Selling a House With Back Property Taxes in DFW: Your Options Before the Tax Sale

Property taxes are the bill people fall behind on quietly. There is no monthly statement, no servicer calling in week two, nothing that forces the issue until a certified letter shows up with a number on it that does not look like anything you remember owing.

Here is the part worth knowing up front: you can sell a house in Texas while you owe back property taxes. The taxes get paid at closing out of the proceeds. You usually bring nothing to the table. What you cannot do is wait indefinitely, because in Texas the penalties compound fast and the county has more power than most owners realize.

Below is exactly what happens on the Texas timeline, what the penalties actually cost, every option you have before a tax sale, and how selling works when taxes are owed.

How delinquent property taxes work in Texas

Most people are surprised by how early the clock starts.

January 1. A tax lien attaches to your property automatically, before you have even been billed for that year. It is not filed by anyone and there is no paperwork you will see. It simply exists as a matter of law.

Late in the year. Your county sends the tax bill. Taxes are technically due on receipt.

February 1. Unpaid taxes become delinquent and penalty and interest start immediately. This is the standard date when your bill was mailed by January 10. If the county mailed it later, the delinquency date shifts to give you at least 21 days to pay, and split or quarterly payment plans move it too. Check the date printed on your own bill rather than assuming.

July 1. For real property that went delinquent in February through May and is still unpaid, the taxing unit can add a collection penalty covering its attorney fees. State law caps that attorney compensation at 20 percent, and DFW counties publish a range of roughly 15 to 20 percent depending on the jurisdiction's collection contract. It applies on top of the penalty and interest already accrued.

Any time after delinquency. The taxing unit can file a delinquent tax suit. There is no waiting period they are required to observe. Most DFW counties send multiple notices and wait a year or more, but that is their choice, not a rule protecting you.

After judgment. If the court enters a judgment and you have not paid, the property can be sold at public auction. Sales are held the first Tuesday of the month between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., moving to the first Wednesday when that Tuesday falls on January 1 or July 4. Counties may hold them at the courthouse, at another designated public location nearby, or increasingly as an online auction.

What the penalties actually cost

This is the number that catches people. Texas penalty and interest is not an annual rate that creeps up. It steps up every month for the first six months.

After July the penalty holds at 12 percent and interest keeps running at 1 percent per month, so the balance never stops growing. Add the July 1 collection penalty of 15 to 20 percent and a bill that was $6,000 in January can be roughly $8,200 or more by mid-summer of the following year.

What that looks like in practice. Say you owed $6,000 for the 2025 tax year and did not pay by January 31, 2026. By July 2026 you are at 18 percent penalty and interest, which is $1,080, bringing you to $7,080. If your jurisdiction adds a 20 percent collection penalty on July 1, that is roughly another $1,416, putting you near $8,496. And the 2026 tax year is already accruing behind it.

That last sentence is the trap. Falling one year behind while a new year keeps assessing is how a manageable number turns into an unmanageable one. Two or three years of this is where most of the owners we talk to find themselves.

Why this hits owners with no mortgage hardest

If you have a mortgage, your servicer almost certainly escrows your taxes and pays the county for you. You would have to work at falling behind.

The owners who end up delinquent are usually the ones who own free and clear. Nobody is escrowing. Nobody is monitoring. That means the people most exposed to a tax foreclosure are frequently:

• Retirees on a fixed income in a paid-off home whose assessed value keeps climbing.
• Heirs who inherited a house and did not realize taxes were already behind when they got it.
• Owners of a vacant or second property they stopped thinking about.
• Landlords whose rental stopped cash flowing, especially with tenants still in place.
• Anyone who went through an illness, a job loss, or a death in the family and let one year slip.

None of that is unusual and none of it means you did something wrong. It does mean the equity you have built is the thing now at risk, because a tax foreclosure does not care how much the house is worth.

Your options before a tax sale

You have more paths than most people think. Here they are honestly, including the ones that do not involve selling.

1. Pay it off

Obvious, but worth saying: if you can clear it, clear it. Penalties stop the day the balance is paid, and the lien releases.

2. Set up an installment agreement

Under Texas Tax Code Section 33.02, your collector can enter a written installment agreement with monthly payments. If your home qualifies for a residence homestead exemption and you have not had an agreement in the prior 24 months, the collector is required to offer you one. Those agreements run at least 12 months, and no agreement may exceed 36 months. While you are complying, the taxing unit cannot seize the property or file suit.

