Marion County, WV tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Marion County, WV tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. West Virginia sells tax lien certificates paying up to 12%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus the state sale office’s notices on Oct 6, 2026.
How tax lien sales work in Marion County, seat of Fairmont: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how West Virginia tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next certificate sale
- on a date the State Auditor sets, in practice between April and June, 2027
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Register with the State Auditor's Office, not with Marion County.
- County office
- (304) 367-5310
On this page
How Marion County sells delinquent taxes
From lien to deed
West Virginia holds no separate tax deed auction. The deed goes to whoever bought the tax lien at the Auditor's auction, or bought the parcel afterward as unsold land, and it comes from the Auditor rather than from a second sale. Within 120 days after the Auditor approves the sale the purchaser must give the Auditor a list of everyone entitled to notice to redeem, supply the property's physical mailing address if it is Class II property, and deposit the cost of preparing and serving the notice. Miss that and the purchaser loses all benefits of the purchase. A written request filed within the following 30 days buys another 60 days, for one hundred dollars or ten percent of the amount paid at the sale, whichever is greater, plus a twenty five dollar certificate fee. The Auditor then serves the notice at least 45 days before the first day a deed may be issued, and no deed may issue sooner than 30 days after the notices were served.
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- West Virginia State Auditor's Office
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- Register with the State Auditor's Office, not with Marion County.
- Next expected
- on a date the State Auditor sets, in practice between April and June, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Register with the State Auditor's Office, not with Marion County. Pre-registration is online and one sign-up covers every West Virginia county for the year, so there is no separate Marion County bidder list. The form asks for the name the deed should be made out to, an agent name, address, phone and email. Registrants certify they have not failed to pay for a prior public auction purchase, are not delinquent on West Virginia real property taxes, have no history of code enforcement violations and no pending code enforcement proceedings, and have not failed to comply with a valid raze or repair order in the past five years. An entity "must verify at the time of registration that it is properly registered with the West Virginia Secretary of State's office." Bring payment to the sale: W. Va. Code 11A-3-45 requires payment "by check, U. S. currency, or money order payable to the Auditor" delivered before the close of business on the day of sale, while the Auditor's land sale page describes a check or money order to the county sheriff, so confirm the payee with the Auditor's office before the sale.
Sale format and venue
Marion County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Marion County tax sale 2026 searches, use the official sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the West Virginia State Auditor before you bid.
Confirm the advertised parcel list
Use Land Sale Listings and Certified to State search, West Virginia State Auditor's Office as a starting reference. Check which sale or list it covers; a Lands Available or office information page is separate from an auction parcel list. Ask the sale office for the advertised parcels for the auction you plan to attend.Register to bid
Sale day
on a date the State Auditor sets, in practice between April and June, 2027 The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the West Virginia State Auditor before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the West Virginia State Auditor's Office as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Marion County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
Open Land Sale Listings and Certified to State search, West Virginia State Auditor's Office. Confirm whether this reference contains the auction parcels or covers a different list. Get the advertised parcel list from the state sale office before you price a bid, and recheck it before the sale.Confirm registration and deposit
Register with the State Auditor's Office, not with Marion County. Pre-registration is online and one sign-up covers every West Virginia county for the year, so there is no separate Marion County bidder list. The form asks for the name the deed should be made out to, an agent name, address, phone and email. Registrants certify they have not failed to pay for a prior public auction purchase, are not delinquent on West Virginia real property taxes, have no history of code enforcement violations and no pending code enforcement proceedings, and have not failed to comply with a valid raze or repair order in the past five years. An entity "must verify at the time of registration that it is properly registered with the West Virginia Secretary of State's office." Bring payment to the sale: W. Va. Code 11A-3-45 requires payment "by check, U. S. currency, or money order payable to the Auditor" delivered before the close of business on the day of sale, while the Auditor's land sale page describes a check or money order to the county sheriff, so confirm the payee with the Auditor's office before the sale.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the West Virginia due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.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 certificates
