Durham County tax foreclosure sales

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Durham is the one county in this North Carolina set with a set monthly sale day: the second Tuesday of every month at noon, in the courthouse lobby, run by a court appointed commissioner. That predictability, plus a published 10 percent sale deposit and a three business day balance rule after the upset period, makes Durham the most plannable tax foreclosure market in the state.

Selling office: Durham County Tax Administration / Tax Office. The Tax Office assigns parcels to private attorneys to commence foreclosure; notices are posted on the Tax Administration website.

Next event: Tuesday, December 8, 2026, 12:00 p.m. (standing monthly sale day). The county publishes the standing pattern, sales on the second Tuesday of every month at 12:00 p.m., so the next sale day is Tuesday, December 8, 2026 by that schedule. No December notice was posted on the foreclosure page as this page is checked; the most recent dated notice opened is for Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at noon (3930 Glenn Road, three parcels, estimated minimum bid $9,396.00), which shows the notice format: parcels, case file number, and an estimated minimum bid per sale.

No December parcel count is published on the foreclosure page read; the October 13, 2026 notice carried three parcels at an estimated minimum bid of $9,396.00.

Dates and stages

Next event	Tuesday, December 8, 2026, 12:00 p.m. (standing monthly sale day)
Sale track	Judicial foreclosure under NCGS 105-374, conducted by a court appointed Commissioner. Notices are published in the newspaper once a week for two weeks and posted at the courthouse for at least 20 days.
Sale pattern	Monthly: the second Tuesday of every month at 12:00 p.m.
Upset bids	A 10 day upset bid period begins once the sale is complete. Upset bids of 5 percent or $750, whichever is greater, are received by the Clerk of Court for each property; if an upset bid is filed, a new 10 day period begins.
The list	The Foreclosure page of the Durham County Tax Administration, where the sale notices post, plus the courthouse posting and newspaper advertisement for each sale.
Format	In person, Judicial Building lobby, monthly sale day: In person, in the lobby of the Durham County Judicial Building, 510 Dillard Street (the new courthouse; a current notice calls it the Durham County Justice Center, 510 South Dillard Street), Durham. The sale is conducted by a Commissioner appointed by the Court, usually Mr. R. Douglas Davis.
Selling office	Durham County Tax Administration / Tax Office. The Tax Office assigns parcels to private attorneys to commence foreclosure; notices are posted on the Tax Administration website.

Sources: Durham County Tax Administration, Foreclosure. Durham County, Notice of Tax Foreclosure Sale (October 13, 2026). Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and owners can pay and stop a sale at any point before the upset bid period expires.

Research Durham County 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 Durham County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How North Carolina tax foreclosure works

There is no tax lien sale in North Carolina. Property taxes are a lien on the property itself, and the county's remedy is foreclosure of that lien, not an auction of the lien. Guilford County's page states it in one line: North Carolina state law prohibits the sale of property tax liens. Any site selling you a North Carolina tax lien certificate is selling something the state does not issue.
Track one: judicial foreclosure (NCGS 105-374). The taxing unit files a foreclosure action in superior court, takes a judgment, and the court appoints a commissioner to sell the property. The commissioner advertises the sale (published once a week for two weeks and posted at the courthouse, at least 20 days in the counties that state the posting period), cries it at the courthouse, and on confirmation executes a Commissioner's Deed. It works like a mortgage foreclosure, because the statute builds it on one.
Track two: in rem foreclosure (NCGS 105-375). The taxing unit dockets a judgment with the Clerk of Superior Court without a full court action, and the judgment is enforced by execution: the sheriff advertises and sells the property, and conveys by Sheriff's Deed. Counties choose the track, and some in this set use both; the track decides who sells and which deed you get.
The sale itself is only the opening price. The officer or commissioner files a report of sale, and the price stands open for 10 days. The taxing unit itself often bids the judgment amount at the sale, so a winning bid below the tax debt is not the bargain it looks like until the upset period runs.
The upset bid period is the real auction. For 10 days after the report of sale (or after the last notice of upset bid) is filed, any person may file an upset bid with the Clerk of Superior Court: a bid exceeding the reported price by at least 5 percent, with a minimum increase of $750, backed by a deposit of at least 5 percent of the upset bid and never less than $750 (NCGS 1-339.64 for in rem and execution sales; NCGS 45-21.27 states the same math). Each valid upset bid restarts a fresh 10 day period, with no limit on rounds. Only when a period expires with no upset bid do the rights of the parties become fixed; the sale is then confirmed and the deed issues. The owner can still pay the judgment and costs and stop the process at any point up to the end of the upset period.

