A USVI property tax auction is not held on a fixed annual calendar. The Office of the Tax Collector, a unit within the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, schedules sales when enough delinquent properties are ready, then publishes the date on ltg.gov.vi and in local newspapers. Announced sales can be postponed, so confirm any date close to when you plan to bid.
How To Find Out When the Next Sale Is
The Lieutenant Governor’s office maintains an auction page at ltg.gov.vi where it posts announcements, registration forms, and schedule changes. Registration documents are typically made available online 30 days before an auction, which is your earliest reliable signal that a sale is coming. The office also issues press releases when dates are set or moved. Auctions originally scheduled for June 2024 in the St. Thomas/St. John and St. Croix districts, for example, were postponed indefinitely, with new dates to be announced later.
USVI law also requires the delinquent property list to be published in a newspaper of general circulation. Those notices include the auction date, the location, and the properties being offered. Monitoring both the LTG website and the Virgin Islands Daily News or a comparable local paper is the most dependable approach. If you want confirmation by phone, the Office of the Tax Collector can be reached at 340-774-2991.
Registering as a Bidder
You must complete a bidder registration form issued by the Office of the Tax Collector before you can participate. The form asks for your full legal name, address, phone number, and email, and you must present a government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport. Everything on the form is signed under penalty of perjury.
Registration costs $50 if you complete it in advance and $100 if you register the day of the auction. You must register in person by the close of business on the day before the sale begins.
Bidding on behalf of another person, a company, or an LLC requires more paperwork. You have to submit identification for yourself and for the entity or individual you represent, along with a notarized letter or power of attorney authorizing you to act. Incomplete paperwork or missing ID will disqualify you before bidding starts.
How the Auction Runs
Sales use a public outcry format. Properties are called one at a time by legal description, and bidding happens live. Each property’s minimum bid is the total delinquent taxes, public sewer system user fees, accumulated penalties, and administrative costs owed on that parcel. If no bid meets the minimum, the Lieutenant Governor may purchase the property on behalf of the USVI government.
Winning bidders pay promptly after the sale closes. Deposit amounts and balance deadlines can vary by auction, so listen closely to the terms announced at the start. Bring certified funds or a cashier’s check; personal checks are unlikely to be accepted. The registration form warns that failing to follow through on a winning bid may result in being barred from future auctions.
What You Actually Buy: The One-Year Redemption Period
Winning does not give you the property. Under USVI law, the original owner, their heirs, or anyone with a legal interest in the parcel has one year from the sale date to redeem it. During that window you hold a Certificate of Purchase, not clear title.
To redeem, the owner must pay the Office of the Lieutenant Governor:
- The full amount of taxes and sewer fees for which the property was auctioned
- 12% annual interest on the total purchase price paid by the winning bidder
- All accumulated penalties and costs
- A $15 administrative fee
Payment plans are no longer available to the owner once a property has been published for auction. If redemption happens, a certificate of redemption supersedes the Certificate of Purchase and the winning bidder’s claim is extinguished.
The 12% interest is worth thinking about before you bid high. Interest accrues on the entire purchase price you paid, not just the delinquent tax figure. Bid well above the minimum and the owner still owes 12% on your whole bid if they redeem. That guaranteed return is part of the appeal for some investors, alongside the risk that you never take title.
What Happens to Mortgages and Other Liens
If the redemption year passes without anyone redeeming, the purchaser or transferee of the tax lien is entitled to absolute title free from all mortgages, liens, and other encumbrances. A bank’s mortgage, a contractor’s lien, or a judgment creditor’s claim can all be wiped out by a completed tax sale. That is a significant benefit for purchasers, and it is why lenders track these sales closely.
Federal tax liens are treated separately. The IRS must receive written notice by registered or certified mail at least 25 days before any sale that could discharge a federal tax lien. If proper notice is given, the sale can discharge the IRS lien from the property. The IRS then has a separate right to redeem within 120 days after the sale or during whatever redemption period local law allows, whichever is longer. Because the USVI redemption period is one year, the IRS effectively has at least that long to step in. Factor that in if you are eyeing a property with potential federal tax issues.
Getting to a Recorded Deed
If nobody redeems within the year, you can move toward a deed. The Lieutenant Governor’s office and the USVI courts are both involved in the transition from Certificate of Purchase to a recorded deed that conveys legal title. The deed is ultimately filed with the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, which sits under the Lieutenant Governor’s office and handles recording of all property deeds, mortgages, and liens in the territory.
Expect this final stage to take additional time and to involve some legal cost. Consulting a USVI real estate attorney before you bid is strongly advisable. Title issues in the Virgin Islands can be more complex than on the mainland because of historical land tenure patterns, and an attorney familiar with the local recording system can confirm that the deed you eventually receive is clean and properly recorded.