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Land · Massachusetts tax title guide
Springfield tax title, Massachusetts
Verified
Springfield is the one city in this set with a verified 2026 tax title auction on its official site. The Treasurer's Office holds custody of tax title foreclosed properties, runs their maintenance and redemptions, and sells them at a live auction at City Hall, with Sullivan and Sullivan Auctioneers conducting the sale and registration opening ninety minutes before the February 3, 2026 auction. Bidders must verify a five thousand dollar certified deposit for each property before bidding, winning deposits are not refundable, and the balance is due at closing in certified funds. The traps are in the terms: properties are sold as is, occupants and environmental conditions are the buyer's problem, residential buyers must occupy the home as a principal residence for at least three years, and rehabilitation and new construction deadlines run from the transfer date. Read the full terms document before registering, because the deposit is at risk from the first bid.
Selling office: Collector Treasurer, City of Springfield, 36 Court Street, Room 110, Springfield, MA 01103. Treasurer's Office phone (413) 736-3111
Next sale: Tax Foreclosure Auction, Tuesday, February 3, 2026, 6:00 PM, Springfield City Hall. Registration begins at 4:30 PM. Springfield's Tax Foreclosure Auction page, last updated January 8, 2026, announces the City's first real estate auction of 2026 for Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at City Hall, with registration at 4:30 PM and a pre auction workshop on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. It is the only verified dated 2026 tax title auction among the ten cities in this set. The published Terms and Conditions of Sale govern the deposit, closing funds, barred bidders and buyer restrictions, and the page warns that individual parcels can be removed from the auction list.
The first auction of 2026 was February 3, 2026. Watch the Tax Foreclosure Auction page for later 2026 dates; none further were published at the check date.
Dates and deadlines
| Next sale | Tax Foreclosure Auction, Tuesday, February 3, 2026, 6:00 PM, Springfield City Hall. Registration begins at 4:30 PM |
| Seller | Tax Title Custodian, through the Treasurer's Office, which holds custody of all tax title foreclosed properties in Springfield |
| 2026 sale | February 3, 2026, 6:00 PM, Springfield City Hall, conducted by Sullivan and Sullivan Auctioneers |
| Registration | In person at City Hall from 4:30 PM on auction day, after verifying the required deposit for each property the bidder wants |
| The list | Published on the Tax Foreclosure Auction page with a Custodian's Notice of Sale, with parcel research through the City GIS map tool |
| Leftover channel | NOT PUBLISHED: the published terms let the custodian reject bids that do not approximate fair market value and adjourn the sale, but state no standing leftover channel |
| Format | Live public auction of tax title foreclosed properties by the Tax Title Custodian, conducted by Sullivan and Sullivan Auctioneers: In person at Springfield City Hall, 36 Court Street. Parcel research through the City GIS map tool and the auctioneer site |
| Selling office | Collector Treasurer, City of Springfield, 36 Court Street, Room 110, Springfield, MA 01103. Treasurer's Office phone (413) 736-3111 |
Sources: Collector Treasurer, City of Springfield. Tax Foreclosure Auction, City of Springfield. Terms and Conditions of Sale, City of Springfield. 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 Springfield 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 Springfield, 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 Springfield
Register in person at Springfield City Hall starting at 4:30 PM on February 3, 2026. Before the auction every bidder must provide verification of the deposit for each property.
