Delinquent Property Taxes in Maryland: Your County Fixes the Rate and a Judge Fixes the Deadline
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Maryland · Last updated October 21, 2026
Maryland refuses to print one redemption rate for the whole state: the code fixes 6 percent a year, writes Carroll County in at 14 percent and four other counties at 10 percent, and lets twenty jurisdictions fix their own figure instead (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(b)). Delinquent property taxes are taxes a homeowner did not pay by the date the state set, after which the county adds interest and penalties and can force a sale to collect them. What gets sold here is the debt, not the house. The collector auctions the lien on every parcel whose tax is in arrears, at the sale date local law fixes (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-808(a)(1)), the winning bidder receives a certificate of sale (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(a)), and you keep title and possession. There is no calendar redemption deadline to miss. You may redeem at any time until the right of redemption has been finally foreclosed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-827), and that right continues until barred by decree of the circuit court (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(b)). The holder cannot file that case until 6 months after the sale, or 9 months on owner-occupied residential property, and the certificate is void unless the case is filed within 2 years of its date (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(a), (c)(1)). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in Maryland
Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
When can someone take my Maryland house over unpaid property taxes?
Not at the auction. Only a circuit court judgment can do it, and that judgment vests in the plaintiff an absolute and indefeasible title in fee simple (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-844(b)). The certificate holder may not file that complaint until 6 months after the sale, or 9 months on owner-occupied residential property (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(a)).
How much interest does redemption cost after a Maryland tax sale?
That depends on the county. The rate of redemption is 6 percent a year except in the jurisdictions the statute lists, where county commissioners or a county council may fix it, and Carroll County is written in at 14 percent a year (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(b)). For owner-occupied residential property it may not exceed 10 percent a year.
When do Maryland property taxes fall into arrears each year?
Property tax is due on July 1 and is in arrears after September 30 of the tax year (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-102). On a semiannual schedule the first installment may be paid without interest through September 30, and the second, due December 1, through December 31 (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-204.3(i)).
How long is the redemption period in Maryland?
There is no fixed length. You may redeem at any time until the right of redemption has been finally foreclosed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-827), and the right continues until barred by decree of the circuit court in which the foreclosure proceeding is filed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(b)). A dormant certificate dies at 2 years.
Maryland delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Maryland hands two of the three numbers a worried homeowner needs to the county rather than to the legislature. Property taxes go delinquent here when the owner misses the statutory payment date, after which interest and penalties are added and the lien can be sold to collect them. Interest on the arrears defaults to two-thirds of 1 percent for each month or fraction of a month, with named counties and every charter county free to set their own (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-603). The penalty is whatever the local governing body adopted by law (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-702). The redemption rate is a county figure too (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(b)). The third number is not a number at all. Redemption closes on a judge's decree rather than on a date (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(b)).
Where Frederick County's 8 percent meets a rowhouse off Market Street
Frederick County's own figure is 8 percent a year, and here is what that does to one rowhouse three blocks off Market Street. Its owner misses the September 30 installment on 3,600 dollars. Interest starts October 1 at 1 percent a month, a rate the county sets by law under a statutory ceiling of 1 percent fixed on or before the date of finality (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-603(b)(5)(ii)). A bidder takes the certificate at the county sale, and the Ombudsman's county page gives the rate printed on it as 8 percent per annum, redeemable in certified funds payable to the county. Because the rowhouse is the owner's residence, the holder's first notice cannot go out until 7 months after the sale, no complaint can be filed before 9 months (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(a)(2)), and post-sale taxes may not be added to the redemption payment (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-828(a)(2)).
