Land · Massachusetts tax title guide

Boston tax title, Massachusetts

Verified

Boston does not auction tax title property to the highest bidder. Foreclosed and surplus city property is handled by Real Estate Management and Sales in the Mayor's Office of Housing, which sells through a competitive Request for Proposals process and, by law, may only choose a buyer whose proposal meets every requirement in the published Request for Proposals. The City does not accept offers outside that process, will not sell undevelopable land or public open space, and can take a property back if the buyer does not start development on schedule. The trap for a tax title investor is assuming a Boston auction calendar exists. It does not. The live opportunity is a specific parcel specific proposal deadline in the Boston City Record, and the diligence is reading that full proposal package, not a bid sheet.

Selling office: Real Estate Management and Sales, Mayor's Office of Housing (disposition of tax foreclosed property); Office of the Collector Treasurer, Treasury Division, 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201 (tax title). Tax Collection phone 617-635-4131; Treasury phone 617-635-4140

Next sale: No 2026 tax title auction. Most recent verified disposition: Request for Proposals for 275 Bolton Street, South Boston, proposals due September 8, 2026. The August 3, 2026 Boston City Record offered 275 Bolton Street, a tax foreclosed or surplus parcel of about 1,380 square feet, as is, with proposals due before 4:00 PM on Tuesday, September 8, 2026. A second 2026 proposal deadline, for an unnumbered Devon Street parcel in Dorchester, fell on Monday, August 17, 2026. Boston also published a tax taking for Tuesday, October 27, 2026 under section 60:53, which is the start of the City's case against delinquent owners, not a sale to buyers.

Watch the Boston City Record and boston.gov Requests for Proposals for new tax foreclosed parcels. No standing auction calendar exists.

Dates and deadlines

Sources: Real Estate Management and Sales, boston.gov. Boston City Record, August 3, 2026 (275 Bolton Street Request for Proposals). Law Department, tax title contact, boston.gov. Contact Boston City Hall, boston.gov. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and parcels are pulled up to sale day.

Research Boston parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcels, the date, and the opening terms. It does not give you the owner, the value, or the rest of the picture: liens, foreclosure status, and parcel history. PropertyRadar is the data platform for that layer. It carries owner records, assessed and market values, foreclosure and tax data, and property history for parcels across Boston, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Massachusetts tax title works

• Massachusetts taxes are a lien on the land, billed by the city or town in quarterly installments due August 1, November 1, February 1 and May 1, with unpaid balances accruing interest at 14 percent per year before any taking (chapter 59, sections 57 and 57C).
• If the tax stays unpaid, the municipal collector makes a demand, waits at least 14 days, gives 14 days notice of intention, and then takes the land for the city or town by an instrument of taking recorded at the registry of deeds within 60 days (section 60:53).
• The amount owed becomes a tax title account held by the municipal treasurer, and later taxes and charges are certified into the account while the owner works out payment (section 60:61).
• The owner, or anyone with an interest in the land, can redeem at any time before a foreclosure petition is filed by paying the treasurer the full tax title account plus interest at 8 percent per year, in a lump sum or in installments (section 60:62).
• Before foreclosure, the treasurer can sell the tax title itself, assigning it to the highest bidder at a public auction for no less than the amount needed to redeem it, and the buyer steps into the town's shoes (section 60:52).
• Only the Land Court can end the right to redeem. The tax title holder petitions after 12 months from the taking, a title examiner is appointed, and interested parties are notified by registered mail (sections 60:65 and 60:66).
• If the court enters a decree, all rights of redemption are barred and the title becomes absolute, subject only to a narrow one year window to move to vacate the decree for extraordinary circumstances (sections 60:69, 60:64 and 60:69A).
• Foreclosed property the town sells goes first through a broker listing, then, if unsold after 12 months, an auction with a floor of two thirds of appraised value, and only then a custodian public auction, and the former owner keeps the excess equity above the tax debt and sale costs (sections 60:64A, 60:77B and 60:1).

How buying works in Boston

NOT PUBLISHED: Boston publishes no tax title auction registration. Each Request for Proposals sets its own submission route and requirements.

