Friday, October 30, 2026

Michigan is a tax-foreclosure state: the foreclosing governmental unit (a county, or the state Department of the Treasury where the state forecloses) takes absolute title by judgment under MCL 211.78k and then sells the property itself at auction, so the bidder buys real property rather than a lien. Sales run from the third Tuesday in July through the first Tuesday in November after the judgment, at convenient locations and possibly by internet auction, with 30 days published notice of the time and location. Property goes to the minimum bidder, or, if a bid exceeds the minimum bid, to the highest amount above the minimum bid; the minimum bid covers all delinquent taxes, interest, penalties and fees and may include the unit's foreclosure and auction expenses. The foreclosing governmental unit sets its own procedures for the conduct of the sale and for payment, but it must require full payment at the close of each day's bidding or within not more than 21 days after the sale, must see proof that the purchaser paid any property taxes owed to the local tax collecting unit before conveying, and cancels a sale if those taxes go unpaid for 21 days. Before a deed issues the buyer must file a penalty-of-perjury affidavit that they hold no more than a minimal legal interest in property with delinquent taxes in the same county and owe no ordinance civil fines to the local tax collecting unit; a person convicted of a false affidavit is barred from future bidding. At the optional final sale the minimum bid is not required. The statute sets no bidder registration, deposit, residency, taxpayer identification, W-9 or payment-instrument rules, so those are left unknown.