Knox County tax sales, Tennessee

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Knox runs its sale as a court event with a twist found nowhere else in this set: after a parcel is struck off to a private buyer and the result is advertised, any citizen has ten days to raise the bid by at least ten percent, which forces a resale. The county's own procurement documents describe the pipeline plainly: the Law Director files the suit, the Clerk and Master sells, and Knox County is responsible for whatever nobody bids on. The payment terms below are carried from the county's most recent published sale information sheet, for Tax Sale 23, and are marked unverified for Tax Sale 25.

Selling office: Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court for Knox County, selling with the Knox County Law Director and the Knox County Trustee

Next sale: Tax Sale 25, June 2, 2026; held. The decree confirming the report and ordering Tax Sale 25 was entered April 20, 2026 in the Chancery Court for Knox County, Docket No. 210628-3 and consolidated cases, and the published notice set the sale for June 2, 2026 at The Grande Event Center. As of November 9, 2026 that sale has run; county staff were discussing the property pool for a 2027 sale, but no 2027 date is published on the county pages read.

Tax Sale 25 was held June 2, 2026. As of November 9, 2026, no 2027 sale date is published on the county pages read.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Tax Sale 25, June 2, 2026; held
The sale	A judicial sale by the Clerk and Master under decree of the Chancery Court, run with the Law Director Office and the Trustee Office, which select the properties and file the suit. Bidding begins at the amount owed to Knox County on each parcel, and the sale is as is, where is, if is, with no warranties; a person delinquent on property taxes is disqualified from bidding.
The list	The sale list is published by legal notice in a newspaper of general circulation ahead of the sale, as the June 2, 2026 notice was, and the Trustee posts sale information and sale material on the county website.
Registration	Registration is handled at the sale; the county published sale information requires the high bidder to arrange payment with the Clerk and Master immediately after the parcel is struck off. No advance online registration is published for the Knox sale on the pages read.
Bidding and payment	Per the county's most recent published sale information (Tax Sale 23): the high bidder pays in full in cash, check or cashier's check immediately, or pays thirty percent down on the day and signs a promissory note for the balance due within thirty days at no interest during that period; the Clerk and Master may accept or reject any form of payment in the Clerk and Master's sole discretion, and business checks and notes must be cosigned or guaranteed by individuals. After the sale, a parcel sold to a private party is advertised in a newspaper of general circulation, and any citizen then has ten days to raise the bid by a minimum of ten percent; a raised bid triggers a resale open to anyone, starting at the raised amount. These payment terms are marked unverified for Tax Sale 25, whose own payment sheet was not published on the pages read.
Redemption	The redemption period runs from the date the Chancellor signs the Judgment and Order Confirming Sale, on the 67-5-2701 scale in the state frame. A purchaser whose parcel is redeemed is reimbursed the bid plus interest at twelve percent per annum from the date of payment, as the county sale information states. When the period expires unredeemed, the purchaser contacts the Clerk and Master and requests a Clerk and Master Deed, and recording the deed is the purchaser's responsibility.
Unsold parcels	Knox County is responsible for the properties that are not bid at the tax sale, as the county procurement documents state; they are taken in on the clerk bid for the tax entities under the state frame. The pages read do not publish Knox County's later resale terms for county acquired parcels.
Format	In person: The sale is an in person public auction at the venue named in the court decree and notice. For Tax Sale 25 in 2026 that venue was The Grande Event Center, 5441 Clinton Highway, Knoxville, with doors open at 8:00 a.m. and the sale starting at 10:00 a.m.
Selling office	Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court for Knox County, selling with the Knox County Law Director and the Knox County Trustee

Sources: Knox County Procurement, Auctioneer Services RFP 3742 (tax sale process, Section 4.13). Knox County Trustee, Tax Sale Information (Tax Sale 23). Knox County Trustee, Tax Sale 24 notice. Knox County Chancery Court, 2026 fee schedule. 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 Knox 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 Knox County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Tennessee delinquent tax sales work

The trustee collects first; the court sells. Property taxes become delinquent on March 1, and unpaid taxes are turned over for suit. The delinquent tax attorney files in chancery court, and the sale is a judicial sale conducted by the clerk and master under court order under TCA 67-5-2501, not a treasurer or auditor auction. The court may order an internet sale in lieu of public outcry under TCA 67-5-2501(a)(1), and several counties in this set sell online.
The government opens the bidding on every parcel. Under TCA 67-5-2501(a)(2) and TCA 67-5-2506, the clerk bids the amount of the judgment, the delinquent taxes with interest, penalties, costs and fees, on behalf of the tax entities prosecuting the suit, whenever no other bidder offers the same or a larger bid. The exception is a parcel the legislative body has flagged for environmental risk or as a nonconforming parcel, where the clerk does not bid at all.
Confirmation starts both clocks. The clerk reports the sale to the court within five business days, and the right of possession and the redemption clock both run from the entry of the order confirming the sale under TCA 67-5-2503(a). What the purchaser eventually receives as a title document varies by county: some counties issue a clerk and master deed, and others, Shelby and Davidson among them, treat the recorded order confirming sale itself as the title document. The county page states which document its sales produce.
Redemption is tiered by delinquency, and the scale changed in 2026. The court sets the redemption period for each parcel before the sale, and it is never more than one year. For orders confirming a sale entered on or after July 1, 2026, Public Chapter 971 sets the period at one year where the taxes were delinquent three years or less, and ninety days where they were delinquent more than three years; the thirty day period for property shown to be vacant or abandoned continues unchanged. Orders entered before July 1, 2026 keep the older scale. Redemption pays the purchaser interest at 12 percent per year on the entire purchase price under TCA 67-5-2701(b).
Unsold parcels vest in the tax entities and come back through the county. A parcel that draws no bid at the judgment amount is bid in for the tax entities. The county later resells the parcels it acquired under TCA 67-5-2507 as amended in 2024, with no minimum bid by default and published lists of properties for sale. In Shelby County the resale channel is the Shelby County Land Bank; in most other counties it is the county's own surplus sale process, and each county page names the channel its county actually runs.

