LOCKPORT — A four-townhouse complex is among the properties going up for bid at the city’s annual tax foreclosure auction Nov. 10.

The complex, a neat row of houses situated near the bend of South Street, on lot numbers 483, 485, 487 and 489, is the hottest property at this year’s auction, according to city Treasurer Michael White.

“That’ll be the one to watch, no question,” he said this week.

Twenty-eight properties, mostly single-family houses, are up for grabs at the live auction. There are no vacant lots and no commercial/industrial properties on the block this year, which auctioneer Russell Scherrer says is unusual. Houses were seized by the city after their former owners didn’t pay property taxes for three years.

The goal of the auction is, of course, to get the properties “back on the tax roll,” White said.

Along the way, ideally, houses in need will get TLC from their new owners. To help advance that desired end, city building inspectors will be stationed at each property, in half-hour blocks, the Monday or Wednesday before the auction to answer prospective buyers’ questions. The specific days and times are listed in the auction catalog.

Those time blocks are the only time prospective buyers will be able to look over properties, according to Chief Building Inspector Jason Dool. Appointments are not being taken this year and the city no longer lets prospective buyers into auction properties unescorted.

The South Street townhouses, built in 1987, are the youngest properties on the auction block. Four units are attached; but they all have different features and different assessed values, ranging between $77,600 and $91,500, according to the sale catalog.

The townhouses will be sold in blocks of two, or as one complex, depending on which way nets more money for the city, Scherrer said. They’ll be offered up first as two separate properties, two left and two right, then Scherrer will combine the high bids, tack on $5,000 and start the bidding for all four. They won’t be sold separately, as individual townhouses, because of backyard access issues for one of them.

The treasurer’s office has put some conditions on purchasers of all properties. Effective this year, the office will write purchase agreements and deeds using the winning bidder’s name as recorded at auction registration only. The practice of bidders registering one way, then asking to change their information after the auction, creates busy work for the staff, White said.

Bidders also should note, the city reserves the right to refuse a sale to anyone who’s behind in current local property tax payments, had property seized for nonpayment of taxes since 1990, or owns other property in the city with uncorrected building code violations. Winning bidders’ names will be checked against city records after the auction, and if a problem shows up, the sale will be canceled and the bidder’s deposit will not be returned.

Home buyers will not owe any back taxes on their new properties, but they will be responsible for 2011-2012 school tax bills, which other property owners received in September. The bills will be calculated from current assessed value, which will not change as a result of the auction.

A full auction catalog can be obtained online, at www.AuctionsInternational.com, or at the treasurer’s office around mid-week.

In addition to the townhouses, these properties are on the block:

• 79 Oakhurst St., a one-family, 3-bedroom barn-style house, built 1840, assessed for $53,400.

• 63 Center St., a one-family, 3-bedroom old style house, built 1878, assessed for $63,900.

• 211 Mill St., a one-family, 4-bedroom old style house, built 1880, assessed for $8,800.

• 387 Clinton St., a one-family, 3-bedroom old style house, built 1878, assessed for $68,200.

• 342 Chapel St., a one-family, 3-bedroom old style house, built 1870, assessed for $18,700.

• 183 Mill St., a two-story apartment house with four or more units, assessed for $46,800.

• 295 Gooding St., a one-family, 3-bedroom old style house, built 1880, assessed for $38,100.

• 264 Washington St., a two-family old style house, built 1889, assessed for $46,500.

• 49 Scovell St., a one-family, 2-bedroom bungalow, built 1940, assessed for $55,200.

• 22 Lewis St., a one-family, 4-bedroom old style house, built 1890, assessed for $59,700.

• 279 Washburn St., a three-family old style house, built 1900, assessed for $54,300.

• 66 Van Buren St., a two-family old style house, built 1870, assessed for $29,700.

• 20 Bewley Parkway, a one-family, 2-bedroom Cape Cod, built 1950, assessed for $53,700.

• 150 N. Transit St., a one-family, 3-bedroom old style house, built 1900, assessed for $53,600.

• 99 South St., a two-family old style house, built 1880, assessed for $28,600.

• 31 Elmwood Ave., a one-family, 4-bedroom old style house, built 1905, assessed for $45,400.

• 19 Evans St., a one-family, 4-bedroom old style house, built 1900, assessed for $40,500.

• 26 Spalding St., a two-family old style house, built 1875, assessed for $31,400.

• 127 Spalding St., a one-family, 3-bedroom old style house, built 1890, assessed for $26,800.

• 180 Spalding St., a one-family, 3-bedroom old style house, built 1845, assessed for $31,900.

• 317 Washburn St., an apartment house with four or more units, assessed for $99,800.

• 96 Ransom St., a one-family, 2-bedroom old style house, built 1900, assessed for $21,200.