St. Louis County tax sales, Missouri

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St. Louis County keeps the ch. 140 certificate machinery but replaces sale day with paperwork: one published notice carries the First Offering, Second Offering and Third Offering lists together, and every bid is a sealed envelope in a lobby drop box. The county's own notice carries the bluntest title warning in Missouri: because the Missouri Supreme Court has held that deeds of trust, mortgages and other security interests may not be extinguished by ch. 140 sales, the county transfers only such interest as it possesses, and a collector's deed alone does not convey clear title. Unverified flags: the 2026 first-offering list size of about 3,827 parcels comes from a secondary analysis site, not the county, and the claim that post-third parcels are offered continuously through GovEase is secondary only; the county notice rests post-third sales on s. 140.250(4), so the continuous channel is flagged here, not stated.

Selling office: St. Louis County Collector of Revenue

Next sale: 2026 sale held Monday, August 24, 2026, by sealed bid; bids closed 5:00 PM Wednesday, August 26, 2026. The 2026 notice was published in The Countian on July 21, July 28 and August 4, 2026. The 2027 sale follows the statutory fourth Monday in August, August 23, 2027, on the same sealed bid pattern if the county keeps it; confirm the new notice when it publishes in July 2027.

The 2026 sealed bid sale is complete. The next cycle is the fourth Monday in August 2027, August 23, 2027, with the notice expected in July 2027 on the 2026 pattern: registration in advance, drop box opening the Friday before, bids closing the Wednesday after the sale date.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	2026 sale held Monday, August 24, 2026, by sealed bid; bids closed 5:00 PM Wednesday, August 26, 2026
The notice	One official notice, published in The Countian on July 21, July 28 and August 4, 2026, carries the First Offering, Second Offering and Third Offering lists in a single sealed bid process.
Registration	Submit the notarized registration form plus a copy of current verifiable picture ID to the Collector's Office in advance. The bidder receives an email confirmation with an assigned bidder number.
The bids	Sealed bids go to the Collection Division's drop box in the street level lobby of 41 S. Central Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105, beginning Friday, August 21, 2026. The envelope must be clearly marked Tax Sale Bid and carry the bidder number. Handwritten bid forms will not be accepted.
The deadline	Final deadline 5:00 PM CST Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Bids are not opened until the close of business on August 26.
The certificate	All sales are final. An additional 27 dollar fee is added at the time of sale for recording the certificate of purchase (ss. 140.150, 140.170, 140.290), and the certificate is issued and delivered to the winning bidder.
Redemption and the deed	The owner redeems under s. 140.340, one year absolute and defeasible until the deed. The collector's deed follows the s. 140.405 title search and ninety day notice process. The county's notice warns that the deed alone does not convey clear title and the Collector makes no warranty as to title.
Format	Sealed bid only: the ch. 140 courthouse sale converted into a drop-box sealed bid process: St. Louis County runs its ch. 140 sale by sealed bid. Bidders register with a notarized form and photo ID, receive a bidder number by email, and deliver sealed bids to the Collection Division drop box at 41 S. Central Avenue, Clayton; bids are opened after the deadline, not called at an auction.
Selling office	St. Louis County Collector of Revenue

Sources: St. Louis County Collector of Revenue, 2026 tax sale notice (The Countian, July 21, July 28 and August 4, 2026). Missouri Revised Statutes ss. 140.150, 140.170, 140.290 (revisor.mo.gov). Missouri Revised Statutes s. 140.340, redemption (revisor.mo.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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis 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 St. Louis County

Register in advance with the Collector: the notarized registration form plus a copy of current verifiable picture ID, submitted to the Collector's Office. The confirmation email carries your assigned bidder number, and no bid is accepted without it. There is no sale day registration line; an unregistered bidder simply does not exist in this system.

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, St. Louis County	No bidding deposit is stated in the 2026 notice. The fixed extra charge is the 27 dollar fee added at the time of sale for recording the certificate of purchase.
Payment, St. Louis County	The winning sealed bid is paid under the s. 140.280 rule, the total amount at the sale, with the 27 dollar recording fee added. All sales are final. The practical discipline in a sealed bid county is funding before the envelope drops: there is no auction room in which to reconsider.
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: second and third offerings, then the post-third cycle

Because one notice carries all three offerings, a St. Louis County parcel can be bought at first, second or third offering in the same August process, with the third offering carrying the ninety day redemption. Parcels still unsold after the third offering move under s. 140.250(4), which the county notice quotes for post-third-year sales; a secondary tracking site describes a continuous GovEase offering for those parcels, but that channel is unverified in the county's own sources and is flagged here rather than stated.

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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