How District of Columbia Tax Sales Work

The District of Columbia runs one tax lien sale for the whole city, and it breaks three habits buyers bring from other lien states. The rate is fixed, so you bid on price. The money you bid above the taxes earns nothing. And the certificate dies unless you sue to foreclose inside a short window. The governing law is D.C. Code Title 47, Chapter 13A (47-1330 to 47-1385).

The District of Columbia tax sales hub carries the sale office, dates and parcel data, and how to buy D.C. tax liens walks the buyer's sequence. If lien and deed models still blur together, start with tax liens compared to tax deeds.

Step 1: Taxes go delinquent and OTR builds one list

D.C. real property tax falls due in two installments, March 31 and September 15. A late installment draws a 10 percent penalty plus simple interest of 1.5 percent per month. The tax offered at the sale is the real property tax and vault rent still unpaid on October 1, business improvement district tax unpaid on September 1, and other charges certified to OTR for collection.

The District has no counties, so one office handles every parcel. The Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) mails a delinquency notice by May 1 and a final notice at least 2 weeks before the sale. Under D.C. Code 47-1331 the tax lien is a prior and preferred claim over every other lien, and it is perpetual.

Some parcels never reach the list. Under 47-1332 the District may not sell property with an approved forbearance, or improved Class 1A or 1B property owing less than 2,500 dollars in tax. A homestead parcel that already carries a recent outstanding certificate of sale is excluded too.

Step 2: Watch for the date, because the statute sets no month

The sale is held once a year, in person, at OTR headquarters at 1101 4th Street SW. The code fixes no month. The statutory post-sale notice form prints a July date, yet the 2026 sale ran August 19 and 20. OTR posts the list on its tax sale page and prints it in The Washington Times and The Washington Informer, and parcels drop off as owners pay.

Several dated OTR events look like the sale and are not: the June seminars, the list posting, the newspaper advertisements, the registration opening and the payment deadline. One more date rule matters later. The legal date of sale for every parcel is the last day of the sale, whichever day it was actually called.

Step 3: Bid on price, and know what the surplus costs you

Here is why D.C. auctions feel unfamiliar. Nobody bids the rate down. Each parcel opens at the taxes, penalties and interest owed plus a 200 dollar tax sale fee, bids rise in fixed increments, and the highest bidder takes the lien.

Before bidding you must hold a deposit equal to 20 percent of what you plan to buy, and a bid your deposit does not cover is re-auctioned on the spot. Final payment of each bid, surplus and costs included, is due within 5 business days after the last day of the sale. Miss it and you forfeit 20 percent of the deposit, and the parcel is bid off to the District.

The trap sits in the surplus. Anything you bid above the taxes, penalties, interest and costs is surplus, and D.C. Code 47-1334 pays no interest on it. Every dollar of overbid dilutes your yield. The code also does not say in plain terms that surplus comes back to you on redemption, so confirm the refund with OTR before you treat it as recoverable capital.

Step 4: A fixed rate with no floor

Certificates earn simple interest of 1.5 percent per month or part of a month, which annualizes to 18%, on the amount paid excluding surplus. Interest begins on the first day of the month after the sale and runs until the redemption payment reaches the Mayor.

There is no minimum return. The guaranteed floor is 0%, so a parcel redeemed before the first of the following month pays you nothing for the wait. Taxes you pay on the parcel after the 6-month mark earn interest on the principal tax only.

Plug your real bid, surplus included, into the tax lien yield calculator to see what a heavy overbid does to the return.

Step 5: Redemption stays open until a judgment is final

The District sets no fixed redemption deadline. The short version: Open until the D.C. Superior Court foreclosure judgment is final; the holder may file 6 months after the tax sale. The owner, a mortgage lender, another lienholder or an heir may redeem at any time until the court's foreclosure judgment is final.

The redemption payment goes to the Mayor, not to you. It covers the amount you paid excluding surplus with interest, other taxes you paid with interest, and your allowed expenses. Those expenses are tightly capped. Nothing you spend in the first 4 months after the sale is recoverable. Before suit, you recover a 50 dollar posting fee, recording costs and a title search up to 300 dollars. After suit, attorneys' fees are capped at 1,500 dollars before the fifth status hearing, plus set amounts for later hearings and a motion for judgment.

See redemption periods explained for how an open-ended right like this compares with fixed clocks elsewhere.

Step 6: Foreclose on time or lose everything you paid

This is the deadline that wipes out passive holders. Under 47-1355 the certificate is void unless you bring an action to foreclose the right of redemption within 1 year of the certificate date, and every dollar you paid is forfeited to the District. OTR issues certificates about 4 to 6 weeks after the sale, so the clock starts on the certificate date, not the sale date.

The filing window opens 6 months after the tax sale date. Before you file, post the post-sale notice on the premises no sooner than 4 months after the sale and at least 45 days before the complaint. When you file in D.C. Superior Court, notify OTR's Chief Financial Officer and the Real Property Tax Ombudsman. Budget for a lawyer from the day you buy.

Step 7: Judgment, deed, or a trustee sale

The District holds no tax deed auction. If the court bars redemption, the Mayor executes a fee simple deed once you pay what a redeeming party would have owed, apart from the taxes your own certificate covers. You must pay within 30 days of the final judgment or the judgment may be vacated on motion, and you record the deed within 30 days of execution.

Owner-occupied homes follow a different path. For Class 1A or 1B property with 5 or fewer units that the owner, an heir or a beneficiary occupied as a principal residence when you filed, the court appoints a trustee to sell the property. You receive your allowed expenses plus the lesser of 10 percent of the remainder or 20,000 dollars, and the balance goes to the owner. You carry the burden of proving the rule does not apply, so screen occupancy before you bid.

A deed that does issue still needs title work. Read what survives a tax deed and quiet title after a tax deed before you price a resale, and run the due diligence before a tax sale checklist on every parcel.

Buying the liens nobody bid on

Parcels with no private buyer are bid off to the District. OTR resells them over the counter through MyTax.DC.gov on weekdays from 8 am to 3 pm, for the bid-off amount plus interest, with payment due the same day. The 6-month wait shrinks by the days since the original sale, so an older lien can be ready to foreclose at once, and the void clock runs from the date of assignment. OTR also runs a separate Discount Tax Sale; the last published one, on December 3, 2025, opened every parcel at 300 dollars. The D.C. over-the-counter page and the national over-the-counter tax liens guide cover the mechanics.

Putting it together

In D.C., disciplined bidding pays better than aggressive bidding. The rate is the same for everyone, so a high bid only buys surplus that earns nothing. The owner can redeem up to judgment, so plan for redemption, which is the common outcome. And the certificate is only worth what you are prepared to litigate, on a deadline, in Superior Court.

One pending change deserves a watch. D.C. Law 26-41 would raise the improved-property exclusion from 2,500 to 4,000 dollars and add new exclusions, but the code marks it not funded. Re-check D.C. Code 47-1332 and OTR's tax sale page before each sale.