• Know which sale you are at A custodian auction sells foreclosed property with title already vested in the city. A Collector's Deed sale or an assignment sale sells the lien position only, and you are buying a Land Court case, redemption risk and a timeline measured in years, not a house. Worcester runs all three tracks, so read the category heading on the notice before the parcel list.
• Price the deposit and the clock, not just the bid Massachusetts sale terms are local and strict. Springfield's 2026 terms required a verified $5,000 certified deposit per property before bidding and made a winner's deposit non refundable. Fall River required a $15,000 certified check or money order just to qualify to bid, with the balance due in 30 days. Worcester's published foreclosed terms took 10 percent down and the balance plus a $125 recording fee within 15 days. Have certified funds ready before you register.
• Check whether you are even allowed to bid Cities bar the former owner and their agents, anyone delinquent on their own taxes to that city, and, in Springfield, anyone with open code violations or a failed prior purchase. Section 60:77B also requires a sworn statement that neither you nor anyone gaining equity has a disqualifying fire related conviction or an unpaid real estate tax delinquency to that city. Being the high bidder does not help if the custodian must reject you.
• Expect conditions that outlive the auction Foreclosed property in Massachusetts is sold as is, often with occupants the buyer must evict and environmental conditions the buyer takes on. Springfield adds a three year owner occupancy restriction on residential property and rehabilitation deadlines that start at transfer. Boston does not auction at all; its tax foreclosed property moves by proposal, with development deadlines the City enforces by taking the property back.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

What happens to property that does not sell

Property that is not disposed of remains in the Real Estate Management and Sales inventory for maintenance, site assessment and a possible later offering. The City states it will not sell property it considers undevelopable or public open space. A buyer who misses the development start date in a completed sale can lose the property back to the City unless the City grants an extension, and some sales carry open space or parking covenants.

Before you bid

• Read the registry, not just the listing Pull the instrument of taking, any instrument of assignment and the Land Court docket for the parcel at the registry of deeds. A taking that was not recorded within 60 days, or notices that do not match the statute, are the defects that unravel tax titles, and the published sale terms will not tell you about them.
• Confirm the decree is final and the window is running For a foreclosed property, confirm the Land Court decree has entered and note the one year section 60:69A vacatur window and the section 60:64A election and accounting deadlines. A cheap parcel inside that window, or one where the former owner has a live excess equity claim, carries risk the auction price will not reflect.
• Verify the numbers with the treasurer Ask the treasurer's office for the tax title account balance as of the judgment date, the appraised value if the property went through section 60:64A, and the exact deposit and closing terms for the sale you plan to attend. City websites in this set ranged from complete published terms to no published sale information at all, and two official pages still quoted the old 16 percent interest rate.
• Walk the property and the neighborhood Foreclosed tax possessions are sold as is, with no warranties, and may carry occupants, code violations, environmental conditions and, in the United States government's case, a surviving federal redemption right. Price the eviction, the cleanup and the holding time into your maximum bid before the sale, not after.

Every Massachusetts city in this set

One page per city, each verified against the city's own publications and the current text of MGL chapter 60. Massachusetts tax title is municipal, run by the city or town collector and treasurer; this set is the 10 largest cities.

• Boston (this page)
• Worcester tax title
• Springfield tax title
• Cambridge tax title
• Lowell tax title
• Brockton tax title
• Quincy tax title
• Lynn tax title
• New Bedford tax title
• Fall River tax title

Keep going

Once a deadline puts you in a sale, the Land Investor Due Diligence Toolkit is the checklist and bid worksheet to run on each parcel before you bid. The same desk runs Florida tax deed sales, Texas tax sales, Pennsylvania tax sales, Georgia tax sales, North Carolina tax foreclosure sales, Ohio tax foreclosure sales, Illinois tax lien sales, Michigan tax foreclosure sales, Arizona tax lien sales, California tax defaulted property sales, Colorado tax lien sales, South Carolina tax sales, Indiana tax lien sales, Tennessee delinquent tax sales, Wisconsin tax deed sales, Missouri tax sales, New Jersey tax lien sales, Maryland tax lien sales, West Virginia tax sales, Virginia tax sales, Oklahoma tax resale, Kansas tax foreclosure sales, Arkansas tax-delinquent land sales, Alabama tax sales, Kentucky certificate of delinquency sales, Mississippi tax land sales, Nevada tax deed sales, New Mexico delinquent property tax sales, Iowa tax lien sales, Nebraska tax certificate sales, Minnesota tax-forfeited land sales, Utah final tax sales, Washington tax foreclosure sales, Oregon tax foreclosure sales, Connecticut tax sales and Massachusetts tax title sales, and the proven New York season, with the live membership, sits in the NY tax sale hub.