Each step below is drawn from Tennessee statute, not general advice. The exact sale dates, platform, and deposit amounts are set county by county, so confirm the specifics on your county page before you register.
New here? Most beginners start with a certificate (the lien path). The deed steps below apply once you hold a certificate long enough to force a sale, or you bid directly at a tax deed auction. Not sure which is for you? Start with tax lien vs tax deed.
Learn the timeline and lien priority
Property taxes are payable from the first Monday in October, and interest of 1.5 percent per month begins on the following March 1, which is the practical delinquency date in most counties (a county over 800,000 population with its own due dates may set a different accrual date). The taxes, penalties, interest, and costs are a first lien on the property from January 1 of the tax year. Once the delinquent list goes to the delinquent tax attorney and suit is filed, a further penalty of 10 percent of the base delinquent taxes accrues in most counties to cover prosecution of the suit, and the whole proceeding runs in rem against the parcel. Understand this before you commit any money.
Collect interest or wait out redemption
Interest runs at 12 percent per annum on the entire purchase price, beginning the date the purchaser pays the purchase price to the clerk and continuing until the motion to redeem is filed. The same rate applies to later property taxes the purchaser pays on the parcel, from each payment date. The rate is a true annual rate, not a flat penalty tier, so the redemption premium grows with time and has no floor. 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. To redeem, the owner pays The total delinquent taxes, penalty, interest, and court costs, plus interest at 12 percent per annum on the entire purchase price from the date the purchaser paid the clerk until the motion to redeem is filed, all paid to the clerk before filing. The purchaser may also be awarded additional sums: later taxes paid with 12 percent interest, reasonable insurance, costs to prevent waste, code compliance expenses ordered by an authority, homeowner association dues secured by the parcel, and recording costs. If the ordered additional funds are not paid by the deadline, the redemption fails. If they redeem, that payoff is your return; if they never do, the certificate becomes your path to the property.
Apply for a tax deed
The county trustee delivers the delinquent tax list to a delinquent tax attorney between February 1 and April 1, and the attorney files the collection suit by the last business day of March following publication of the delinquency notice. Suits may be filed in chancery or circuit court and follow chancery procedure either way. Once the court ascertains the total amount due, it orders the parcel sold, subject to the right of redemption. The court orders the sale for cash, certified funds, cashier's check, money order, or ACH transfer, and the sale may be held online in lieu of public outcry. At the sale the clerk, acting for the taxing entity, bids the ascertained debt for taxes, interest, penalties, costs, and fees whenever no other bidder offers that much or more, so the total tax debt works as the minimum bid. The clerk withholds that bid only when the county's legislative body has found the parcel's environmental or financial risks make owning it a bad deal for the taxing entity.
Bid at the tax deed auction
The Clerk of the court hearing the county's delinquent tax suit, most often the Chancery Court Clerk and Master sells the property at public auction to the highest bidder. 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. Not fixed statewide. Payment deadlines are set by the court that orders the sale and published in its bidder terms; full payment on or shortly after sale day is typical. Interest on the redemption side starts only when the purchaser actually pays the purchase price to the clerk.
Or buy over the counter
You do not have to wait for an auction. Parcels the clerk bids in for the county at the tax sale pass to the county mayor's charge, and state law gives every county a resale process an investor can use. Any person may file a written offer for a parcel; the county publishes the offer's details, and for ten days anyone else may raise it by 10 percent or more, which forces a small auction among the offerors with the highest written offer as the starting bid. Unless county regulations say otherwise, parcels are offered with no minimum bid and no county board approval, and the county mayor may run the resale online instead. A parcel bought from the county before the redemption period has run stays subject to redemption. Each county mayor must prepare an annual listing of all parcels the county acquired at tax sales, by July 1 each year, and publish it in a newspaper of general circulation or post it on a website with newspaper notice of the posting. Municipalities keep the same listing for parcels they hold. That published list is the place to shop for county-held property.
One more step: clear the title
Winning a tax deed does not hand you marketable title. Before you can resell to a normal buyer or insure the parcel, you will usually need a quiet title action, which takes months and costs money. Fold that cost into your maximum bid and read what you actually own after a tax deed before you bid. A tax deed also does not wipe out everything: select governmental and municipal liens can survive, and a federal tax lien carries a 120-day IRS redemption right, so check what survives a tax deed too.
New to this? Start with tax lien vs tax deed and the full Tennessee walkthrough, then value a parcel with the due diligence guide.
Steps verified Aug 18, 2026 against Tennessee statutes.
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.