Relevant Laws
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-102 (when property tax is due and when it falls into arrears)
Provides that except as otherwise provided in the title, property tax is due on July 1 in each taxable year, and that property tax due on July 1 may be paid without interest on or before September 30 of the tax year and is in arrears after September 30 of the tax year. This is the date that starts everything else in this chapter.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-204.3 (the semiannual schedule counties must offer)
Requires the governing body of a county and of a municipal corporation to provide a semiannual payment schedule for property taxes on owner-occupied residential property and on business property, and sets the installment dates: the first installment is due July 1 and may be paid without interest on or before September 30, and the second is due December 1 and may be paid without interest, apart from the service charge, on or before December 31.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-603 (interest on overdue county and municipal property tax)
Sets the rate of interest for full year county, municipal corporation or taxing district property tax at two-thirds of 1 percent for each month or fraction of a month that the tax is overdue, then lists the exceptions: 1.5 percent for Garrett County, 1 percent for three other named jurisdictions including the City of Salisbury and Somerset County, and the rate set by law by every charter county and by a long list of named counties and municipalities, several of them with their own statutory ceilings.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-702 and 14-703 (the locally adopted penalty on overdue tax)
Section 14-702 lets the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City or the governing body of a county or municipal corporation set, by law, a tax penalty against overdue county, municipal corporation or taxing district total tax liability on property. Section 14-703 provides that a person who fails to pay property tax when required shall pay that penalty on the total tax liability for each month or fraction of a month from the date the tax was required to be paid to the date it is paid.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-804 (unpaid tax as a lien on the real property)
Provides that all unpaid taxes on real property shall be, until paid, liens on the real property in respect to which they are imposed from the date they became or become payable, and that such a lien terminates 20 years after the date it attaches. It carries parallel rules for personal property tax and for deferred county property tax.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-808 (the collector's duty to hold the sale)
Requires the collector to proceed to sell and to sell, at the time required by local law, all property in the county on which the tax is in arrears, except property transferred to a land bank authority and except as provided under section 14-811. It adds that failure of the collector to sell within the time required by local law does not affect the validity or collectability of any tax or the validity of any later sale.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-811 (when property must or may be withheld from sale)
Requires the collector to withhold owner-occupied residential property and residential property occupied by an heir of a deceased owner where the total taxes including interest and penalties come to less than 1,000 dollars, to withhold the dwelling of a homeowner enrolled in the Homeowner Protection Program, and to withhold the dwelling of a homeowner with a terminal illness or medical hardship documented by a licensed health care provider. It also permits discretionary withholding under 250 dollars in any one year, under 750 dollars for non-owner-occupied residential property, for property in a local payment program, and for low-income, elderly or disabled homeowners.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-812 (the Final Bill and Legal Notice and its required insert)
Requires the collector, at least 30 days before any property is first advertised for sale, to mail the person who last appears as owner on the tax roll a statement of taxes due bearing the notice This Is a Final Bill and Legal Notice. Subsection (b) requires a separate insert with a one page plain-language summary of the tax sale process, the State or County Tax Sale Ombudsman's number and website, free housing counseling, the homeowners' property tax credit, and the Homeowner Protection Program. In Baltimore City the notice goes by first-class certified mail.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-813 (publication of the sale and the expenses it adds)
Requires the collector, at any time after 30 days from the mailing of the statement and notice, to publish notice of the auction 4 times, once a week for 4 successive weeks, in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county, with 3 publications in Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Kent and Queen Anne's Counties and two alternate-week publications plus a website posting in Baltimore City. It also itemises the sale expenses that become liens on the property, including publication, surveyor's description, the attorney fee allowed to the collector's counsel, the auctioneer's fee, and a title examination fee not over 150 dollars.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-817 (the auction, the minimum price and the high-bid premium)
Provides that all sales shall be at public auction to the person who makes the highest good faith accepted bid, that property may not be sold for less than the certified taxes with interest, penalties and sale expenses, and that the lien for those amounts passes to the purchaser. It lets the collector establish a high-bid premium of 20 percent of the amount by which the highest bid exceeds 40 percent of the property's full cash value, with a different base in Baltimore City and Prince George's County, refundable to the certificate holder on redemption. Subsection (c) sets the separate route for abandoned property sold below the lien amount.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-818 (purchase price, and the balance owed back to the former owner)
