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Tax Sale Atlas

Knox County, TN tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Knox County, seat of Knoxville: 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
Sale dates are set by court decree rather than a fixed annual calendar.
Format
In person
Registration
Bidders register on site on the day of the sale.
County office
(865) 215-2555
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 18, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Knox 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
Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court for Knox County, Tennessee, with the Knox County Trustee's Office publishing the sale information and monitoring bidder eligibility
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Sale dates are set by court decree rather than a fixed annual calendar.
Registration
Bidders register on site on the day of the sale.
Sale list
Knox County Trustee tax sale page (Tax Sale 25 terms, report of sale, decree confirming sale, and final results)
When it runs
Sale dates are set by court decree rather than a fixed annual calendar. The Trustee's tax sale page states: "Tax Sale dates are determined by court proceedings and will be listed accordingly." The two most recent sales both ran in June. Tax Sale 25 was held June 2, 2026, listed on the Trustee page as "June 2nd, 2026 - Doors Open: 8:00am - Begins: 10:00am," and Tax Sale 24 was held June 26, 2024 under a Chancery Court decree entered June 17, 2024, with doors open at 8:00 A.M. and the sale starting at 10:00 A.M.
Registration and deposit

Bidders register on site on the day of the sale. Doors open at 8:00 a.m. and bidding begins at 10:00 a.m. Every bidder must be fully current on property taxes owed to Knox County Government and the City of Knoxville; delinquent taxpayers are ineligible, and Trustee's Office representatives monitor bidder registration and notify the Clerk and Master of disqualified bidders. Registering to bid binds the bidder to the court-approved terms and to the personal jurisdiction of the Knox County Chancery Court. Payment must be cash, certified funds, cashier's check, money order, or ACH transfer; personal and business checks and wire transfers are refused. A winning bidder either pays the accepted bid in full at the sale or pays the minimum bid plus 30 percent of the accepted bid as a deposit and signs a promissory note for the balance due within 10 calendar days, with an individual guarantor required when the bidder is an entity.

Sale format and venue
Knox County sells redeemable tax deeds through the Chancery Court, not through an online auction platform. The Clerk and Master conducts a live public outcry auction; Tax Sale 25 was held at The Grande Event Center, 5441 Clinton Highway, Knoxville, and the terms provide that if the Clerk and Master continues the sale it resumes in the Main Assembly Room of the City County Building, 400 Main Street, Knoxville. No online bidding platform is used, so investors must attend in person. The Clerk and Master opens bidding at the minimum bid, which covers all delinquent city and county real property taxes plus costs of sale, court costs, and commissions. Upset bids are not accepted where an accepted bid met or exceeded the minimum bid. If no bid reaches the minimum, Knox County Government becomes the purchaser by statute, and an interested buyer may then submit a written bid at or above the minimum bid to the Clerk and Master within 10 calendar days; accepted written bids are resold by public outcry in the Main Assembly Room of the City County Building. All sales are subject to court confirmation and the statutory right of redemption, and the terms state the redemption period begins the date the Court enters an order confirming the sale and may vary between 90 days and one year depending on circumstances unique to each property, citing Tenn. Code Ann. title 67, chapter 5, part 27. Improvements made during the redemption period are at the winning bidder's risk and expense. After the redemption period expires or is waived, the winning bidder requests a Clerk and Master's Deed and pays the Clerk and Master $50.00 for preparing and acknowledging it. Properties sell as is, where is, with no warranties of title, fitness, or use.
Source: Knox County Trustee, Tax Sale· Verified Aug 18, 2026

Knox County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Knox 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 Knox County Trustee tax sale page (Tax Sale 25 terms, report of sale, decree confirming sale, and final results) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Bidders register on site on the day of the sale. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    Sale dates are set by court decree rather than a fixed annual calendar. 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 Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court for Knox County, Tennessee, with the Knox County Trustee's Office publishing the sale information and monitoring bidder eligibility as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Knox County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Knox County Trustee tax sale page (Tax Sale 25 terms, report of sale, decree confirming sale, and final results). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Bidders register on site on the day of the sale. Doors open at 8:00 a.m. and bidding begins at 10:00 a.m. Every bidder must be fully current on property taxes owed to Knox County Government and the City of Knoxville; delinquent taxpayers are ineligible, and Trustee's Office representatives monitor bidder registration and notify the Clerk and Master of disqualified bidders. Registering to bid binds the bidder to the court-approved terms and to the personal jurisdiction of the Knox County Chancery Court. Payment must be cash, certified funds, cashier's check, money order, or ACH transfer; personal and business checks and wire transfers are refused. A winning bidder either pays the accepted bid in full at the sale or pays the minimum bid plus 30 percent of the accepted bid as a deposit and signs a promissory note for the balance due within 10 calendar days, with an individual guarantor required when the bidder is an entity.

  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

Knox County Chancery Court, Clerk and Master (J. Scott Griswold)

(865) 215-2555

400 W. Main Street, City-County Building, Suite 125, Knoxville, TN 37902

Official website

County notes

  • The Knox County Trustee's Office publishes the tax sale page and is the practical first call for sale logistics. Its office is at Knoxville City-County Building, 400 Main Street, Suite 427, Knoxville, TN 37902, phone (865) 215-2305.
  • Knox County Chancery Court office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Clerk and Master fax is (865) 215-2920.
  • Sales are numbered rather than annual. Tax Sale 24 ran in June 2024 and Tax Sale 25 in June 2026, so investors should watch the Trustee tax sale page and the Chancery Court docket rather than assume a yearly June auction.
  • Tax Sale 25 documents on the Trustee page include the Terms and Conditions, the Report of Sale, the Decree Confirming Sale, and a final results list of parcels by Trustee file number.
  • Only properties that do not sell on the day of the tax sale are eligible for the rebid process described on the Trustee page.
  • The City of Knoxville's Property Tax Sale Info page is stale. It still references tax years 2012 through 2015, a Tax Sale 10 property list, personal checks being acceptable, a 30-day note, and redemption at the bid amount plus 10 percent. Use the Clerk and Master's current Tax Sale 25 Terms and Conditions and Tenn. Code Ann. 67-5-2701 for payment and redemption facts instead.
  • Winning bidders become parties to the tax sale lawsuit. Tennessee law bars non-lawyers from acting for entities in court, so an LLC or corporate buyer needs Tennessee counsel to handle filings and any redemption motion.

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 Knox 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 Knox County hold tax deed sales?

Knox County holds its tax deed sale once a year. Sale dates are set by court decree rather than a fixed annual calendar. 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 Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court for Knox County, Tennessee, with the Knox County Trustee's Office publishing the sale information and monitoring bidder eligibility 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 Knox County tax sale list?

Knox County posts its tax sale list at trustee.knoxcounty.org. 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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