Twenty-five residential properties, some reportedly in rough shape, are going on the city auction block Wednesday.

The annual tax foreclosure auction begins at 6:30 p.m. in Common Council chambers. Properties up for grabs include single- and multiple-family dwellings and vacant building lots in lowertown.

Terms of sale are modified slightly from last year, according to Treasurer Michael E. White. This year, winning bidders have to put down a same-night deposit of 20 percent of their bid, up from 10 percent in previous years. Also, the city may refuse to transfer a property deed to any person or company that’s found to have defaulted on a previous tax-payment agreement with the city.

A sale term that has not changed, but is stated more clearly in this year’s sale book: Any person or company that owns property with uncorrected code violations, or owes taxes on other local property, may be denied the right to purchase auctioned property.

Winning bidders are checked out in the days after the auction; if one is found to be the owner of code- or tax-delinquent property in the city, White reserves the right to cancel the sale — and not return the deposit.

Sale terms are tweaked from year to year to help the city land reliable, responsible buyers while still abiding by state real property disposal law, according to White. Ultimately there are few ways the city can legally prevent potentially undesirable buyers — non-local persons or corporations, for instance — from bidding on property.

“It’s not a perfect system. We do the best we can (within the confines of state law),” White said. “The ultimate goal is to get property back on the tax roll.”

City and school taxes owed on all of the foreclosed properties exceeds $180,000, according to the treasurer’s office. The properties were seized after three years of non-payment by their previous owners. The taxes are now wiped out.

There is no minimum bid on any property this year, White said. Last year, at Mayor Michael Tucker’s direction, the auctioneer put a minimum bid of $10,000 on 151 Genesee St., a nearly 100-year-old brick two-family home, in the hope of discouraging undesirable buyers; and the property was not sold. It remains in the city’s possession, to be disposed of by the Common Council on a discretionary basis.

Properties on the auction block this year include:

• 185 Pine St., a three-family converted home. This is the largest property on the list and has the highest assessed value: 6,100 square feet and $120,000.

• 274 High St., a three-story Victorian, single-family home between Locust and Washburn streets.

• 2, 28 and 30 Harwood St., three adjacent, vacant lots between Gooding and Jackson streets zoned for residential construction. They are to be sold together at bid price times three. Kitty-corner from them, the lots at 306 and 308 Jackson St. also will be sold together.

• 267 West Ave., an old-style, single-family home that was a target of building code enforcement earlier this year. The city dropped its code case against the former owner upon hearing he was terminally ill and could not facilitate repairs.

• 3 Elm Court, an old-style, single-family home that was damaged by fire in 2005. It’s currently uninhabitable, and the city considered pulling it off the auction list, but the estimated cost of dismantling it is about $25,000, according to Tucker. “It’s in there so tight with (its) neighbors, it almost has to be hand-demolished. That’s the problem we have a lot of the time,” he said. Ditto for 141 Elm St., an old-style, single family residence that’s reportedly quite dilapidated. The city abandoned prosecution of code violations there as well, since the last owner is deceased and her estate contained no assets to cover repair costs.

Where code violations are present, the city will give winning bidders up to one year to make the required repairs, according to the auction book.

That doesn’t mean they automatically have one year to get the properties up to code, however, White said. “Up to” depends on the nature of violations and proof the owner is working on reversing them.

“It’s discretionary. If we see no activity and don’t anticipate anything happening ... we can take (enforcement) action sooner,” he said.

Four properties seized by the city this past spring were removed from the auction list after their owners challenged foreclosure in state Supreme Court. Among them: 274 Washburn St., which the city condemned as uninhabitable this past June. The house has been in City Court-ordered receivership since October 2008 pending correction of 19 violations. Owner Francisco Poll recently declared bankruptcy, which prevents the city from selling the house.

Also taken off the block on court orders were 277 Washburn St., a two-family house owned by Commonwealth Properties LLC; 22 South St., a rooming house owned by Cindy McInerney; and 63 Russell St., a single-family home owned by Charles A. Macrae.