Utah Tax Deed Sales and Auctions

Any person may redeem on behalf of the record owner at any time before the tax sale, which is held in May or June following the lapse of four years from the date the tax or tax notice charge became delinquent. Once the auditor accepts a bid and executes the tax deed, the conveyance is in fee simple and the deed is prima facie evidence of the regularity of everything that led to it. What replaces a redemption period here is a limitation period on challenges: an action or defense to recover, take possession of, quiet title to, or determine ownership of the property may not be brought against the holder of a tax title more than four years after the sale or conveyance, and that bar does not reach an owner who actually occupied the property within four years of the action, or a city or town asserting an equal or superior lien.Utah Code 59-2-1346 - Redemption and the time allowed for itUtah Code 59-2-1346Verified Sep 10, 2026

A delinquency draws a penalty of 2.5 percent of the amount owed or 10 dollars, whichever is greater, cut to 1 percent or 10 dollars if everything is paid by the following January 31. Unpaid amounts then bear interest from the January 1 after the delinquency at a rate of 6 percent plus the federal funds rate target in effect on that January 1, never below 7 percent and never above 10 percent. Each year's delinquency carries its own rate, and all of it accrues to the county rather than to any investor, because Utah sells no certificate. The tax itself has the effect of a judgment against the person, and the lien on real property attaches on January 1 of each year.Utah Code 59-2-1331 - Property tax due date, delinquency, penalty and interestUtah Code 59-2-1331Verified Sep 10, 2026

What exists instead is land the county already owns. Any parcel offered at the tax sale with no purchaser is struck off to the county, fee simple title vests in the county, and the conveyance is recorded. Utah Code 59-2-1351.5 then lets the county legislative body dispose of that property for a price and on terms it sets, with the county clerk executing the deed in the county's name and passing the title of all taxing entities. The same section lets the county rent or lease the property, and lease its minerals, oil and gas, with a royalty of at least 12.5 percent on oil and gas. Nothing escheats to the state: the county simply holds the land until it decides to sell. Because each county legislative body sets its own price and terms, there is no statewide list and no statewide process. Ask the county auditor or clerk what the county holds from prior tax sales and how it disposes of it, and check whether the county routes those parcels through a surplus property program rather than the next tax sale.Utah Code 59-2-1351.5 - Disposition of property struck off to countyUtah Code 59-2-1351.5Verified Sep 10, 2026