Webster County, WV tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Webster County, WV tax sale, one of 2,862 counties in 36 states. West Virginia sells tax lien certificates paying up to 12%, redeemable for Until the deed issues. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Sep 11, 2026.
How tax lien sales work in Webster County, seat of Webster Springs: 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 sale
- on a date the State Auditor sets, in practice between April and June, 2027
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Register with the State Auditor, not with Webster County.
- County office
- 304-847-2006 (also 304-847-5772; fax 304-847-2647)
On this page
How Webster 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
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- Register with the State Auditor, not with Webster 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, not with Webster County. Pre-registration is online at wvsao.gov and one sign-up covers every West Virginia county for the year, with each company registered separately; a bidder who has not pre-registered may instead complete a notarized affidavit on the day of the sale. The form asks for the exact name you want on the deed, an agent name, contact details and last year's Bidder ID if you have one. You must certify that you have not failed to pay for a prior auction purchase, that you are not delinquent on real property tax as the most recent owner of record in any West Virginia county, that you have no history of county or municipal code enforcement noncompliance, that you are not subject to code enforcement proceedings over property you own, and that you have not failed within the preceding five years to comply with a raze or repair order. A domestic or foreign entity must be registered with the West Virginia Secretary of State and authorized to conduct business in the state. Bring payment by check, United States currency or money order and deliver it before the close of business on the day of the sale. Ask the Auditor who to make the check out to before you go: W. Va. Code 11A-3-45 says payable to the Auditor, while the Auditor's Land Sale Listings page says payable to the sheriff of the county.
Sale format and venue
Webster County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Webster 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.
Get the advertised list
Use Land Sale Listings and Certified to State inquiry, West Virginia State Auditor for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.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 county office before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use West Virginia State Auditor as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Webster County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Land Sale Listings and Certified to State inquiry, West Virginia State Auditor. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Register with the State Auditor, not with Webster County. Pre-registration is online at wvsao.gov and one sign-up covers every West Virginia county for the year, with each company registered separately; a bidder who has not pre-registered may instead complete a notarized affidavit on the day of the sale. The form asks for the exact name you want on the deed, an agent name, contact details and last year's Bidder ID if you have one. You must certify that you have not failed to pay for a prior auction purchase, that you are not delinquent on real property tax as the most recent owner of record in any West Virginia county, that you have no history of county or municipal code enforcement noncompliance, that you are not subject to code enforcement proceedings over property you own, and that you have not failed within the preceding five years to comply with a raze or repair order. A domestic or foreign entity must be registered with the West Virginia Secretary of State and authorized to conduct business in the state. Bring payment by check, United States currency or money order and deliver it before the close of business on the day of the sale. Ask the Auditor who to make the check out to before you go: W. Va. Code 11A-3-45 says payable to the Auditor, while the Auditor's Land Sale Listings page says payable to the sheriff of the county.
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)
Webster County Sheriff's Tax Department
304-847-2006 (also 304-847-5772; fax 304-847-2647)
2 Court Square, Room G-3, Webster Springs, WV 26288
Official websiteCounty notes
- The Webster County Sheriff does not run the tax lien sale. Senate Bill 552, in effect June 10, 2022, moved the auction to the West Virginia State Auditor, who sells the liens at the Webster County Courthouse, 2 Court Square in Webster Springs, a building open to the public 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sheriff Richard J. Clayton's tax department still mails the tickets, collects the taxes, enforces payment of delinquent taxes and publishes the delinquent list. Any page advertising an October or November sheriff sale in this county is describing repealed law, not a date you can bid at.
- Webster County publishes no tax sale list of its own. The parcel list reaches bidders in three places: the sheriff's second delinquent list, printed in the Webster Echo on or before September 10 with notice that the liens will be certified to the Auditor on October 31; the Auditor's notice of auction, run in the same paper once a week for three consecutive weeks before the sale; and the Auditor's Certified to State inquiry at wvsao.gov, where Webster parcels are searchable by tax year, district, map, parcel, taxpayer name, certificate number, ticket or account number.
- Split your questions between two offices. Ask the Sheriff's Tax Department at 304-847-2006 or 304-847-5772, 2 Court Square Room G-3, Webster Springs, about a current bill, the delinquent amount on a parcel, and paying off before the October 31 certification. Ask the West Virginia State Auditor's Office, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. East, Building 1, Room W-100, Charleston, WV 25305, at 877-982-9148 toll free or 304-558-2251, about the auction itself, bidder registration, redeeming after the sale, and buying parcels that went unsold.
- Check what a parcel owes before you bid. The Sheriff's Tax Office runs an online tax record search at webster.softwaresystems.com that filters to unpaid tickets and searches by taxpayer name, account number, tax year and ticket, or by district, map, parcel and sub-parcel. Webster County's seven tax districts are Camden on Gauley, Cowen, Fork Lick, Glade, Hacker Valley, Holly, and Addison/Webster Springs.
- The October 31 certification of the delinquent list to the State Auditor is not a sale. Nobody bids, nothing is sold and no instrument is issued; the parcels move from the sheriff's roll to the Auditor's. Treating it as an auction date would send you to an event that does not exist.
- One office runs all 55 counties, so every schedule, notice and registration form sits on the same statewide pages at wvsao.gov. A sale date found there belongs to whichever county that notice names, which is often not Webster.
- Parcels that draw no bid at the Webster auction are sold afterward by the Auditor with no further auction and no additional advertising, by written bid inside a window the Auditor posts on its Land/County Collections page. That window closes for processing at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on September 30, 2026, with bids postmarked by the end of that business day. Adjacent owners, then the municipality, then the county commission, then the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation are considered ahead of a general buyer.
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 Webster County, West Virginia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Webster County tax certificate sale?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Webster 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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