How bidding works in Knox County

Bidders register at the sale itself; there is no published advance registration window or online registration for the Knox tax sale on the pages read. The practical gate is payment readiness: the high bidder must arrange payment with the Clerk and Master immediately after the parcel is struck off.

The redemption clock is a property of the parcel, not of the sale. Under the 2026 scale, a parcel whose taxes were delinquent more than three years redeems in ninety days, while a recently delinquent parcel in the same sale carries a full year. Most inventory that reaches a tax sale has been delinquent for years, so most parcels in a Tennessee sale now run on the short clock. The period the court set is written in the sale documents for each parcel; read it before pricing the wait.
Twelve percent runs on the whole price. Because redemption interest accrues on the entire purchase price, the redemption outcome is simple to model: price plus 12 percent a year for the time actually held. There is no premium split and no stepped percentage to defend. What needs defending is the opening judgment bid, because every dollar above it is your money at the same rate but with the parcel risk attached.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Knox County	No advance deposit is published. The money events sit at and after the sale itself: on the county's most recent published terms, full payment at once, or thirty percent down on the day with a promissory note for the balance within thirty days. Those terms are marked unverified for Tax Sale 25.
Payment, Knox County	On the county's most recent published sale information (Tax Sale 23, January 2023), the high bidder arranges payment with the Clerk and Master immediately after the parcel is struck off: in full in cash, check or cashier's check, or thirty percent down that day with a signed promissory note for the balance due within thirty days and no interest during that thirty days. The Clerk and Master may accept or reject any form of payment, and business checks and notes require an individual cosigner or guarantor. This payment sheet predates Tax Sale 25 and is unverified for the 2026 sale specifically.
What is sold	The property itself, sold under court order, but possession and title wait on redemption. Until the redemption period expires, the purchaser holds the right to be repaid with interest, or to take title if nobody redeems. There is no lien certificate stage in Tennessee.
The opening bid	Made by the clerk, not the market. Under TCA 67-5-2501(a)(2) and TCA 67-5-2506 the clerk bids the amount of the judgment, the delinquent taxes with interest, penalties, costs and fees, for the tax entities prosecuting the suit, whenever no other bidder offers the same or a larger bid. Every public bid starts from that floor.
Redemption money	The redemptioner first pays the clerk the total delinquent taxes, penalty, interest and court costs, plus interest on the entire purchase price paid by the purchaser at 12 percent per year, accruing from the purchaser's payment date to the motion to redeem (TCA 67-5-2701(b)). The rate runs on the whole price, not on a part of it.
Redemption periods, current law	Set by the court for each parcel before the sale and never more than one year. For orders confirming a sale entered on or after July 1, 2026: one year where the period of delinquency is three years or less, ninety days where it is more than three years, and thirty days for property shown to be vacant or abandoned. Orders entered before July 1, 2026 keep the prior scale of one year, one hundred eighty days and ninety days by delinquency span.
The title document	What issues after redemption expires unredeemed depends on the county: a clerk and master deed in some counties, a decree confirming sale in others, and in Shelby and Davidson the recorded order confirming sale itself serves as the title document. A tax sale title is not title insurance; surviving interests and the quiet title step are the buyer's homework.
Unsold parcels	A parcel that draws no bid at the judgment amount is bid in for the tax entities prosecuting the suit. The county later resells acquired parcels under TCA 67-5-2507 as amended in 2024, with no minimum bid by default and a published list of properties for sale under TCA 67-5-2511. That resale list is the year round leftover channel.

Unsold parcels: taken in by Knox County

Under the county's own description of the process, in its procurement documents for auctioneer services, Knox County is responsible for properties not bid at the tax sale. Those parcels pass to the county on the clerk bid for the tax entities and are held through the redemption period. The county pages read do not publish a standing list or resale procedure for those parcels, so any later county sale is announced as the county publishes it; that resale route is unverified on the pages read.

Before you bid

Read the confirmation order, not just the sale list. Your redemption period, your right of possession, and your title document all come from the order confirming the sale. The sale list tells you what sold; the order tells you what you bought.
Expect cash discipline on the county's clock. Tennessee sales settle in cash or certified funds on the schedule the court sets, which in some counties is measured in days, not weeks. Davidson County requires the balance by cashier's check at noon on the Friday of its sale week. Arrive with funds arranged, not with a plan to arrange them.
Check for cancelled dates before you travel. Court calendar sales move. Davidson County cancelled four dated sales in the fall of 2026 and its next sale is January 20, 2027; several counties in this set had published no 2026 date at all when these pages were checked. The clerk and master's current schedule is the only live word.
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.

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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