How bidding works in Durham County

No pre-registration is published on the foreclosure page; the money gate is the sale deposit below, put up with the attorney conducting the sale.

There are two deposits, not one. The sale deposit goes to the officer, commissioner or attorney at the sale itself, at the percentage your county's row above states. The upset bid deposit goes to the Clerk of Superior Court if you enter or raise during the 10 day window. They are different money, paid to different offices.
The upset window is where North Carolina sales are actually decided. A parcel can look won on sale day and change hands twice more inside successive 10 day periods. Work the Clerk's file for the parcel, not just the sale day result.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Durham County	The highest successful bidder puts up a 10 percent deposit in cash or certified check with the attorney.
Payment, Durham County	Once the upset period closes, the final high bidder is notified and must produce the balance within three business days after notification. That is the shortest balance fuse in this North Carolina set; have the full amount arranged before you bid, not after.
Sale deposit	Set by each sale's notice, not by one statewide figure. In this set the published sale deposits run from 5 percent of the bid (New Hanover, Union) through 10 percent (Durham) to 20 percent (Guilford, Gaston), in cash or certified funds. The county figure is in the deposit row above; the notice for your parcel controls.
The upset bid raise	An upset bid must exceed the reported sale price, or the last upset bid, by a minimum of 5 percent, and in any event by at least $750. One of the two numbers is always bigger; compute both and use the larger.
The upset bid deposit	Filed with the Clerk of Superior Court with the bid: cash, a certified check or a cashier's check of at least 5 percent of the amount of the upset bid, and never less than $750. Several counties in this set use the standard form AOC-CV-414 for the bid.
The clock	Ten calendar days from the filing of the report of sale or the last notice of upset bid, expiring at the close of the Clerk's normal business hours on the tenth day. Weekends count inside the period; where the tenth day falls on a day the courthouse is closed, the filing rolls to the next open day, as Gaston and Guilford state expressly. Every upset bid restarts the full 10 days.
Title and redemption	The deed is a non-warranty Commissioner's Deed or Sheriff's Deed. There is no post sale redemption in North Carolina tax foreclosure: the owner's right is to pay the judgment and stop the sale, and it ends when the upset period expires and the sale is confirmed. A tax foreclosure sale may also leave the buyer subject to taxes and assessments that were not part of the judgment, as Forsyth's list states expressly; read the notice's subject to language before pricing a bid.

No bid parcels: back next month, then surplus

Durham publishes the full leftover path: properties that receive no bid are brought back to sale the next month, and after two appearances at sale with no bids, the property goes into the county's surplus property, with instructions for obtaining property out of surplus linked from the foreclosure page.

Before you bid

The hammer price is an opening offer. Budget and plan for the upset period: anyone in the state can outbid you at the Clerk's office for 10 days, and each raise restarts the clock. Your real closing date is the day a period finally expires.
Read the notice's subject to language. Tax foreclosure deeds are non-warranty, and taxes or assessments outside the judgment can survive the sale. The notice for the parcel, not the county page, is the full term sheet.
Know the track. Judicial sales run through a court appointed commissioner and end in a Commissioner's Deed; in rem sales run through the sheriff and end in a Sheriff's Deed. The track also decides who holds your deposit and who answers questions.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your resale or hold value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown. In an upset bid state, set two numbers: your sale day bid and your walk away upset ceiling.

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