Requires the purchaser to pay the taxes, interest, penalties, sale expenses and any high-bid premium not later than the day after the sale, with the residue of the purchase price on credit. Paragraph (a)(4) provides that any balance over the amount required for the payment of taxes, interest, penalties and costs of sale shall be paid to the person entitled to it. Paragraph (a)(5) requires each county to establish a claim process that applies uniformly and may not require a court order absent a dispute, and paragraph (a)(6) requires the collector to notify the prior property owner of record of the balance and the process within 90 days after delivering a deed.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820 (the certificate of sale and the rate of redemption)
Requires the collector to deliver the purchaser a certificate of sale setting out the sale date, the amount bid, the taxes due, a statement that the rate of redemption is 6 percent a year except as provided in subsection (b), the time when an action to foreclose the right of redemption may be instituted, and that the certificate will be void unless foreclosure proceedings are brought within 2 years of its date. Subsection (b) then sets the rate county by county, including 10 percent a year in Calvert, Caroline, Dorchester and Garrett Counties and 14 percent a year in Carroll County, each subject to the county fixing a different rate. Subsection (c) provides that for owner-occupied residential property the rate of redemption may not exceed 10 percent a year.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-827 (who may redeem, and for how long)
Provides that the owner or other person that has an estate or interest in the property sold by the collector may redeem the property at any time until the right of redemption has been finally foreclosed under the provisions of the subtitle. This is the section that makes the redemption window open-ended rather than a fixed number of months or years.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-828 (what the redemption payment consists of)
Requires the person redeeming to pay the collector the total lien amount paid at the tax sale together with interest, any taxes, interest and penalties paid by a holder of the certificate, any delinquent taxes, interest and penalties accruing after the sale, and the expenses or fees reimbursable under section 14-843. For owner-occupied residential property, taxes, interest and penalties accruing after the date of the tax sale may not be included in the redemption payment. Subsection (b) provides that the rate of interest on redemption is set under section 14-820 and computed from the date of the tax sale to the date of the redemption payment.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-829 (asking the court to fix the redemption amount)
Provides that if the property is redeemed after an action to foreclose the right of redemption is instituted and there is any dispute regarding redemption, the person redeeming may apply to the court before which the action is pending to fix the amount necessary for redemption, and that where there is a dispute the collector shall accept no money for redemption unless and until a certified copy of the court's order fixing the amount is filed with the collector.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833 (when the holder may sue, the two notices, and the 2 year limit)
Permits a certificate holder to file a complaint to foreclose all rights of redemption at any time after 6 months from the date of sale, or after 9 months from the date of sale of owner-occupied residential property. Subsection (a-1) bars filing until at least 2 months after a first notice and 30 days after a second notice to the owner and the mortgage holder, requires both to go by first-class certified mail in envelopes marked Notice of Delinquent Property Tax, and bars the first notice before 4 months after the sale, or 7 months for owner-occupied residential property. Subsection (b) provides the right to redeem continues until finally barred by decree of the circuit court, and subsection (c)(1) voids the certificate unless a proceeding is filed within 2 years of its date. Subsections (e) and (f) set the faster routes for substantial-repair buildings and abandoned property.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-843 (the capped expenses a redeeming owner reimburses)
Provides that the holder is not entitled to reimbursement for any expenses or attorney's fees not listed in the section. Before a complaint is filed and more than 4 months after the sale, or more than 7 months for owner-occupied residential property, the holder may recover recording costs, a title search fee not over 250 dollars, actual postage and certified mailing costs for the statutory notices, and reasonable attorney's fees not over 500 dollars. Once a complaint is filed, attorney's fees of 1,300 dollars, or 1,500 dollars where an affidavit of compliance has been filed, plus listed actual costs. Subsection (b) bars reimbursement of expenses incurred within 4 months after the sale, or 7 months for owner-occupied residential property, in 23 named jurisdictions.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-844 (the judgment that ends the right to redeem)
Provides that after the time limit in the order of publication and the summons expires the court shall enter judgment foreclosing the right of redemption, that the judgment is final and conclusive on the defendants, and that if the court finds for the plaintiff the judgment vests in the plaintiff an absolute and indefeasible title in fee simple, free and clear of alienations, descents and encumbrances before the judgment, except taxes accruing after the sale and easements. On entry of judgment the plaintiff must pay the collector any surplus bid and all taxes with interest and penalties.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-847 (the deed the judgment directs, and what happens if the holder stalls)
