The Laramie County tax lien sale is an annual auction, held the Thursday after Cheyenne Frontier Days in late July or early August, where the county sells the right to collect unpaid property taxes to private investors.1Laramie County, Wyoming. Laramie County Treasurer – Tax Sale You are not buying land. You are buying a lien that pays 15% annual interest plus a one-time 3% penalty, and if the owner never pays, you can eventually apply for a tax deed and take title.
When the Sale Happens and How to Find the List
The Treasurer publishes the delinquent tax list in a local legal newspaper every Thursday for the three weeks leading up to Frontier Days.1Laramie County, Wyoming. Laramie County Treasurer – Tax Sale Each listing shows the legal description and street address, the record owner’s name, the years for which taxes are delinquent, the total of taxes, interest, and penalties owed for each year, and any special assessments on the property.2Justia Law. Wyoming Code 39-13-108 – Enforcement That list is your research universe. Everything you might bid on will be on it.
Registering to Bid
You cannot walk in and bid. The county requires a completed Tax Sale Registration Form and a W-9 showing your Social Security number or federal employer identification number, so interest income on your certificates can be reported. Both forms are available on the Laramie County Treasurer’s website or at the Cheyenne office.1Laramie County, Wyoming. Laramie County Treasurer – Tax Sale
Researching the Properties Before Sale Day
The county’s online GIS mapping and the assessor’s property records show land use, improvements, valuations, and zoning. Use them. A lien on an improved residential lot is not the same investment as a lien on a landlocked parcel with no road access, and the format of the auction gives you no time to figure that out on your feet. Preparation is where you have real control, because once bidding starts, the system, not the investor, picks the order.
How the Random-Draw Auction Works
Laramie County does not use competitive bidding. The Treasurer announces each delinquent property by owner name and amount due, then draws a registered bidder’s number at random. That bidder gets first refusal. If they pass, the Treasurer draws another number, and the process continues until someone buys the lien. Then it moves to the next property.1Laramie County, Wyoming. Laramie County Treasurer – Tax Sale
You cannot pick your targets. You can only decide, in the moment, whether to accept the parcel the draw hands you. That is why research on every property on the list matters more than picking favorites.
Paying for the Lien
If you accept a parcel, the full amount of taxes, interest, and costs is due immediately. The Treasurer accepts cash, certified funds, personal checks, and credit cards (Discover, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express).1Laramie County, Wyoming. Laramie County Treasurer – Tax Sale You receive a Certificate of Purchase for each parcel. That certificate is a lien, not a deed. It documents your claim and the amount you paid, nothing more.
What You Earn, and How Redemption Works
The property owner keeps title and the right to redeem. Redemption stays open from the date of sale until a valid tax deed application has been filed and accepted by the Treasurer.3Justia Law. Wyoming Code 39-13-109 – Taxpayer Remedies
To redeem, the owner pays the Treasurer the full sale amount, a one-time 3% penalty, and 15% annual interest from the date of sale. If you have paid any subsequent years’ taxes on the property, the owner reimburses those too, also at 15% annual interest. If the owner redeems after you have begun the tax deed notification process, they must also cover your actual notification expenses, capped at $250.3Justia Law. Wyoming Code 39-13-109 – Taxpayer Remedies
All payments go through the Treasurer’s office. Once the owner pays in full, the Treasurer issues a certificate of redemption and sends the principal, penalty, and interest to you.
Paying the Next Year’s Taxes
If the same owner fails to pay the following year’s taxes, you can pay those as soon as they go delinquent. The payment attaches to your original lien and earns the same 15% annual interest.4Platte County, Wyoming. Tax Lien Sale You are not required to. But if you don’t, the county may sell a new certificate for the unpaid year to a different investor, which creates competing claims. Most experienced buyers pay subsequent taxes to protect their position.
Applying for a Tax Deed
If the owner never redeems, you can convert the lien into ownership, but only after satisfying strict notice requirements.
You must give written notice to every person in actual possession of the property, and to the person in whose name the property was taxed, if those individuals can be found in the county. Notice has to be served at least three months before the tax deed application. If no one occupies the property and the assessed owner cannot be found in the county, you have to publish notice in a local newspaper once a week for three weeks, with the first publication no more than five months and the last no less than three months before the application.2Justia Law. Wyoming Code 39-13-108 – Enforcement
On top of that, you must send notice by certified or registered mail to the record owner and to any mortgagees whose addresses are known or appear in the public records.2Justia Law. Wyoming Code 39-13-108 – Enforcement After completing every step, you submit proof of compliance to the Treasurer. If it checks out, the Treasurer issues the tax deed and ownership transfers.
Risks Worth Knowing Before You Bid
The 15% rate is the headline, and in most cases it is also the actual outcome: the owner redeems, you get your money back with interest, and you move on. That is the expected result, not the exception, which means you are rarely acquiring real estate at a discount.
The liens that do not redeem often involve properties with serious problems. Environmental contamination, no legal access, title defects, structures in disrepair. If you end up with a tax deed on a parcel nobody wanted to save, the land may be worth less than the lien, the subsequent taxes, and your notice costs combined.
The random-draw format cuts against strategy. You may get the chance to buy a lien you have not researched, or you may never get drawn for the one you wanted. The only defense is researching every parcel on the delinquent list before sale day.
The tax deed notice requirements are unforgiving. Missing someone in possession, or a mortgagee listed in public records, can expose the deed to later challenge. Many investors who reach this stage hire an attorney to handle the notifications. With reimbursable notice expenses capped at $250 if the owner redeems late in the process, the cost of getting it right sits with you.
A bankruptcy filing by the property owner triggers an automatic stay that can halt collection and delay the tax deed process. The stay does not wipe out your lien, but it can tie up the investment for months or longer. It is uncommon, but worth factoring in before committing large sums to a single certificate.