Can You Sell a House With Back Taxes in Georgia?

Yes. You can sell a house in Georgia that is behind on property taxes, and in most cases you can sell it even after you get a tax sale notice. Unpaid property taxes are a lien on the house. At closing, the closing attorney pays the tax commissioner from your sale proceeds and you keep what is left. The question that matters is time: how close you are to the tax sale, and whether a sale can close before it. We are home buyers, not attorneys, and this is not legal advice. If a tax sale is already scheduled, call a Georgia real estate attorney this week.

Here is how the process works and what your options are at each stage.

What happens if you don’t pay property taxes in Georgia?

The unpaid taxes become a lien on the property, and the county starts a process that ends in a public auction. The steps, in order, under Georgia law:

1. The 30-day letter. The tax collector sends a written notice giving you 30 days to pay (O.C.G.A. 48-3-3).
2. The tax execution. If you do not pay, the county issues a tax execution, often called a fi.fa., which is recorded against the property.
3. The sheriff’s notice. You get notice by personal delivery, registered mail, or overnight delivery at least 20 days before the sheriff advertises the sale (O.C.G.A. 48-3-9).
4. Four weeks of ads. The sale is advertised in the county’s legal newspaper once a week for four weeks (O.C.G.A. 9-13-141).
5. The final notice. At least 10 days before the sale, you get one more notice by registered or certified mail or overnight delivery (O.C.G.A. 48-4-1).
6. The sale. The sheriff auctions the property on the courthouse steps to the highest bidder.

Interest and penalties keep adding to the balance the whole time, so the payoff figure grows every month you wait.

One thing that surprises owners: property taxes generally come ahead of a mortgage. If you have a mortgage, the lender usually pays the back taxes to protect itself and then adds the amount to your loan, which can raise your payment or put the loan in default. Either way, ignoring the tax bill does not make it go away.

When does the tax sale happen in Atlanta?

It depends on the county, because each sheriff runs its own sales. In Fulton County, the sheriff holds tax sales on the first Tuesday of each month at the courthouse at 136 Pryor Street SW, and the sale list runs in the local legal newspaper for the four weeks before. DeKalb, Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett hold their own sales on their own schedules. If you got a notice, it names the date. That date is the deadline everything else works backward from.

Can you sell your house before the tax sale?

Yes, if the sale can close before the auction. Georgia is an attorney-closing state, so the closing attorney runs a title search, finds the tax lien and the fi.fa., gets a payoff from the tax commissioner, and pays it at closing. The buyer gets clean title and the tax sale is called off because the taxes are paid.

What makes this work:

• Get the payoff in writing. Ask the tax commissioner’s office for a payoff good through your expected closing date, including interest, penalties, and any sheriff’s costs.
• Tell your buyer about the sale date on day one. A buyer who knows about it can plan the closing around it. A buyer who finds it in the title search a week before closing may walk.
• Move as soon as the notice shows up. In April 2026 I was at a house on Leisure Woods Lane in Decatur when the county pulled up to post a tax sale notice on the door. We closed on that house 16 days later.
• Watch the clock on financing. A traditional buyer with a mortgage often needs 30 to 45 days to close, and a house with tax trouble often has other problems that slow a loan down. A cash buyer can often close in 14 to 30 days when the title is otherwise clean.

What if the house already sold at a tax sale?

You may still be able to get it back, or sell it, because Georgia gives the owner a right to redeem. For 12 months after the tax sale, the owner can redeem by paying (O.C.G.A. 48-4-40 and 48-4-42):

• the amount the buyer paid at the tax sale,
• plus a premium of 20% of that amount for the first year or part of a year,
• plus 10% for each year or part of a year after that,
• plus any taxes and special assessments the buyer paid since the sale.

Say the tax sale buyer paid $8,000 at the auction. Redeeming within the first year costs that $8,000 plus a $1,600 premium, plus any taxes the buyer has paid since. During those 12 months, the tax sale buyer cannot take possession of the house or collect rent on it.

After 12 months, the buyer can send a formal notice that ends your right to redeem on a set date (O.C.G.A. 48-4-45 and 48-4-46). If you redeem after that notice goes out, the sheriff’s service costs and newspaper costs get added to the price. If the buyer never sends the notice, the right to redeem generally ends on its own once the tax deed has been on record for four years (O.C.G.A. 48-4-48).

If the auction brought in more than the taxes owed, the difference is called excess funds. The county holds that money, and the former owner or lienholders can file a claim for it. Ask the county tax commissioner how to apply.

How do back taxes get paid when you sell?

Out of the sale price, at closing. The closing attorney lists the tax payoff on the settlement statement right next to the mortgage payoff, if there is one, and wires the money to the tax commissioner. If the house was already sold at a tax sale and is still redeemable, the redemption amount gets paid the same way, and the tax sale buyer signs a quitclaim deed back.

If the taxes plus the mortgage plus any other liens add up to more than the house is worth, the sale may need a lender to agree to a short payoff, or you may have to bring money to closing. Talk to a title attorney before you sign a contract.

What are your real options?

There are four, and the right one depends on how much time you have and how much equity is in the house.

Pay the taxes. If you can catch up, this keeps the house. Call the tax commissioner and ask whether a payment arrangement is possible on your account.

List with an agent. If the house is in good shape and the sale date is months away, a listing can net the most money. The risk is time. Showings, inspections, and loan approval take weeks, and a contract that falls apart late can push you past the auction.

Sell as-is to a cash buyer. You get less than a full retail sale, and in exchange you get a closing date you can count on, often 14 to 30 days out, with no repairs and no showings. This is the option that fits when the sale date is close or the house needs work a financed buyer’s lender will not accept. Our page on selling a house as-is in Atlanta explains how that works.

Redeem, then sell. If the tax sale already happened, the redemption amount can be paid at your closing, so you do not need to come up with it out of pocket first.

What should you do this week?

1. Find your tax sale date, or confirm there is not one yet, from the notice or the county sheriff’s tax sale list.
2. Get a written payoff from the tax commissioner, good through a closing date 30 days out.
3. Pull together every other debt on the house: mortgage, home equity loan, city liens, judgments.
4. Compare what you would net from listing against a cash offer, with the sale date in mind.

If the house is also behind on the mortgage, read our page on stopping foreclosure in Atlanta. If the house came with open city code cases, read about selling a house with code violations in Atlanta. If you inherited the house along with the tax bill, start with selling an inherited house in Atlanta.

If you are behind on property taxes on a house in Metro Atlanta, Mighty Estates buys houses like this directly, and every closing runs through a Georgia closing attorney who pays the tax lien from the sale. Call or text us at (770) 799-8760 and we will give you real numbers the same day.