One detail worth understanding: for a qualifying homestead, penalties stop accruing during the agreement, but interest keeps running on the unpaid balance the entire time. Miss a payment and the penalties apply as if you had never signed. Call your county tax office and ask directly, since the exemption status on your account determines what they must offer you.

3. File a tax deferral if you are 65 or older or disabled

This is the most underused option in Texas. Under Texas Tax Code Section 33.06, if you are 65 or older, disabled, or a qualifying disabled veteran, and you own and occupy the home as your residence homestead, you can file an affidavit with your chief appraiser. Once filed, the taxing unit cannot sue you and cannot sell the property at a tax foreclosure sale while you live there. Interest drops to 5 percent per year instead of the standard delinquent rate.

Understand what a deferral is not. It is not forgiveness. The lien stays on the property and interest keeps accruing. The entire balance comes due once you no longer own or occupy the home, and the taxing unit gets 181 days after that notice before it can act. For many families this quietly converts into a problem the heirs inherit. If the goal is to leave the house to your children clean, a deferral may delay the issue rather than solve it.

4. Property tax loans

Texas allows licensed property tax lenders to pay your county and take an assignment of the tax lien under Tax Code Section 32.06. This stops the county's clock. It also means a private lender now holds a lien on your home. Foreclosing on a transferred tax lien generally requires a court order, and the lender usually cannot start judicial foreclosure before the first anniversary of the lien recording date unless your contract says otherwise. These loans are legal and regulated, and for some owners they genuinely bridge a gap. Read the rate, the fees, and the foreclosure terms carefully before signing, and compare the total cost against simply selling.

5. List the house on the open market

If the house is in good condition, you have equity, and you have enough runway before a suit is filed, listing with an agent will usually net you the highest price. The title company pays the delinquent taxes at closing out of your proceeds. The risk is time. A listing plus a financed buyer's closing can run 60 to 90 days, and penalties keep compounding through all of it.

6. Sell to a cash buyer

This is the option built for a short timeline or a house that will not show well. There is no financing to fall through, no repairs, and no waiting. The taxes are settled at closing out of the proceeds. See our comparison of a cash home buyer vs a realtor for the honest tradeoffs on price and speed.

How selling with back taxes actually works

The mechanics are simpler than people expect, and they are the same whether you list or sell for cash.

1. The title company pulls the payoff. They contact each taxing unit and get an exact figure good through your closing date, including penalty, interest, and collection fees.
2. The taxes come out of the sale proceeds. You do not write a check. The amount is deducted from what the buyer pays.
3. The lien releases. The taxing units are paid at closing and the lien clears so the buyer takes clean title.
4. You keep what is left. After taxes and any other liens, the remaining proceeds are yours.

If a delinquent tax suit has already been filed, or a judgment has been entered, a sale is still possible, but the timeline tightens considerably and the payoff will include court costs and attorney fees. Tell your buyer and your title company immediately if you have been served with anything. Hiding it does not help and it will surface in the title search anyway.

What if the taxes are more than the house is worth?

It happens, usually where several years have stacked up on a property that also needs significant work. A few honest scenarios:

• Taxes are less than the value. Normal sale. Taxes clear at closing and you keep the difference.
• Taxes are close to the value. You may walk away with little or nothing, but you also walk away without the debt, the lien, and the next tax year piling on. For many owners that alone is worth doing.
• Taxes exceed the value. Harder, and not every buyer will take it. Some will, because the numbers can still work depending on the property. A buyer who says no should tell you why rather than going quiet.

Related situations we cover separately: selling a house you still owe money on, and how to stop a mortgage foreclosure in Dallas. If the property is land rather than a house, see selling land with back taxes in DFW.

What happens if it goes to a tax sale

If the property does sell at auction, Texas gives you a right of redemption under Tax Code Section 34.21. It is a real protection, and it is far more expensive than people assume.

To redeem you must repay the purchaser's bid, plus recording fees, plus any taxes they have paid since, plus that premium. An owner who could not cover a tax bill is rarely in a position to cover the bid plus 25 percent a year later. Redemption is a backstop, not a plan.

One trap worth flagging: the two-year window depends on whether the property was your homestead or was ag-designated at the time the tax suit was filed, not at the time of the sale. Moving into a house after the suit is already filed does not buy you the longer period.

Why waiting is the expensive choice

Every month you wait does three things at once. Interest adds another 1 percent. The current tax year keeps assessing behind the old one. And you move closer to the point where a suit is filed and attorney fees join the balance.

