Maryland · Law checked October 19, 2026

Maryland tax sale: your deadline, your office, your money

Behind on property taxes in Maryland? Your house can be sold at a tax sale — here's how much time you have to stop it. Your house was sold at a tax sale in Maryland? The extra money from the sale may be yours to claim — and there's a deadline. Both answers are on this page, from the statute.

Count my Maryland deadline

How Maryland sells

The machine, in four lines

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

Redemption in Maryland runs until the deed is issued — Any time until the court signs the judgment ending your right. The buyer cannot even file that case until 6 months after the sale — 9 months for an owner-occupied home — and tax-sale cases commonly run 12 to 18 months. The court date, not the calendar, is your deadline; if you are served with court papers, the clock is real Statute-verified

What it costs to redeem: The full lien amount paid at the sale + interest at the rate your county sets under §14-820 — the statewide range is 6% to 18% (Baltimore City: 12% for an owner-occupied main home, 18% otherwise) + later taxes the buyer paid + the buyer's reimbursable expenses.

Source: Md. Code, Tax-Property §§14-827, 14-828, 14-833

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: Real doors exist: the State Tax Sale Ombudsman's Homeowner Protection Program can pause a sale while you comply with a plan; collectors may withhold certain owner-occupied homes from sale (§14-811); Baltimore City may create installment redemption plans for owner-occupied property (§14-843(d)).

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): County option only: elderly/disabled tax deferral exists where your county has authorized it by local law — there is no single statewide deferral.

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the County/city collector (the 'balance of purchase').

Your claim window: When the court ends redemption, a buyer who bid more than the lien must pay the surplus bid to the collector, and the former owner claims that balance from the collector under local procedure. No fixed statewide claim window was found in the statute text read — claim in writing the moment the case closes. Being double-checked

If nobody claims it: Not pinned in statute text read — county and city procedures govern unclaimed balances.

Source: Md. Code, Tax-Property §14-844(d)

The county figure rule. This page gives you the law — the window, the formula, the office. The exact payoff or surplus figure lives in the County tax collector (Baltimore City: city collector)'s books and changes as interest runs. Ask that office for the figure, in writing, and keep the letter.

Included in the $49 TaxSaleDecoded Kit

  • The surplus claim pack: how to prove the house was yours (deed records, address history, ID), the claim-form path in your state, and what to do when the county says it has no record of your money
  • The redemption playbook: your state's window and cost formula worked step by step, who to pay, how to prove you paid, and the traps in the payoff figure (added fees and interest)
  • The heirs page: the house was a parent's — what changes, which papers prove you are an heir, and the point where it stops being simple
  • The scam shield: how surplus-recovery companies work, the fee caps your state sets for them, and the assignment papers you should never sign
  • The lookback module: what Tyler won, what Pung limited (the extra money is the sale price minus the debt — not your home's value), and the dated state lookbacks, including Illinois claims that die in July 2028

Get the TaxSaleDecoded Kit — $49

One payment of $49. No subscription. The kit is a web page you can return to and print — the claim pack, the redemption playbook, the heirs page, and the scam shield.

All 50 states · The surplus, explained · Redemption, explained