Land · Montana tax lien guide

Montana tax lien assignments by county

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Montana is the assignment state, and the first thing to unlearn is the sale. There is no auction of liens, no bidding, and no premium: when taxes go delinquent the county treasurer attaches the lien to the county itself on the first working day in August, and the county holds it. A buyer steps in afterward, by assignment, by mailing one statutory notice by certified mail, proving the mailing to the treasurer, and paying the full delinquency. Where several buyers want the same lien, the policy of that county decides, and in Montana those policies run from a computerized lottery and a snake draft to a literal draw of cards.

The return is statutory interest at 5/6 of 1 percent per month on what the assignee paid, and the endgame splits in two: most tax deeds issue directly from the treasurer after three years, but a home occupied by its owner goes to a public auction whose opening bid adds half the assessed value of the property, with that half paid over to the former owner. The ten counties below are the largest in the state, and each page tracks the list, notice, and assignment practice of that county, which is where Montana assignments are actually won or lost.

Verify before you go: a city or town can move a date, change terms, cancel a sale, or pull parcels at any time. The official sale list is the final word.

The 10 counties

Each row links to that jurisdiction's own page: selling office, venue or platform, deposit, payment terms, leftover channel, and sources. Where a jurisdiction has not posted a dated sale, the row says so instead of projecting a pattern onto it.

How Montana tax lien assignments work

• Taxes are due in halves, on November 30 and May 31. A delinquent installment draws a 2 percent penalty at once and interest at 5/6 of 1 percent per month until paid (MCA 15-16-102).
• The county warns, then attaches. The notice of pending attachment is published by the last Monday in June and mailed to the assessed person at least two weeks before attachment; the treasurer attaches the lien no later than the first working day in August, and the county itself is the possessor of the lien (MCA 15-17-122 and 15-17-125).
• A buyer takes the lien by assignment. The buyer mails the Notice of Pending Assignment by certified mail to the person the property was assessed to, not earlier than August 15, at least two weeks before payment and not more than 60 days before purchase, gives the treasurer proof of the mailing, and pays the full delinquency of taxes, penalties, interest, and costs. There is no bidding and no premium (MCA 15-17-323).
• Competing buyers are sorted by county policy, not by price. Treasurers publish their own rules for competing requests, from preference lists and lotteries to a card draw, and an assignee may later reassign the lien to another buyer for any consideration (MCA 15-17-323).
• Redemption runs three years from attachment. The owner, an occupant, the holder of an unrecorded interest, or another interested party may redeem by the first working day in August three years after attachment; a subdivided residential or commercial lot with delinquent special assessments and no habitable structure redeems in two years (MCA 15-18-111).
• The final year notice is mandatory. Between May 1 and May 30 of the year the redemption period expires, the assignee must notify the occupant and every interested party that a tax deed may be issued, and file proof within 30 days; an assignee who fails to give the notice has the lien and the assignment certificate cancelled (MCA 15-18-212).
• The deed issues, or the home is auctioned. For most property the treasurer grants the assignee a tax deed on payment of the deed fee and notice costs. Where the property is a dwelling occupied by its record owner, the treasurer instead holds a public auction whose opening bid adds half the assessed value of the land and dwelling, and that half value component and any overbid are paid to the former owner as surplus (MCA 15-18-211 and 15-18-219 to 15-18-221).

Montana at a glance: the county attaches every lien to itself each August and buyers take liens only by assignment; there is no lien sale (MCA 15-17-125 and 15-17-323).

Research the parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcel, 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 the country, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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Get the alert, not just the calendar.

The dates on these pages are the free layer. The Pine membership is the paid layer, proven in New York: members pick their counties, get alerts when a sale is scheduled or a list posts, and receive the full property list with the analysis already done. Montana jurisdictions open from the interest list first, in the order readers join it.

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.