A parcel that draws no bid at the auction, or whose sale the Auditor disapproves, or that was sold at one of these auctions within the previous five years and was neither redeemed nor deeded because the purchaser did not follow through, may be sold by the Auditor with no further auction and no additional advertising. The statute sets a priority order rather than a price contest: an owner of an adjacent tract or parcel first, with the highest bidder taking it if more than one adjacent owner wants the same parcel; then the municipality; then the county commission; then the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation for its Land Bank Program; then any willing buyer. The price is agreed between the Auditor and the buyer, and the Auditor may require the buyer to reimburse the cost of a licensed attorney's title examination or let the buyer engage one at their own cost. These are handled as written bids sent with a check to the Auditor's land department inside a bid window the Auditor posts on its Land/County Collections page.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what West Virginia calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
Marion County Sheriff's Tax Office
J. Harper Meredith Building, 200 Jackson Street, Room 101, Fairmont, WV 26554. Mailing address: PO Box 1348, Fairmont, WV 26555-1348
Official websiteCounty notes
- The Marion County Sheriff does not run the tax lien sale. The Sheriff's Tax Office states that Senate Bill 552 moved the sale of delinquent real estate tax liens from county sheriffs to the West Virginia State Auditor's Office. Any Marion County notice describing a sheriff's tax lien sale in October or November reflects repealed law, not an event a bidder can attend.
- October 31 is the cutoff, and it is not an auction. The Sheriff's Tax Office certifies delinquent taxes to the State Auditor on October 31 each year, and after that the owner must contact the Auditor's Office to redeem. Nothing is bid on or sold on that date.
- The Marion County delinquent list runs in the Times West Virginian. On the Sheriff's Tax Office calendar, unpaid real estate taxes are published on September 1, and owners and registered lienholders receive certified mail notice of the coming tax lien sale. The Auditor's notice of the courthouse auction runs in the same paper before the sale.
- Marion County posts no auction calendar, bidder packet or sale list of its own. The auction details sit on the State Auditor's statewide pages, which serve all 55 counties, so a sale date found there belongs to whichever county that notice names and is often not Marion.
- Two offices, two sets of questions. The Marion County Sheriff's Tax Office at (304) 367-5310 handles the current bill, the delinquent balance and paying off before certification, and runs an online tax inquiry for Marion parcels. The State Auditor's Office handles the auction, bidder registration, redemption after certification and unsold parcels.
- The Sheriff's Tax Office is in Room 101 on the first floor of the J. Harper Meredith Building, 200 Jackson Street in Fairmont, open Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm and closed on legal holidays. The auction is held at the county courthouse during its normal operating hours, so confirm the building and room from the Auditor's published notice of auction before traveling.
West Virginia rules
- Redemption
- West Virginia runs three redemption windows in sequence, and only the last one involves the investor. Before the sheriff certifies the parcel to the Auditor on October 31, the owner pays the sheriff the taxes, interest and charges due. After certification and before the Auditor certifies the list for sale, the owner redeems from the Auditor at twelve percent a year on the amount due at certification. After the Auditor's auction, the owner or any other person entitled to pay the taxes, or any lienholder, may redeem at any time before a tax deed is issued. There is no fixed number of days on that last window: it closes when the deed issues, which cannot happen until the Auditor has served the notice to redeem at least 45 days beforehand and at least 30 days have passed since service. A person whose primary residence was sold may petition the Auditor, on grounds of financial hardship, to redeem in up to three installments before the deed is issued.
- Surplus proceeds
- The former owner is entitled to the surplus received at the Auditor's sale over and above the taxes and interest charged or chargeable including all costs of the sale, but only if a claim is filed in the circuit court of the county where the land sits within two years after the date the sale was confirmed. Unclaimed surplus is paid to the Auditor for credit to the general school fund.
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 Marion County, West Virginia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Marion County tax certificate sale?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Marion County tax sale list?
Verified Oct 6, 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 office that runs the sale before you bid.
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