Uintah County, UT tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Uintah County, UT tax sale, one of 2,862 counties in 36 states. Utah sells the deed itself, so no statutory investor interest rate applies. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Sep 11, 2026.
How tax deed sales work in Uintah County, seat of Vernal: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Utah tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Register with the Clerk-Auditor in advance, before any bid is offered.
- County office
- (435) 781-5361
On this page
How Uintah County sells delinquent taxes
No tax lien certificate sale
Utah sells no tax lien certificate to investors, and no statute in Title 59, Chapter 2, Part 13 creates one. The county treasurer holds the delinquency, interest and penalties accrue to the county, and the only instrument an investor can buy is the tax deed the county auditor issues at the May or June tax sale.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Uintah County Clerk-Auditor
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- Register with the Clerk-Auditor in advance, before any bid is offered.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Register with the Clerk-Auditor in advance, before any bid is offered. Each registered bidder receives a bidding number and must give accurate identity details and a current, valid address, which the county uses to issue the deed. No absentee bidding is permitted, so plan to bid in the room. The Clerk-Auditor announces the total taxes, penalties, interest and administrative costs on each parcel, and that figure is both the opening bid and the lowest bid that can be accepted. Once the floor is met, higher bids are solicited in increments of at least $100 and the highest dollar bid wins. Payment in full is due immediately after a bid is accepted and no later than 3:00 p.m. the same day, at the Uintah County Treasurer's office, by cash, cashier's check or money order only. A cashier's check or money order must be split into two instruments, one for the taxes, penalties and interest and a second for the auditor's fee plus any amount bid above the floor. An accepted bid cannot be withdrawn, and the county may enforce it by judgment for the bid amount plus interest and attorney fees.
Sale format and venue
Uintah County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Uintah 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. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.
Get the advertised list
Use May Tax Sale Properties and Tax Sale Rules, Clerk-Auditor page for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
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.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Uintah County Clerk-Auditor as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Uintah County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from May Tax Sale Properties and Tax Sale Rules, Clerk-Auditor page. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Register with the Clerk-Auditor in advance, before any bid is offered. Each registered bidder receives a bidding number and must give accurate identity details and a current, valid address, which the county uses to issue the deed. No absentee bidding is permitted, so plan to bid in the room. The Clerk-Auditor announces the total taxes, penalties, interest and administrative costs on each parcel, and that figure is both the opening bid and the lowest bid that can be accepted. Once the floor is met, higher bids are solicited in increments of at least $100 and the highest dollar bid wins. Payment in full is due immediately after a bid is accepted and no later than 3:00 p.m. the same day, at the Uintah County Treasurer's office, by cash, cashier's check or money order only. A cashier's check or money order must be split into two instruments, one for the taxes, penalties and interest and a second for the auditor's fee plus any amount bid above the floor. An accepted bid cannot be withdrawn, and the county may enforce it by judgment for the bid amount plus interest and attorney fees.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Utah due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Utah before you price the title work.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
unsold properties
Utah sells no tax lien certificates, so there is nothing to buy over the counter between sales except land the county already owns. Any parcel offered at the tax sale with no purchaser is struck off to the county and fee simple title vests there. The county legislative body may then dispose of that property for a price and on terms it sets, with the county clerk executing the deed, and may also rent or lease it. Terms are set county by county and there is no statewide list, so ask the county auditor or clerk what the county holds from earlier tax sales and how it sells it.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Utah calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Uintah County sells tax deeds only. The Clerk-Auditor holds one live auction each May and the winning bidder receives a tax deed, with no redemption period for the former owner after the sale.
- The county uses a straight highest dollar bid with $100 raises, so you are bidding on the whole parcel. Utah law lets a county instead hold the price at the minimum and award the parcel to whoever will accept the smallest acreage or undivided interest, but Uintah County's published rules do not use that method.
- The parcel list appears in two places. The Clerk-Auditor posts the May Tax Sale Properties list and the Tax Sale Rules on its department page, and the notice of tax sale runs in the Vernal Express once a week for the four weeks before the sale. The 2026 notice ran April 29 and May 6, 13, 20 and 27.
- Budget for more than the back taxes. Each parcel on the 2026 list carried a $450 administrative fee on top of the delinquent taxes, and the minimum bid covers taxes, penalties, interest and administrative costs together.
- Redemption and payoff quotes run through the Uintah County Treasurer at (435) 781-5366, 147 E Main, Vernal, UT 84078. From March 15 through the day of the sale, any payment on a tax sale parcel must be cash or certified funds. The Treasurer also posts an annual delinquent tax list, which is the earlier stage roll and not the tax sale list.
- Bring the right instruments. The Clerk-Auditor accepts only cash, a cashier's check or a money order, and a cashier's check or money order must be split into two, one covering taxes, penalties and interest and one covering the auditor's fee plus any amount bid over the minimum.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does Uintah County, Utah sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Uintah County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Uintah County tax sale list?
Verified Sep 11, 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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