Lyman County, SD tax sales
How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Lyman County, seat of Kennebec: 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 for the deed sale.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- No advance registration.
- County office
- 605-869-2295
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 31, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page
How Lyman County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Lyman County Treasurer
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- There is no bidder portal and no online registration.
- Next expected
- on the third Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
The annual tax certificate sale falls on the third Monday in December, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., at the Lyman County Courthouse in Kennebec. The Treasurer may carry the sale over from day to day until every certificate has been offered. Notice runs once during the week before the sale in the county official newspaper.
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
Bidding is a bid down on interest. A bidder offers the full amount of delinquent taxes, interest and costs, which is a fixed figure, then competes by naming the lowest annual interest rate they will accept. There is no premium to bid, and the lowest rate wins. Ten percent a year is the highest valid bid, and South Dakota sets no minimum rate, so a certificate can be bid all the way down to zero. On redemption the county deducts a fee of up to fifty dollars, set by county commission resolution, from the amount paid to the certificate holder. What matters most to an investor here is that South Dakota bars a county from selling any tax certificate unless the county commission adopts a resolution waiving that bar. Lyman County has not opened its sale to private buyers in recent years. The Treasurer bids the certificates in for the county, and the county later takes a tax deed and auctions the land itself. Anyone planning to bid in December should call the Treasurer ahead of the sale to confirm the county is offering certificates that year.
Source: South Dakota Codified Laws Chapter 10-23, Sale of Real Property for Taxes and Assessments· Verified Aug 31, 2026
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Lyman County Treasurer, with the sale authorized and confirmed by the Lyman County Commission
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- There is no fixed annual date for the deed sale.
- Registration
- No advance registration.
When it runs
There is no fixed annual date for the deed sale. The commission sets a date whenever the county has taken a tax deed, and state law requires the sale to happen within one year of the deed being issued. Notice is published at least twice, the first time no less than thirty days before the sale. The two most recent Lyman County sales were held at 9:30 a.m. on December 27, 2024 and at 10 a.m. on November 5, 2019.
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
The county offers only the parcels it has actually taken by tax deed, so an offering is usually one or two lots and some years bring no sale at all. Both recent sales were single town lots, one in Vivian and one in Reliance, each drew two bidders, and the winning bids were $18,500 and $1,350. Bidding happens at the front door of the courthouse at 300 S Main Ave. in Kennebec, and the commission approves the sale by motion the same morning. Watch the county official newspaper for the notice, since the county posts no sale calendar online.
Source: Lyman County Commission Proceedings, December 27, 2024· Verified Aug 31, 2026
Lyman County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Lyman 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
A county sale-list URL is still being verified. Use the office and platform details on this page before relying on a copied list.Register to bid
Sale day
There is no fixed annual date for the deed sale. 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 Lyman County Treasurer, with the sale authorized and confirmed by the Lyman County Commission as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Lyman County
4 checks
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.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)
County notes
- The Lyman County Courthouse sits at 300 S Main Ave. in Kennebec, at the south end of Main Street. The courthouse is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and the Treasurer Office is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Julie Clement is the Treasurer.
- Lyman County publishes no tax sale calendar and no delinquent list on its website. Sale notices and the delinquent tax list run in the county official newspaper, which the commission designated as the Central Dakota Times after the Lyman County Herald closed. Watch that paper and call the Treasurer at 605-869-2295.
- Property tax records and payments are online at lymancountysdtax.com, linked from the county Taxes page. It is a lookup and payment site for current owners, not an auction platform, and it carries no sale list.
- A South Dakota tax certificate does not convey title. The holder waits three years from the sale, then serves a notice of intention to take a tax deed on the owner of record, the person in possession, the person taxed, any mortgagee, and other lienholders and interested parties. Redemption stays open until sixty days after the affidavit of completed service is filed with the Treasurer. The proceeding has to be finished within six years of the sale or the certificate and its lien are cancelled.
- The Lyman County Register of Deeds records the tax deed and is where to search title before bidding. Tracy Brakke, PO Box 98, Kennebec SD 57544, 605-869-2297.
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 Lyman County, South Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?
Lyman County follows South Dakota's tax lien state system.
When is the Lyman County tax certificate sale?
The annual tax certificate sale falls on the third Monday in December, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., at the Lyman County Courthouse in Kennebec. The Treasurer may carry the sale over from day to day until every certificate has been offered. Notice runs once during the week before the sale in the county official newspaper. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.
How often does Lyman County hold tax deed sales?
Lyman County holds its tax deed sale once a year. There is no fixed annual date for the deed sale. 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 Lyman County Treasurer, with the sale authorized and confirmed by the Lyman County Commission 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.
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.