- 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
| Deposit, Springfield | $5,000 per property, in the form of a certified check, bank check or money order payable to the City of Springfield, verified before the auction. A successful bidder's check is non refundable. |
| Payment, Springfield | Balance of the purchase price at the time of the closing, by certified check, bank check, money order or attorney's trustee check. Bids move in minimum $1,000 increments or as the auctioneer specifies. The buyer also owes a payment in lieu of taxes under chapter 44, section 63A from the deed date to June 30, 2026, computed on the sale price, and for two fiscal years if the closing falls within 30 days of the fiscal year end. |
| What is sold | Two different things, depending on the sale. A custodian auction sells the property itself after foreclosure. An assignment sale under section 60:52 sells the tax title, which is the town's lien position, and the buyer still has to foreclose in Land Court before owning or possessing anything. |
| How property reaches a sale | Delinquency, demand, a recorded instrument of taking, a tax title account with the treasurer, a Land Court foreclosure petition after 12 months, and a decree barring redemption. Only after that decree can the municipality sell the property as its own. |
| Minimum price | The statute sets floors, not the auctioneer. A section 60:64A auction may accept no bid below two thirds of the appraised value, and a section 60:52 assignment may not go for less than the amount needed to redeem the tax title. The section 60:77B custodian statute sets no numeric floor, but the custodian may reject any bid that does not approximate fair value, and each city notice may set its own minimum bid. |
| What the winner pays | The bid price plus whatever the published terms add: a deposit at the sale (for example 10 percent in Worcester's last published foreclosed auction terms and $5,000 per property in Springfield's 2026 terms), the balance by the closing deadline in the terms, any deed recording fee stated in the notice, and a payment in lieu of taxes under chapter 44, section 63A from the deed date to the end of the fiscal year. |
| Interest | Unpaid taxes accrue at 14 percent per year before a taking (chapter 59, sections 57 and 57C). Once land is taken, the tax title account accrues at 8 percent per year under section 60:62, charged on the original sum and on each later certified sum, with no compounding. Older city pages quoting 16 percent are out of date. |
| Redemption | The owner or any interested person can redeem at any time before a foreclosure petition is filed, by paying the treasurer the tax title account plus 8 percent interest and charges, in full or in installments (section 60:62). After the petition, redemption is still possible on terms the Land Court fixes (section 60:68). |
| The decree | A Land Court decree of foreclosure bars all rights of redemption and makes the title absolute (sections 60:69 and 60:64). For one year after the decree, an interested person can move to vacate it only for extraordinary circumstances and only if no innocent purchaser has taken an interest or no excess equity claim has been paid (section 60:69A). |
| Surplus | The former owner keeps the excess equity. Under sections 60:1 and 60:64A, whatever a sale brings, or a retained property appraises for, above the tax title account balance at judgment and the documented costs of appraising and selling belongs to the former owner, is held in a segregated interest bearing escrow, and must be accounted for in an itemized statement mailed within 30 days of the sale or appraisal. |
| The leftover channel | Property that does not sell through the broker listing and the two thirds floor auction under section 60:64A can be sold by the tax title custodian at public auction under section 60:77B, or held and disposed of like other municipal land under section 60:77. Very low value parcels can be sold without foreclosure under sections 60:79 and 60:80. |
| Occupancy restriction | Residential properties are sold subject to a restriction requiring the purchaser, or a third party purchaser after rehabilitation, to occupy the property as a principal residence for not less than three years after transfer. Abutter buyers must combine the parcel with their abutting property at closing. |
| Rehabilitation timelines | Scrub vegetation and litter must be removed within one month of transfer, rehabilitation completed within twelve months, and new construction within two years. Plans, cost estimates and evidence of funds must be approved by the Treasurer's Office before title transfers. |
| Barred bidders | No sale to the prior owner or their agent, representative or straw, to anyone who owes the City money, to prior buyers who failed to close or rehabilitate, or to persons with current code violations. A deposit taken from a barred person is forfeited. |
| As is and occupants | Properties are sold as is, subject to environmental conditions, to tenants or occupants the buyer must evict, and to any United States redemption right. The buyer bears the risk of casualty loss after signing the memorandum of sale. |
| Affidavits | The successful bidder must submit the affidavit required by section 60:77B and an affidavit disclosing property owned in Springfield, plus lead paint paperwork for pre 1978 residential property. |
What happens when a parcel does not sell
NOT PUBLISHED: Springfield's published terms do not state what happens to a parcel that receives no acceptable bid. The Tax Title Custodian may reject any and all bids and adjourn the sale if no bid approximates fair market value, and the Treasurer's Office keeps custody of unsold foreclosed properties.
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.
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New York tax sales · 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