Provides that the judgment shall direct the collector to execute a deed to the holder of the certificate of sale in fee simple or in leasehold on payment of the balance of the purchase price together with all taxes, interest and penalties accruing after the sale, and shall direct the supervisor to enroll the holder as owner. If the holder does not comply within 90 days the judgment may be stricken on the motion of an interested party, and after 105 days the county or municipality may move to strike it and have title vested in itself.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-209 (local installment payment programs that stop collection)
Lets the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City or the governing body of a county or municipal corporation establish, by law, an installment payment program for taxes in arrears on any residential property, and provides that while a person is in compliance with its terms the collector may not take action under Title 14, Subtitle 8 to collect the included arrears. A person is out of compliance after missing a payment for 90 days, or a longer period the jurisdiction sets, after which enrollment may be terminated and collection may resume.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 2-112 (the State Tax Sale Ombudsman and the statewide installment program)
Establishes the Ombudsman's duties and requires the Ombudsman to contract with a vendor to operate an installment payment program for the payment of taxes in which any homeowner may enroll, covering advance payments, current taxes and taxes in arrears. While a homeowner is in compliance with such a plan the collector may not take action under Title 14, Subtitle 8 to collect the included arrears, and non-compliance is a missed payment for 90 days or a longer period the Ombudsman sets.
Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-884 and 14-885 (the Homeowner Protection Program and its limits)
Section 14-884 establishes the Homeowner Protection Program administered by the Ombudsman in the Department, whose purpose is to divert vulnerable homeowners from the private tax lien sale process into an alternative program that minimises collection costs, assists homeowners to pay their taxes and allows them to remain in their homes. Section 14-885 requires an eligible homeowner to reside in a dwelling assessed at 450,000 dollars or less and to have a combined income of 60,000 dollars or less, gives priority to homeowners at least 60 years old, receiving federal disability benefits, or with a documented terminal illness or medical hardship, and caps annual enrollment against the funding available in the Homeowner Protection Fund.
Office of the State Tax Sale Ombudsman (Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation)
The state agency page that explains the process and then publishes county-specific information for every jurisdiction, including the redemption rate actually printed on certificates there. It states that the homeowner has the right to redeem at any time until the right of redemption is finally foreclosed by an order of the court, that during the period of redemption the owner has the right to continue in possession and to exercise all rights to ownership, and, on its Frederick County page, that the current redemption interest rate as stated on the certificate of sale there is 8 percent per annum. The site returns HTTP 403 to automated clients and was read through a reader proxy.
Regional Variances
Maryland delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
Tax lien certificate, then a court case. The collector sells the lien, not the land, at public auction to the person who makes the highest good faith accepted bid (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-817(a)), and delivers a certificate of sale (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(a)). Title passes only when a circuit court judgment vests in the plaintiff an absolute and indefeasible title in fee simple (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-844(b)), after which the judgment directs the collector to execute a deed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-847(a)).
Delinquency dates
Property tax is due July 1 and is in arrears after September 30 of the tax year (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-102). Counties must offer owner-occupied residential property a semiannual schedule: first installment due July 1, payable without interest through September 30; second due December 1, payable without interest apart from the service charge through December 31 (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-204.3(i)).
Penalty and interest before the sale
Both are local figures. Interest on county, municipal and taxing district tax defaults to two-thirds of 1 percent for each month or fraction of a month overdue, with 1.5 percent written in for Garrett County, 1 percent for three other named jurisdictions, and every charter county free to set its own by law (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-603). State property tax runs at 1 percent a month (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-602). The penalty on top is whatever the governing body adopted by law, charged monthly (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-702, 14-703).
Time before sale
No statewide waiting period in years. The collector must sell all property on which the tax is in arrears at the time required by local law (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-808(a)), so the next annual sale can reach a parcel in arrears after September 30. What holds a parcel back is the withholding regime in Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-811, which turns on dollar thresholds, program enrollment, age, disability and documented medical hardship rather than on elapsed time.
