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Tax Sale Atlas

Henderson County, TN tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Henderson County, seat of Lexington: 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.

Announcements
Henderson County does not use GovEase or any other online auction platform according to the published notice of sale.
Format
In person
Registration
The published notice describes no pre-registration or bidder-approval step.
County office
(731) 968-2801
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 18, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Henderson 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

In person
Run by
Henderson County Chancery Court, Clerk and Master (Leigh J. Milam)
Frequency
annual
Registration
The published notice describes no pre-registration or bidder-approval step.
Sale list
2023 tax sale property list, published notice for the November 7, 2025 sale
When it runs
Annual. The City of Lexington states that "The Henderson County Clerk and Master conducts annual tax sales on parcels of property that have delinquent taxes for 2 years or more." The most recent published notice covered the 2023 delinquent year: "The properties listed below shall be sold on the 7th day of November, 2025, at 10:00 A.M. in the courtroom on the Second Floor of the Henderson County Courthouse at Lexington, Tennessee to the highest bidder." Owners could stop a parcel from selling by paying in full "to the Clerk and Master BY OR BEFORE November 6, 2025."
Registration and deposit

The published notice describes no pre-registration or bidder-approval step. Bidding is open to the highest bidder in the courtroom, and the notice states "The SALE IS FOR A CASH ON THE DATE OF THE SALE" and "CASH or CASHIERS CHECK is required on the day of sale." Confirm current bidder requirements with the Clerk and Master at (731) 968-2801 before attending.

Sale format and venue
Henderson County sells a redeemable tax deed through Chancery Court, not a tax lien certificate. The suit is styled Henderson County, Tennessee, The City of Lexington, Tennessee and Town of Scotts Hill, Tennessee v. Delinquent Taxpayers, Henderson County Chancery Court No. 28326 (as Consolidated), and the notice cites Tenn. Code Ann. 67-5-2501 et seq. as the authority "to enforce a property tax lien, per Order Granting Default Judgment, Additional Fees, and Order of Sale Against Certain Defendants." The sale is held IN PERSON in the courtroom on the second floor of the Henderson County Courthouse in Lexington, so there is no online auction platform and no platform URL. Payment is due the day of the sale in cash or by cashier's check. The notice confirms the redeemable character of the deed: property "will be sold subject to the right of redemption." The county publishes no tax-sale page of its own. The Clerk & Master, Chancery Court, and Trustee pages on hendersoncountytn.gov carry contact details only, and the Chancery Court FAQs page says nothing about tax sales. Sale specifics here come from the statutory notice of sale signed by the Clerk and Master and published in The Lexington Progress. Because that notice is tied to one newspaper edition and one delinquent year, verify the next sale date by calling the Clerk and Master rather than relying on the published list. The delinquent tax attorney named on the notice is Paul Kevin Carter. A separate substitute trustee's foreclosure notice in the same edition uses the courthouse south door; that is mortgage foreclosure, not the tax sale, and should not be confused with it. In person at the Henderson County Courthouse, Lexington
Source: Notice of Sale of Land for 2023 Delinquent Property Taxes, Henderson County Chancery Court No. 28326, signed Leigh J. Milam, Clerk and Master (legal notices, The Lexington Progress, October 22, 2025 edition)· Verified Aug 18, 2026

Henderson County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Henderson 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

    Use 2023 tax sale property list, published notice for the November 7, 2025 sale for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    The published notice describes no pre-registration or bidder-approval step. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. 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.

  4. Confirm with the office

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

Before you bid in Henderson County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from 2023 tax sale property list, published notice for the November 7, 2025 sale. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    The published notice describes no pre-registration or bidder-approval step. Bidding is open to the highest bidder in the courtroom, and the notice states "The SALE IS FOR A CASH ON THE DATE OF THE SALE" and "CASH or CASHIERS CHECK is required on the day of sale." Confirm current bidder requirements with the Clerk and Master at (731) 968-2801 before attending.

  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

Henderson County Chancery Court, Clerk and Master

(731) 968-2801

17 Monroe Street, 2nd Floor, Room 2, Lexington, TN 38351

Official website

County notes

  • Clerk and Master is Leigh J. Milam. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Deputy clerks listed are Carolyn Coffman, Monica Wall, and Bethany Phillips.
  • The sale is conducted in person in the courthouse courtroom. Henderson County does not use GovEase or any other online auction platform according to the published notice of sale.
  • Three taxing bodies join the delinquent tax suit: Henderson County, the City of Lexington, and the Town of Scotts Hill.
  • The Trustee (John Cavness, 17 Monroe Street, Suite 4, Lexington, TN 38351, (731) 968-2246) handles current-year collection only. The Trustee page states taxes become delinquent March 1 and accrue "interest and a penalty of 1.5% per month (18% annually)." It carries no tax-sale information.
  • The domain hcchancery.com surfaces in search results for this county but now 301-redirects to an unrelated offshore gambling site. Do not link it.
  • The tennesseetrustee.org Henderson County portal is a current-tax lookup only, last updated April 23, 2021, and publishes no delinquent or sale list.

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 Henderson 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 Henderson County hold tax deed sales?

Henderson County holds its tax deed sale once a year. 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 Henderson County Chancery Court, Clerk and Master (Leigh J. Milam) 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.

Where can I find the Henderson County tax sale list?

Henderson County posts its tax sale list at media.iadsnetwork.com. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

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 Henderson County Chancery Court