Vermont Redeemable Tax Deed Sales

From July 1, 2026 the $1,500 floor does not apply to a parcel with no dwelling habitable year-round that is not declared as a homestead (§ 5252(b)(3), 2026 Act 170 Sec. 36). The collector then extends the warrant: records the warrant, tax bill extract, land description and levy statement in the town clerk's office; advertises the sale; posts notice in a public place; and sends certified-mail notice to the owner (with first-class mail or personal service, email where reasonably available, and a notice on the front door if it comes back unclaimed) and to mortgagees and lienholders of record. Separately, after notice from a mobile home park owner under 10 V.S.A. § 6248(b), the collector must start proceedings within 15 days and hold the sale within 60 days.32 V.S.A. § 5252, collector's warrant and levy on real estate: $1,500 and more-than-one-year delinquency threshold, repayment-plan offer, recording, advertising and mailed notice32 V.S.A. § 5252Verified Sep 27, 2026

§ 4966). No county and no state agency runs, schedules or publishes the sales. With selectboard approval the collector may hire legal help to prepare and conduct a sale, charged to the delinquent owner up to 15 percent of the uncollected tax (§ 5258(a)(5)), so some towns' sales are run through a law firm. Where one firm handles several towns, its notices list many towns side by side, and a date read from one belongs only to the town named against it.32 V.S.A. § 4966, supervisors of unorganized towns and gores collect and sell like town collectors, with the same right of redemption32 V.S.A. § 4966Verified Sep 27, 2026

The statutory return form records the sale as made 'for cash' to the highest bidder (§ 5255). Each town sets its own payment terms; read them in the town's notice.32 V.S.A. § 5255, collector's return of sale filed with the town clerk within 30 days, reciting a sale for cash to the highest bidder32 V.S.A. § 5255Verified Sep 27, 2026

No statute says so: §§ 5251 to 5263 are silent, and 2024 Act 106, 2025 Act 73 and 2026 Act 170 did not add a rule. The rule comes from the Vermont Supreme Court. In Bogie v. Town of Barnet, 129 Vt. 46 (1970), the court held that a town cannot take property at tax sale, sell it and keep the proceeds, and in Ran-Mar, Inc. v. Town of Berlin, 2006 VT 117, 181 Vt. 26, it confirmed that excess proceeds paid by a private investor at a tax sale must be paid over to the taxpayer when the taxpayer does not redeem and the property transfers, as the legislature's Act 106 Working Group reported. What is paid over is the excess sale proceeds, not the property's full equity; the working group was asked whether owners should recoup that equity, and as of the 2026 session no change has been enacted. If the property is redeemed, the whole sale price, overbid included, comes back to the buyer with interest (§ 5260(a)). A buyer's return on an unredeemed parcel is the property, never the overbid. By comparison, a sale on distraint of personal property returns the balance to the taxpayer by statute (§ 5193), and in a court foreclosure of the tax lien the commissioner disposes of any residue with the court's approval (§ 5061(b)). Ask the town how it holds and pays over the excess before bidding.Report of the Act 106 Working Group on Vermont's Abatement and Tax Sale Processes (Tax Sales and Tax Abatement), reporting Bogie v. Town of Barnet, 129 Vt. 46 (1970), and Ran-Mar, Inc. v. Town of Berlin, 2006 VT 117, 181 Vt. 26, on excess tax-sale proceedsVerified Sep 28, 2026