Tooele County, UT tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Tooele County runs its May Tax Sale online through Public Surplus and takes the highest bid for each parcel. Have a Public Surplus buyer account open and the 500 dollar deposit on file before the window opens, because the whole auction lasts two hours.
• •Budget above the hammer price. The Auditor's published sale results add a 400 dollar administrative fee per parcel and an 8 percent Public Surplus buyer premium to each winning bid, and both are charged to the buyer.
• •The parcel list for the upcoming sale appears in the Tooele Transcript Bulletin as the Auditor's Notice of Tax Sale, roughly a week before the auction, with account number, parcel number, owner, amount due, property type and full legal description for each parcel. The county's own May Tax Sale page carries prior year results and unclaimed excess funds rather than the upcoming list, and the Treasurer's annual delinquent tax list covers every delinquent account in the county, not only the parcels that have reached the five year sale threshold.
• •There is no redemption after the gavel. A tax deed issues to the winning bidder and the former owner's only remaining claim is to the surplus, shown in the Auditor's results as the balance due to the property owner. Surplus recovery firms already work this county's list, so expect company if you are tracking excess funds.
• •Parcels that draw no acceptable bid are struck to Tooele County and the county takes title. Several go that way in a typical year, so ask the Auditor what inventory the county is carrying from earlier sales.
• •Read the legal description before you bid. This county's sale regularly mixes ordinary Tooele and Grantsville lots and houses with patented mining claims in the Ophir and Mercur districts and with fractional undivided interests. One 2026 parcel was offered as a fractional interest with several co-owners of record, the United States among them.
• •Delinquency and payoff questions before the sale go to the Tooele County Treasurer at (435) 843-3190, at the same 47 South Main Street address. The Auditor handles the sale itself.

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

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.

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