What Is My Personal Liability if I Don’t Pay My Property Tax Bill?
Property taxes in the state of Texas are high, and they’re on the rise right along with home values. It’s extremely common for Texas homeowners to struggle with covering the cost of these property tax bills every year, but the personal liability of not paying the taxes means it’s essential that homeowners find a way to foot the bill. In this blog, we’ll walk through the various stages of penalties and legal ramifications of unpaid or delinquent property tax bills.
A Lien Is Placed on Your Property
On January 1st of each year, by sovereign power, all Texas taxing districts place a lien on the property. That simply means that the taxing district is legally stating that they are owed money and have the right to collect by January 31st of the following year.
Penalties & Interest Begin to Accrue
As of February 1st, or approximately 100 days after your property tax bill was mailed, penalties and interest begin to accrue. For the first month, you’ll pay a 7% late payment penalty interest. Moving forward from February, you’ll pay an additional 2% penalty and interest each month the tax bill remains delinquent until July 1st. In July, your account is transferred to collection attorneys and your penalties, interest and attorney fees increases to 41.6%. Every month thereafter, the bill increases by 1% each month. See below for an example of the increasing costs of not paying your property taxes.
Unpaid Property Taxes Will Be Submitted to an Attorney
Unpaid property taxes as of July 1st will be submitted to an attorney for each taxing jurisdiction for collection. This will result in an additional penalty of up to 20% of your property tax bill to cover the costs of the county hiring collection attorneys to collect on the delinquent taxes.
Your Home May Be Foreclosed On
Finally, the taxing district may choose to foreclose on your home in order to sell the property at a tax auction to recoup their losses. This is a very scary reality for homeowners to face, but, in most cases, the taxing district gives people ample warning and time to find a way to pay their delinquent property taxes before the home can be foreclosed.
The Home Tax Solutions Team Can Help
If you need help covering the cost of delinquent property taxes or covering the high price of property tax bills, the Home Tax Solutions team can help. We are known in the industry for our fair lending terms, dedication to keeping homeowners in their homes, and treating our clients with the respect they deserve. Most importantly, we help Texas homeowners break free from the cycle of debt that caused our clients to struggle with paying their property tax bill in the first place. We know how frightening the process of managing delinquent property taxes can be, and we’re here for you. Don’t hesitate to give us a call if you have any questions. We have five offices located throughout the state of Texas, and we serve homeowners in all 254 Texas counties. You can get started working with Home Tax Solutions by completing our simple online application form.