Redemption period and clock
Open-ended, and closed by a judge. The owner may redeem at any time until the right of redemption has been finally foreclosed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-827), and the right continues until finally barred by decree of the circuit court in which the foreclosure proceeding is filed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(b)). The dates that bracket it belong to the purchaser: no complaint before 6 months from the sale, 9 months on owner-occupied residential property, and the certificate is void unless the proceeding is filed within 2 years of its date (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(a), (c)(1)).
Redeemer's charge
A simple annual rate on the lien amount paid at the sale, computed from the date of the tax sale to the date of the redemption payment (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-828(b)), not a monthly penalty and not bid down at the auction. The statute sets 6 percent a year, writes Calvert, Caroline, Dorchester and Garrett Counties in at 10 percent and Carroll County at 14 percent, and lets twenty named jurisdictions fix their own rate by commissioners or by county council law (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(b)). For owner-occupied residential property the rate may not exceed 10 percent a year (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(c)). Because the figure is local, read it off the certificate rather than off a statewide number.
County rates in practice
The Tax Sale Ombudsman publishes the rate each jurisdiction actually prints on its certificates, and the spread is wide: 8 percent per annum in Frederick County, 10 percent simple interest in Dorchester County, 12 percent per annum in Baltimore County under section 11-2-402 of the 2003 Baltimore County Code, 12 percent in Cecil County at 1 percent a month, 12 percent annually in Queen Anne's County, 18 percent in Howard County, and 20 percent per annum in Montgomery County. These are each county's own figure, not a state figure, and the 10 percent ceiling on owner-occupied residential property in Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-820(c) sits over all of them.
Other redemption costs
The lien amount with interest, any taxes, interest and penalties the holder paid, post-sale arrears, and capped reimbursable expenses (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-828(a)). Before filing: recording, a title search fee not over 250 dollars, actual certified mailing costs, and attorney's fees not over 500 dollars. After filing: attorney's fees of 1,300 dollars, or 1,500 dollars with an affidavit of compliance, plus listed actual costs (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-843(a)). Nothing is reimbursable for expenses incurred within the first 4 months, or 7 months on owner-occupied residential property, in 23 named jurisdictions (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-843(b)).
Notice to the owner
A Final Bill and Legal Notice mailed at least 30 days before the first advertisement, with a mandatory insert pointing to the Tax Sale Ombudsman, free counseling, the homeowners' property tax credit and the Homeowner Protection Program (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-812). Then publication 4 times, once a week for 4 successive weeks, with 3 times in five named counties and a different pattern in Baltimore City (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-813(a)). After the sale, two certified letters from the holder marked Notice of Delinquent Property Tax, the first no earlier than 4 months after the sale, or 7 months on owner-occupied residential property (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-833(a-1)).
Where to redeem
The collector who held the sale: the person redeeming shall pay the collector (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-828(a)). Collector includes an officer of a county or municipal corporation who has a duty to collect or remit taxes (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 1-101(e)), so the office is named differently from place to place, for example the Treasury Department of Frederick County or the Baltimore City Bureau of Revenue Collections (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-844(f)). In a dispute the collector takes no money until a certified copy of the court's order fixing the amount is filed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-829(c)).
Surplus proceeds
Claimable through the county. Any balance over the amount required for the payment of taxes, interest, penalties and costs of sale is paid to the person entitled to it, or to a court where payment is disputed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-818(a)(4)). Each county must establish a claim process that applies uniformly to all claims in the county and may not require a court order absent a dispute, and the collector must notify the prior owner of record of the balance and the process within 90 days after delivering a deed (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-818(a)(5), (6)).
Payment plan
Three routes, and compliance blocks the sale. A county, municipality or Baltimore City may establish an installment payment program by law for arrears on residential property, and while a person complies the collector may not take Subtitle 8 action on the included taxes (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 10-209). The Ombudsman must contract a statewide installment program open to any homeowner, with the same bar (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 2-112(f)). The Homeowner Protection Program diverts enrolled homeowners out of the lien sale entirely and requires withholding (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-884, 14-811(i)), with eligibility at a dwelling assessed at 450,000 dollars or less and combined income of 60,000 dollars or less (Md. Code, Tax-Prop. 14-885(a)).
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