Utah Redemption Period for Tax Sales

The short answer

None after the sale. Redemption runs up to the moment the county auditor opens bidding at the May or June tax sale and ends there.

Utah runs 4 different redemption windows

Which one applies is decided by the parcel, not by the state, so read the condition before trusting the headline figure.

Utah redemption windows by parcel condition
When it applies	How long	After the sale
Any parcel on the tax sale listing, before the county auditor opens bidding at the May or June tax saleRedeemable by any person on behalf of the record owner, for all delinquent taxes, tax notice charges, interest, penalties and administrative costs.Utah Code 59-2-1346(1) and (2)	Until bidding opens at the tax sale	None. The tax deed conveys fee simple and Utah Code 59-2-1346 allows no redemption after the sale.
A subdivided lot carved out of a base parcel, where the record owner of the lot is a bona fide purchaserThe lot is redeemed for its proportional share of the base parcel's delinquency, not the whole of it. The treasurer calculates the share from the lot's portion of the base parcel's value as of January 1 of the assessment year, and the county assessor must supply whatever information that calculation needs.Utah Code 59-2-1346(3)	Until bidding opens at the tax sale	None.
The remainder of a parcel where the accepted bid covered only part of it under the smallest-portion bid methodThe auditor notes the portion covered by the bid on the tax sale record, and the balance of the parcel is considered to have been redeemed by the owner. The owner pays nothing further for it: the winning bidder's cash covered the whole delinquency.Utah Code 59-2-1351.1(4)(b)(iii)	Redeemed at the sale itself	None, because the remainder never passes to a buyer.
Any parcel after the county auditor has closed the sale by accepting a bid on itThis is a real tier, not a missing one. Utah is a straight deed state on the exit: the auditor executes a fee simple tax deed, the recorder records it, and the deed is prima facie evidence of the regularity of every proceeding from the first delinquency onward. The remaining exposure is the four-year limitation window on a challenge to the tax title under Utah Code 78B-2-206, not a redemption.Utah Code 59-2-1351.1(6) and (9)	none	None. No statute in Title 59, Chapter 2, Part 13 gives the former owner a right to redeem after the tax sale. The successful bidder may not unilaterally rescind either.

How the clock works

Utah gives the buyer no post-sale redemption risk and gives the owner no post-sale second chance. 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.

Who can redeem

Any person, acting on behalf of the record owner. Utah Code 59-2-1346(1) does not restrict redemption to the owner, so a lienholder, an heir or a third party may pay. Counties do police one edge of this: Utah County's policy treats a winning bid by the owner or a lienholder, or by someone buying on their behalf, as a redemption rather than a sale, and issues no deed.

What the owner pays to redeem

All delinquent taxes, tax notice charges, interest, penalties and administrative costs accrued on the property, paid to the county treasurer. Partial payments are allowed: the treasurer must accept and credit payments of at least 10 dollars at any time before the redemption period expires, with a final payment in any amount, applying each one against the most recent year's interest and costs first and working backwards. A subdivided lot carved out of a base parcel can be redeemed separately for its proportional share of the base parcel's delinquency, calculated by the treasurer from the lot's share of the base parcel's value, but only where the lot's record owner is a bona fide purchaser.

How your interest accrues

Not applicable to investors. The 2.5 percent penalty and the annual interest under Utah Code 59-2-1331 accrue to the county and are simply part of what a redeeming owner, or the opening bid, has to cover.

What happens when it ends

A parcel that has not been redeemed by March 15 following the lapse of four years from the date the property tax or tax notice charge became delinquent. The county treasurer must then file it with the county auditor on the tax sale listing, and the auditor sells it at the nearest tax sale, held in May or June. Because Utah taxes go delinquent right after November 30, that four-year lapse plus the March 15 cutoff puts a parcel in the sale with five tax years unpaid, which is why county offices describe these as five-year delinquencies. A tax or tax notice charge deferred under Utah Code 59-2a-801 is delinquent only if it is unpaid at the end of the five-year deferral period. Do not confuse this sale with the separate public auction of seized PERSONAL property under Utah Code 59-2-1303, which sells goods and manufactured or mobile homes carried on the personal property roll rather than real estate, or with a county surplus property auction, which disposes of county vehicles and equipment and is not a tax sale at all.

A redeemed certificate, plus your accrued interest, is what makes the wait profitable; see how redemption periods work across states. An unredeemed certificate is instead your path to the property through a tax deed sale, which still does not convey marketable title on its own, so budget for a quiet title action.

Verified Sep 10, 2026 against Utah 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.

Utah redemption period