Under Maryland’s right of redemption after a tax sale, you can reclaim your property at any time before a circuit court enters a final judgment foreclosing your redemption rights. To do it, you pay the county tax collector the full amount owed in certified funds. The clock is real, though: the certificate holder can file a foreclosure complaint six months after the sale for most properties, or nine months for owner-occupied homes, and every step past that point drives the cost up.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-833
How Redemption Works
When your property is sold at a Maryland tax sale, the buyer does not walk away with your house. They receive a certificate of sale, which functions as a lien. You still hold title. You keep the right to redeem the property by paying what’s owed until a court cuts that right off.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-827 – Right of Redemption
Any property sold by a county tax collector at tax sale is redeemable, whether residential, commercial, or vacant, and whether the underlying debt was property taxes, water and sewer charges, or other municipal liens. The owner can redeem. So can anyone else with a legal interest in the property, including mortgage lenders and other lienholders, because foreclosure would erase their interests too.
You pay the county tax collector, not the certificate holder. The collector then notifies the holder to surrender the certificate in exchange for the funds, and issues a certificate of redemption that can be recorded in the land records much like a mortgage release.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-828 – Redemption
The Deadlines That Matter
Three dates shape your options.
The waiting period. The certificate holder cannot file a foreclosure complaint until six months have passed from the date of sale, or nine months for owner-occupied residential property. Redeeming during this window is the cheapest path.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-833
The pre-complaint notice. Before filing anything in court, the certificate holder must send you written notice that includes a copy of the certificate of sale, a statement that you can still redeem, and a breakdown of the amount required. The holder cannot file the complaint until at least two months after sending the first notice.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-833 Treat that notice as a countdown. Once the complaint is filed, attorney’s fees and court costs pile onto your redemption bill.
The two-year certificate expiration. If the certificate holder never files a foreclosure complaint within two years of the sale, the certificate is void. The holder loses everything they paid, the county applies those funds to the outstanding tax debt, and the lien may be resold at a future sale.4Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Frequently Asked Questions About Tax Sale Do not plan around this. Most certificate holders file well within the window, and while you’re waiting your costs only grow.
Final judgment. Once the court enters a final judgment foreclosing your right of redemption, redemption is over. There is no grace period. Title vests in the certificate holder free and clear of the mortgage, other liens, and your ownership interest.5Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-840 – Notice by Publication
What You Have To Pay
The redemption amount has two layers: the tax debt and the certificate holder’s reimbursable expenses. Both grow the longer you wait.
On the tax side, you owe the original lien amount plus interest running from the sale date at a rate set at the time of sale (rates vary by county). If the certificate holder paid subsequent tax bills or penalties on the property after the sale, those get added. Any new property taxes, interest, and penalties that came due after the sale are also included, with one important carve-out: for owner-occupied residential property, post-sale taxes cannot be added to the redemption amount.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-828 – Redemption
Payment must be in certified funds. A cashier’s check or money order. Personal checks are not accepted, and Maryland does not allow partial payments after a tax sale; you pay the full amount in a single lump sum. Before a sale actually takes place, some counties will pull a property from the tax sale list if a partial payment brings the balance below a local threshold, so calling the county tax office early is worth doing.4Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Frequently Asked Questions About Tax Sale
Reimbursable Expenses By Stage
The certificate holder’s recoverable costs jump in tiers based on when you redeem.
Within four months of the sale (seven months for owner-occupied homes): the holder is not entitled to any expense reimbursement.6Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-843 – Reimbursement of Expenses
After four months (or seven for owner-occupied) but before a foreclosure complaint is filed: the holder can recover the recording fee for the certificate, a title search fee capped at $250, actual postage and certified mailing costs, and attorney’s fees capped at $500.
After the foreclosure complaint is filed: attorney’s fees rise to $1,300, or $1,500 if the holder has already filed an affidavit of compliance. On top of that, the holder can recover court filing fees, service of process costs, publication fees, and the title search fee. In unusual cases a court may approve additional attorney’s fees beyond these amounts.6Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-843 – Reimbursement of Expenses
The financial case for redeeming as early as possible is straightforward. Waiting through the pre-complaint notice period can add hundreds of dollars. Waiting until after the complaint is filed can add thousands.
Disputing The Amount
Certificate holders sometimes claim reimbursable expenses that exceed the statutory caps or fold in costs that are not recoverable. If the number the collector is quoting looks wrong, you can ask the circuit court to determine the correct redemption amount. Until the court issues that order, the collector cannot accept payment and the dispute stays open.7Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-829 The court’s order becomes the binding figure. If the holder’s attorney’s fees exceed the $500 pre-complaint cap or the $1,300-to-$1,500 post-complaint limits, this is the route to bring them back in line.6Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-843 – Reimbursement of Expenses
If A Foreclosure Complaint Has Been Filed
Filing the complaint does not end your redemption rights. It starts a court proceeding that will eventually end them if you don’t act. The complaint is filed in the circuit court where the property sits and must include the certificate of sale, a property description, a statement that no one has redeemed, and the redemption amount.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-835 – Complaint
The holder must name the record title holder, mortgage lenders, deed of trust trustees, and other parties as defendants, and follow the court rules for service.9Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-836 – Parties Other interested parties who aren’t named as defendants must receive the complaint by certified mail, the property itself must be posted, and the court orders publication in a local newspaper once a week for three consecutive weeks.5Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-840 – Notice by Publication
Notice defects are a real defense. Courts have dismissed foreclosure actions where the certificate holder skipped required steps. If you have been served, redeeming remains your first and safest option; challenging service is a fallback if redemption is not possible.
After Final Judgment: Can You Still Get The Property Back?
Once final judgment is entered, ownership transfers to the certificate holder free and clear. Mortgages and other liens on the property are wiped out along with your interest. Recovering the property after that point is difficult, but not always impossible.5Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-840 – Notice by Publication
The vehicle is a motion to vacate the final judgment, and the strongest grounds involve notice failures. Maryland courts have set aside tax sale judgments where the certificate holder didn’t post the property, didn’t send certified mail to interested parties, or didn’t publish as required, on the reasoning that improper notice deprives the court of jurisdiction and amounts to constructive fraud. If you can show you never received notice of the foreclosure and the holder skipped statutory steps, a court may restore your redemption rights. Speed matters. The longer you wait after judgment, the harder the motion becomes.
The new owner can also move to take possession. If a former owner refuses to leave, eviction follows through the courts, on a compressed timeline.
Tenants In A Property Going Through Tax Sale
If you rent rather than own, the certificate holder is required to send you written notice of the foreclosure proceeding, even if the holder does not know your name (in which case the notice goes to “occupant” at the property address).9Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-836 – Parties After foreclosure, the new owner generally steps in as landlord. Tenants with a fixed-term lease generally have the right to stay through the end of the term. Month-to-month tenants can be given written notice to vacate. Physical occupancy of the premises counts as sufficient notice of the tenancy to the purchaser as a matter of law. Don’t ignore the foreclosure notice; responding, or at least consulting a housing attorney, is how a tenancy avoids being overlooked in the transition.