When the sale is held
The State Auditor holds one public auction a year for each county, at that county's courthouse, during normal courthouse hours on a business day. The Auditor certifies each county's list of lands subject to sale on or after March 1 and on or before August 1, and the auction must be held within 90 days of that certification. The Auditor's own published property tax calendar puts the county auctions in April, May and June. Dates are set centrally and the counties publish nothing, so the schedule comes from the Land Sale Listings at wvsao.gov and from the Auditor's notice of auction, which runs once a week for three consecutive weeks in the county legal newspaper before the sale.
When taxes go delinquent
West Virginia property taxes are billed in two installments. The first half is payable September 1 and becomes delinquent October 1; the second half is payable the following March 1 and becomes delinquent April 1. Paying on or before the payable date earns a two and one half percent discount, and once taxes are delinquent interest runs at nine percent a year until paid. A lien for the taxes, interest and charges attaches to the real property on July 1 for the taxes payable for the ensuing fiscal year, which is what makes a West Virginia tax lien senior collateral. The sheriff publishes a second delinquent list with a notice of sale on or before September 10 and mails certified notice to owners and recorded lienholders at least 30 days before the sale, then certifies whatever is still unpaid to the State Auditor on October 31.
What happens after the sale
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.
Leftover parcels between sales
A parcel that draws no bid at the annual auction, or whose sale the Auditor disapproves, or that was sold within the previous five years and neither redeemed nor deeded because the purchaser never followed 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 auction: first an owner of an adjacent tract or parcel, and if more than one adjacent owner wants the same parcel the Auditor sells to the highest bidder among them; then the municipality; then the county commission; then the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation for its Land Bank Program; then any party willing to buy. The price is whatever the Auditor and the purchaser agree, 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. The Auditor may refuse a buyer on the same grounds that disqualify an auction bidder, and citizens and entities of a country designated a Country of Particular Concern by the United States Department of State are barred. Operationally the Auditor's land department takes these as written bids with a check, inside a bid window it posts on its Land/County Collections page; the window shown on that page as of September 10, 2026 closed for processing on September 30, 2026.
These dates are the statewide statutory schedule. The exact auction date, registration deadline, and platform are set county by county, so confirm them on the West Virginia county pages before you plan a bid. For the mechanics of the sale itself, see how to buy in West Virginia.
Verified Sep 10, 2026 against West Virginia statutes.
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.