Lincoln County tax sales, Missouri

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Lincoln County's Collector runs the most traditional sale in this Missouri set: on the east steps of the courthouse in Troy, with registration on the morning of the sale itself. The Collector's tax sale page sets the order: properties are advertised in the Lincoln County Journal and Elsberry Democrat beginning the second week of July, registration opens at 8:00 a.m. on sale day in the Collector's office, Room 103, and the sale begins at 10 a.m. on the fourth Monday in August. At the conclusion of the sale the purchaser immediately pays the amount bid and receives a Certificate of Purchase.

Selling office: Lincoln County Collector of Revenue, Room 103, Lincoln County Courthouse, Troy

Next sale: Monday, August 23, 2027 (2026 sale Monday, August 24, 2026). The Collector tax sale page fixes the standing pattern: east steps of the courthouse, fourth Monday in August, registration from 8:00 a.m. in Room 103, sale at 10 a.m.

Lincoln County rewards the early riser: the bidder number comes from Room 103 on the morning of the sale, not before.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Monday, August 23, 2027, 10 a.m., east steps of the courthouse, Troy
Eligibility of parcels	Real estate that has three years of delinquent taxes must be offered for sale to discharge the lien (RSMo 140.160, per the Collector tax sale page).
The list	Advertised in the Lincoln County Journal and Elsberry Democrat for three consecutive weeks prior to the sale, the last advertisement 15 days prior, beginning the second week of July (Collector page).
The sale	On the east steps of the Courthouse in Troy on the fourth Monday in August, beginning at 10 a.m., in public auction style, with an opening bid of the amount to cover all taxes, interest, and charges (Collector page).
Registration	Beginning at 8:00 a.m. the morning of the sale, in the Collector's office, Room 103 at the Lincoln County Courthouse. Bidders complete an affidavit of non-delinquency; a bidder who is not a Missouri resident must appoint a citizen of Lincoln County as agent and consent in writing to circuit court jurisdiction (Collector page).
Payment	At the conclusion of the sale, the purchaser immediately pays the amount of bid to the Collector and receives a Certificate of Purchase, and is responsible for all subsequent taxes (Collector page).
Redemption	The purchaser is not entitled to possession during the one-year redemption period (Collector page), inside the s. 140.340 frame. Surplus over the opening bid is deposited with the County Treasurer for the owner of record; unclaimed after three years, it is disbursed to the schools (s. 140.230).
Format	In person, courthouse steps, Troy. Buyers must be present to bid.
Selling office	Lincoln County Collector of Revenue

Sources: Lincoln County Collector, Tax Sale (lincolncountycollector.com). Lincoln County Collector, tax information (lincolncomo.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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Missouri tax sales work

One August Monday runs most of the state. Under s. 140.150 the collector's sale falls on the fourth Monday in August. The delinquent list is published three consecutive weeks, and the sale is held in or adjacent to the county courthouse commencing at 10:00 AM, or by electronic media where the collector chooses (s. 140.170). Two jurisdictions in this set, St. Louis City and Jackson County, run court foreclosures instead and carry their own process on their pages.
The winner is whoever pays the required sum, and eligibility is policed. Under s. 140.190 the purchaser is the bidder who pays the taxes, interest and charges due. A buyer delinquent on other property must sign the non-delinquency affidavit, and a nonresident may not bid without filing a written consent to circuit court jurisdiction and appointing a citizen of the county as agent.
The certificate caps at ten percent, and the surplus is not yours. The certificate of purchase states an interest rate not to exceed ten percent per annum (s. 140.290). Anything bid above taxes and costs is surplus, held by the county treasury for the former owner (s. 140.230), and it earns the purchaser no interest at all under s. 140.340.
Redemption runs a year, and stays defeasible until the deed. Under s. 140.340 the owner, a lienholder or an occupant holds an absolute right to redeem for one year and a defeasible right until the purchaser actually acquires the deed. Redemption pays the purchase money, sale costs, title search and notice costs, interest at the certificate rate on the tax amount, and eight percent per annum on subsequent taxes the purchaser paid.
The deed is earned on paperwork, and missed paperwork is fatal. Under s. 140.405 the purchaser must run a title search and notify the record owner and every publicly recorded claim holder, by first class and certified mail, at least ninety days before taking the deed, then file the affidavit; failure to comply loses the purchaser's interest entirely. The collector's deed then vests fee simple (s. 140.420).
Unsold parcels climb a ladder, then leave the calendar. No covering bid means a second offering next year (s. 140.240) and a third offering the year after, the third carrying a ninety day redemption (s. 140.250). After the third offering the collector offers unsold parcels once every thirty days, and post-third purchasers take a deed immediately with no redemption; counties and cities may also hold parcels through a trustee under s. 140.260.

