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Tax Sale Atlas

Decatur County, TN tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Decatur County, seat of Decaturville: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Tennessee tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Not published.
Registration
Not published online.
County office
(731) 852-3422
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 18, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Decatur County sells delinquent taxes

No tax lien certificate sale

Tennessee counties enforce the tax lien through a delinquent tax suit and sell the property itself; no tax lien certificates are auctioned.

Tax deed sale

Run by
Decatur County Clerk and Master (Chancery Court)
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Not published.
Registration
Not published online.
When it runs
Not published. Decatur County posts no tax sale page, sale calendar, or sale notice anywhere on its official site. The Courts page lists the office and nothing more: "Decatur County Chancery Court, Clerk & Master Elizabeth Carpenter, P.O. Box 488, Decaturville, TN 38329, 731-852-3422". The Notices page carries county commission meeting agendas only. Tennessee tax sales follow delinquent tax suits filed in Chancery Court, so sale dates are set case by case as those suits mature rather than on a fixed annual month. Call the Clerk and Master at (731) 852-3422 for the next scheduled sale.
Registration and deposit

Not published online. No bidder registration form, deposit rule, or pre-registration deadline appears on the county site or on any Decatur County auction page. Contact the Clerk and Master at (731) 852-3422 before a sale to confirm bidder requirements, payment terms, and whether bidding is in person at the courthouse.

Sale format and venue
No online tax sale platform is verified for Decatur County. GovEase's live auction portal does carry a Decatur County channel labeled "TN - Decatur Foreclosure Notices", but the listing published there in August 2026 is a private deed of trust foreclosure conducted by a substitute trustee for a bank, offered "free from all legal, equitable and statutory rights of redemption" at the main door of the courthouse. That is a mortgage foreclosure notice, not a delinquent tax sale, so the channel should not be read as the county's tax sale platform. Several other Tennessee counties on the same portal post chancery court sales under a "Special Commissioner Sale Posting" label; Decatur County has no such channel. Expect a live sale at the Decatur County Courthouse administered by the Clerk and Master, and confirm the format, date, and terms with that office. A winning bidder takes a redeemable deed: the former owner may redeem within the tiered window under Tenn. Code Ann. 67-5-2701, up to 12 months from entry of the order confirming the sale, by repaying the purchase price plus 12 percent per annum.
Source: Decatur County, TN official county site, Courts page (Chancery Court and Clerk & Master listing)· Verified Aug 18, 2026

Decatur County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Decatur 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.

  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

    Not published online. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    Not published. The auction platform is still being verified. Confirm the next sale date and registration window with the county before you bid.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Decatur County Clerk and Master (Chancery Court) as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Decatur 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

    Not published online. No bidder registration form, deposit rule, or pre-registration deadline appears on the county site or on any Decatur County auction page. Contact the Clerk and Master at (731) 852-3422 before a sale to confirm bidder requirements, payment terms, and whether bidding is in person at the courthouse.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Tennessee due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  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

Parcels struck to the county at the tax sale can be bought from the county afterward. Each county mayor must publish a list of county-held parcels by July 1 every year, and any person may file a written offer for one. The county advertises the offer, competing bidders have ten days to raise it by 10 percent or more, and the highest offer wins, sometimes through an online resale. A parcel bought before the redemption period expires stays subject to redemption. Ask the county mayor's office or the clerk and master where the current list is posted.

County-held parcel listings are published per county under Tenn. Code Ann. 67-5-2511; find the current list on the county's website or newspaper of record

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax sale office

Decatur County Clerk and Master (Chancery Court)

(731) 852-3422

P.O. Box 488, Decaturville, TN 38329

Official website

County notes

  • The Clerk and Master is Elizabeth Carpenter, serving as clerk of the Decatur County Chancery Court under Chancellor Vicki H. Hoover of the 24th Judicial District. The county site gives the office a mailing address of P.O. Box 488, Decaturville, TN 38329 and a phone of 731-852-3422. County offices sit in the courthouse at 22 West Main Street, Decaturville, which is also the address the Decatur County foreclosure notice on GovEase names as the sale location.
  • Current-year property taxes go to the County Trustee, Beth Hays, P.O. Box 488, 22 W. Main Street, Decaturville, TN 38329, phone 731-852-3723. Office hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Wednesday 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The county site states the Trustee "acts as the county's banker and tax collector" and directs online payments to www.tennesseetrustee.org, where Decatur County appears in the county list. That portal handles payments and tax search, not tax sales.
  • The county publishes no delinquent tax list, sale roster, or bidder terms anywhere on its website, which carries no tax or legal-notice pages beyond commission agendas. The delinquent tax suit docket and any sale list must be requested directly from the Clerk and Master.
  • GovEase's Tennessee roster does include a Decatur entry, listed as "TN - Decatur Foreclosure Notices" with auction type "Deed". The single item posted there in August 2026 was a substitute trustee's sale under a deed of trust recorded in the Decatur County Register's Office, postponed to September 14, 2026 at 11:00 AM at the main door of the courthouse. Bank foreclosures of this kind carry no statutory redemption and are separate from the county's delinquent tax sales.
  • For parcel research before a sale, the Property Assessor is Walter Higdon, P.O. Box 488, 22 W. Main Street, Decaturville, TN 38329, phone 731-852-3117.

Tennessee rules

Redemption
The right to redeem vests when the court enters the order confirming the sale and never runs longer than one year from that date. The court sets each parcel's period before the sale on a statutory scale: one year when the taxes were delinquent 5 years or less, 180 days when delinquent more than 5 but less than 8 years, 90 days when delinquent 8 years or more, and 30 days when the court finds the property vacant and abandoned. To redeem, an interested person files a motion in the same lawsuit and must first pay the clerk the full redemption amount; the purchaser then has 30 days after notice to ask the court for additional reimbursements. When the court declares the redemption complete, title divests from the purchaser and the clerk refunds the purchase money plus everything owed. During the redemption period the purchaser owes no duty to insure the parcel and is not liable for damage to it except from the purchaser's own intentional acts. Separately, a suit attacking the validity of the sale itself must normally be filed within one year of the confirmation order, with an absolute three-year outer limit.
Deed deposit
No statewide deposit percentage exists. The statute fixes the form of payment (cash, certified funds, cashier's check, money order, or ACH transfer) and each court sets its own payment terms. Davidson County takes cashier's checks only, Rutherford County requires payment by close of business the day after the sale, and counties selling through GovEase collect payment through the platform. Confirm the terms with the clerk and master that runs the sale before bidding.
Surplus proceeds
Sale proceeds pay the delinquent tax attorney, then court costs, then the taxing entities. Any excess is claimed by motion in the same case: remaining taxes are paid first, then lienholders in order of priority (pre-sale liens before post-sale liens), then the former owner. Filing the motion ends any remaining redemption period as to the movant. Excess proceeds nobody claims pass to the state under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act.
Governing statute
Tenn. Code Ann. Title 67, Chapter 5, Parts 25-27

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 Tennesseerules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Decatur County, Tennessee sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax deeds. Tennessee sells no tax lien certificates to investors; the county sells the property itself at a public tax sale.

How often does Decatur County hold tax deed sales?

Decatur County holds its tax deed sale once a year. Not published. 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. Tennessee's redemption rule: Up to 1 year from entry of the order confirming the sale, tiered by how long the taxes were delinquent. Call the Decatur County Clerk and Master (Chancery Court) 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 18, 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.

Tennessee tax salesDue diligence guide
Call Decatur County Clerk and Master