened at the time named in the published notice. The board may reject every bid, but if it accepts one it must be the highest. A county may refuse a bid from any person who is not current on all property taxes due within that county. No deposit is required on a cash sale; a buyer taking an installment contract deposits the cash portion as soon as the bid is accepted, and gets it back if the board declines to approve the sale. Confirm the bid form, the deadline and the payment terms with the county auditor.

  3. 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.

  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

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)

Codington County Treasurer's Office

(605) 882-6285

Codington County Courthouse, 14 1st Ave SE, Room 110, Watertown, SD 57201-3611

Official website

County notes

  • Carol Maloney is the Codington County Treasurer. The office is in Room 110 of the courthouse at 14 1st Ave SE in Watertown, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with a fax line at (605) 882-6288 and email at [email protected].
  • The county website covers property tax due dates and online payment but carries no tax certificate sale notice, bidder packet or delinquent parcel list. The notice of sale runs in the county's official newspapers once during the week before the sale, so watch the local legal notices in early December and ask the Treasurer which paper carries it.
  • Owners of record, holders of special assessment certificates and the municipal finance officer are notified by first class mail or electronically at least fourteen days before the sale, so the parcel pool usually shrinks between publication and sale day as owners pay.
  • An owner who occupies a homestead and is seventy or older by the sale date must notify the Treasurer before the sale to claim the exemption under chapter 43-31, which keeps that homestead out of the sale.
  • Codington County property taxes are delinquent after April 30 for the first half and after October 31 for the second half, and those arrears are what feed the following December sale.
  • The Treasurer, not the Register of Deeds, executes and issues the tax deed once service is complete and the sixty day redemption window has run.

South Dakota rules

Max interest rate
10% per year, bid down at auction
Minimum return
No statutory minimum; interest accrues at your bid rate
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.
Governing statute
SDCL Title 10, Chapter 10-23

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 South Dakotarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Codington County, South Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Codington County follows South Dakota's tax lien state system.

When is the Codington County tax certificate sale?

Third Monday of December each year. South Dakota Codified Laws 10-23-7 provides 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 all the tax certificates have been offered." The parcel pool is drawn from taxes still unpaid "as of the close of business on the first Monday of December" under 10-23-3. Codington County posts no sale notice of its own, so confirm the room and start time with the Treasurer's Office. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Codington County hold tax deed sales?

Codington County holds its tax deed sale as needed. There is no fixed annual date. 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 County Treasurer issues the deed; the county then sells the property under SDCL chapter 6-13, commonly through the county auditor 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 Aug 31, 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 Codington County Treasurer's Office