How bidding works in Lincoln County

Buyers must be present to bid, and the Collector page carries a warning worth repeating: the office strongly recommends consulting an attorney about a purchaser's rights, because buying at a tax sale carries restrictions very different from a foreclosure sale. The office itself can give no legal advice.

Bid the tax amount, not the parcel, at first and second offerings. Interest runs at no more than ten percent and only on the taxes and costs; every dollar of overbid becomes surplus that earns nothing and waits on redemption to come back. On a contested parcel the disciplined Missouri bid stops where the certificate stops paying.
The ladder rewards patience. The same parcel returns as a second offering, then a third offering with a ninety day redemption, then in the post-third cycle with no redemption at all. A buyer who wants the property rather than the yield often does best at the bottom of the ladder, and the counties in this set run those later channels very differently, from Boone County's sealed bid post-third sales to Jefferson County's trustee.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Lincoln County	No advance deposit is stated on the Collector tax sale page; registration on sale morning and immediate payment at the conclusion are the money steps.
Payment, Lincoln County	Immediately at the conclusion of the sale, the full amount of the bid, to the Collector (Collector tax sale page). The purchaser also takes responsibility for all subsequent taxes.
What is sold	At a first or second offering, a certificate of purchase: a lien position, not the property and not a deed. The purchaser's road to ownership runs through the redemption period and the s. 140.405 notice process. At a post-third offering, what is sold is effectively the deed itself, issued immediately with no redemption.
The interest rate	The certificate states an interest rate not to exceed ten percent per annum (s. 140.290). The rate attaches to the delinquent taxes and sale costs. Nothing above that amount earns anything: the surplus belongs to the former owner.
The surplus	Any amount bid above the taxes, interest and costs is surplus, deposited in the county treasury for the former owner under s. 140.230, and noted separately on the certificate. On redemption it goes back through the county process; it is never yield, and pricing a contested parcel as if the overbid earned ten percent is the standard Missouri beginner's error.
Redemption money	The purchase money, the costs of sale, the purchaser's title search and notification costs, and interest at the certificate rate (capped at ten percent) on the tax amount, plus subsequent taxes the purchaser paid at eight percent per annum (s. 140.340). No interest is owed on any excess above delinquent taxes plus sale costs.
Redemption periods	One year absolute, and defeasible until the deed issues, for first and second offerings (s. 140.340). Ninety days for third offerings (ss. 140.250, 140.405). None at all for post-third purchases, where the deed issues immediately.
The deed path	Title search report from a licensed attorney or title company; notice of the right to redeem to the record owner and every publicly recorded claim holder at least ninety days before the deed, by first class and certified mail return receipt requested; affidavit at the end of the redemption period (s. 140.405). Counties apply an eighteen month outer limit from the certificate: miss the process and the purchaser's interest is lost.

Unsold parcels: the offering ladder

Parcels that draw no covering bid climb the statutory ladder: a second offering at the next year's sale (s. 140.240), a third offering the year after with a ninety day redemption (s. 140.250), and after the third offering, post-third offers in which the purchaser takes a deed immediately with no redemption. Counties and cities may also hold parcels through a trustee under s. 140.260. No standing Lincoln County post-third list is published on the Collector pages read.

Before you bid

Model the surplus at zero percent. Run every first or second offering bid with the overbid earning nothing and returning only on redemption. If the deal only works with yield on the full bid, it does not work in Missouri.
Calendar the deed process the day you buy the certificate. The s. 140.405 title search and ninety day notice, inside the eighteen month outer limit counties apply, are where Missouri certificates go to die. The buyer who diaries the process owns the deed path; the buyer who does not loses the interest entirely.
Read the county's channel before the state's frame. Eight counties in this set run ch. 140 sales, but no two run them identically: sealed bids in St. Louis County, GovEase in Clay County, courthouse steps elsewhere, and two jurisdictions, St. Louis City and Jackson County, run court foreclosures with no certificate at all.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your exit value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown.

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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