San Juan County, UT tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •San Juan County runs one annual online tax deed sale on Public Surplus, and the county gives the slot as 8:30 am to 3 pm on May 23, with the legal notice published on or around May 1.
• •The bid method here is highest dollar for the whole parcel, not the preferred-bid or smallest-portion method Utah Code 59-2-1351.1 lets a county adopt. Bidding starts no lower than the total tax, interest, penalty and administrative costs on the parcel, and the county says most property sells at market value.
• •Expect cancellations. Anyone may redeem a parcel right up to the auction, and the county's 2024 sale was called off entirely after every listed parcel was redeemed, so reprice from the current notice rather than an earlier copy.
• •The sale parcel list is not a standing page on the county website. It travels inside the Clerk/Auditor's notice of tax sale, published four weeks running in the San Juan Record in Monticello and posted to the county tax sale page for the year of the sale. The Treasurer separately posts an annual delinquent property tax list covering a far wider set of parcels than the ones that reach auction.
• •The Clerk/Auditor conducts the sale and the Treasurer handles delinquency and payoff before it. Tax sale questions go to the Clerk's office at 435-587-3223 extension 4, and the Treasurer's office is at 435-587-3237 extension 2.

Utah rules

Redemption

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.Utah Code 59-2-1346 - Redemption and the time allowed for itUtah Code 59-2-1346Verified Sep 10, 2026

Deed deposit

Utah Code sets no statewide deposit. Each county fixes its own terms by ordinance and in the auction notice, and they differ: Salt Lake County requires a refundable 500 dollar deposit wired before bidding opens, while Utah County's notice warns only that bidders may be subject to nonrefundable fees or deposits depending on the bid method used. Confirm the deposit, the deadline for posting it, and whether it is refundable before you register.Utah Code 59-2-1351.1 - Tax sale, combining certain parcels, acceptable bids, deedsUtah Code 59-2-1351.1Verified Sep 10, 2026

Surplus proceeds

Sale money goes into the county treasury and the treasurer settles with the taxing entities and tax notice charge entities. Anything above the delinquent taxes, tax notice charges, penalties, interest and administrative costs is treated as unclaimed property under Title 67, Chapter 4a, the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, rather than paid out by the county as a surplus fund. A former owner therefore claims it through the state unclaimed property process, not from the auditor.Utah Code 59-2-1351.1 - Tax sale, combining certain parcels, acceptable bids, deedsUtah Code 59-2-1351.1Verified Sep 10, 2026

Governing statute

Utah Code Title 59, Chapter 2, Part 13Utah Code 59-2-1351 - Sales by county, notice of tax sale, entries on recordUtah Code 59-2-1351Verified Sep 10, 2026

What the deed conveys: The auditor executes a deed conveying the property in fee simple, attested with the auditor's seal, reciting the total delinquent amounts paid, the years involved, a full description and the grantee's name, and the county recorder records it. Once executed and delivered, the deed is prima facie evidence of the regularity of every proceeding from the date the taxes first became delinquent and of the conveyance in fee simple, and a certified copy of the tax sale record carries the same presumption, putting the burden of showing any irregularity on whoever asserts it. That presumption is not a title policy: an action to recover, take possession of, quiet title to, or determine ownership against the holder of a tax title is barred four years after the sale or conveyance, subject to a proviso for an owner who actually occupied the property within four years of the action and to a city or town's defense that it holds an equal or superior lien. If a tax title is later held invalid, the purchaser has a lien for the purchase price paid to the county, capped at the taxes, tax notice charges, interest and penalties or the amount actually paid, whichever is smaller, and that lien must be foreclosed in the same action or it is barred.Utah Code 59-2-1351.1 - Tax sale, combining certain parcels, acceptable bids, deedsUtah Code 59-2-1351.1Verified Sep 10, 2026 See the due diligence guide.

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