There is also a quieter cost. Owners who act while they still have equity get to choose the outcome and keep what is left. Owners who wait until after judgment are negotiating from a much worse position, and owners who go through the sale usually lose their equity entirely to the winning bidder.

You do not have to sell. But you should decide something. The one approach that reliably fails is hoping it resolves itself.

How BEVA Homes handles houses with back taxes

1. Tell us where things stand. The address, roughly what is owed, how many years, and whether you have received any court paperwork. If you are not sure of the balance, your county tax office can give you an exact figure, or we can help you find it.
2. We make a written cash offer. No obligation, no fee, and we account for the tax payoff up front so the number you see is the number you work with.
3. A local title company confirms the payoff. They get exact figures from every taxing unit through your closing date.
4. We close and the taxes are paid. The liens release, you keep the remaining proceeds, and the tax bills stop.

We buy houses with delinquent taxes across Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Garland, Mesquite, Grand Prairie, Mansfield, Burleson, and Cleburne, in any condition. More on our process.

Before you accept anyone's offer

Owners behind on taxes get targeted, because public delinquency records are exactly that: public. Expect mail and calls. Some of it is legitimate and some is not.

• Get the offer in writing, with no upfront fees of any kind.
• Ask for proof of funds.
• Close through a licensed local title company, never a handshake or a direct deed transfer.
• Confirm in writing that the delinquent taxes are being paid at closing and the lien released.
• Get your own payoff figure from the county so you can check the buyer's math.
• Walk away from anyone who pressures you to sign today or asks you to deed the property before closing.

That last one matters most in tax situations. If someone asks you to sign over the deed now and promises to handle the taxes later, stop. Our full checklist is in how to choose a cash home buyer in DFW, and how to spot a cash-offer scam covers the tactics to watch for.

BEVA Homes buys houses with back property taxes across Dallas-Fort Worth. We handle the payoff at closing, cover the title work, and close on your timeline. No fees, no repairs, and no pressure.

Get your free offer →

Or call us at (817) 330-6443.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell a house in Texas if I owe back property taxes?

Yes. Delinquent taxes do not block a sale. They are a lien that gets paid off at closing out of the proceeds, so you usually bring nothing to the table and keep whatever remains. Get your free offer.

How much do delinquent property taxes cost in Texas?

Taxes are usually delinquent February 1, though a late-mailed bill pushes that date back. Penalty and interest start at 7% and step up monthly to 18% by July. On July 1, real property still delinquent can also be charged a collection penalty for attorney fees, capped by law at 20% and published by DFW counties at roughly 15 to 20 percent. After July the penalty holds at 12% and interest keeps adding 1% per month.

How long before the county can sell my house for unpaid taxes?

There is no fixed deadline. A taxing unit can file suit any time after the taxes go delinquent. After a judgment, the property can be sold at a public tax sale on the first Tuesday of the month, at the courthouse, another designated location, or online. Most counties wait a year or more, but that is discretion, not a guarantee.

Can I get my house back after a Texas tax sale?

Possibly. For a residence homestead, agricultural land, or a mineral interest you have two years from the recording of the deed, paying the bid plus costs plus a 25% premium in year one or 50% in year two. Other property has a 180-day window with the premium capped at 25%. Whether you get the two years depends on the property's status when the suit was filed. It is expensive and most owners cannot fund it.

What if I am over 65 and behind on property taxes?

You may qualify for a deferral under Tax Code Section 33.06 if you own and occupy the home as your homestead. It stops a tax suit and a tax foreclosure sale while you live there, and interest drops to 5% per year. It is a deferral, not forgiveness, and the full balance comes due when you no longer own or occupy the home.

Do I have to pay the back taxes before I can sell?

No. In almost every sale the taxes are paid from the proceeds at closing by the title company. You do not need to clear them first, and you should be skeptical of any buyer who tells you otherwise.

What if I already got a court paper about my taxes?

A sale is still possible, but the timeline is much shorter and the payoff will include court costs and attorney fees. Tell your title company and your buyer right away, and consider talking to an attorney. Do not wait to see what happens.

This article is general information for Dallas-Fort Worth property owners, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Penalty amounts, collection penalties, and procedures vary by taxing jurisdiction, and statutes change. Confirm your exact balance with your county tax office and speak with an attorney about your specific situation, particularly if a suit has been filed. Figures shown are illustrative examples.