This page explains how Texas property tax delinquency works. It is general information, not legal or tax advice about your property.
Electrum Properties is not a law firm. Talk to a Texas attorney about your situation.
Material interest: we buy houses in Lubbock for cash, including houses in the situations described here. We have a financial interest in you calling us. Read this with that in mind.
Last reviewed: September 2026
The short answer
Yes. A tax lien does not freeze a sale. At closing the title company orders a tax certificate showing what each taxing unit is owed, the taxes come off the top of your proceeds, and the liens are released. Whether you should sell is harder.
In Lubbock County, the tax office does not collect property taxes
Lubbock County has a Tax Assessor-Collector, Ronnie Keister, 916 Main St, Suite 102, 806-775-1344. The Texas Comptroller’s county directory notes of that office: “This tax office does not collect property taxes.” Drive there to fix a delinquent house account and you are in the wrong line.
Property taxes here run through the Lubbock Central Appraisal District, which the county’s own Property Tax Collections page says “issues the annual property tax bills, receives payments for property taxes, processes Homestead Exemptions, and considers protests and appeals.” Chief appraiser Tim Radloff, 806-762-5000.
The county, the city, your school district and the other local taxing units all ride on that one bill, each with its own lien. Call LCAD for your payoff.
What every month of waiting costs
Under Texas Tax Code Sec. 31.02(a), and “except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section and by Sections 31.03 and 31.04,” taxes are delinquent if not paid before February 1 of the following year — the usual date, not a universal one.
| Charge | Amount | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Penalty — Sec. 33.01(a) | 6% for the first calendar month delinquent, plus 1% for each additional month or portion of a month before July 1 | Caps at 12% total once the tax is delinquent on July 1 |
| Interest — Sec. 33.01(c) | 1% for each month or portion of a month unpaid | Never — it runs even after a judgment |
| Collection-cost penalty — Sec. 33.07(a) | Set by the taxing unit’s contract with its delinquent-tax attorney | Capped at that contract’s pay |
| Attorney’s fees in a suit — Sec. 33.48(a)(5) | 15 percent of the taxes, penalties and interest due the unit | Charged against the property |
The penalty maxes out. The interest never does. Ignore the flat “20% collection penalty” you will read elsewhere: Sec. 33.07(a) sets no percentage, and allows the charge only where the taxing unit’s governing body adopted it by official action and the unit has a Sec. 6.30 attorney contract, capped at that contract’s pay. Get your number from LCAD.
Texas homestead protection does not stop a tax lien
Homestead law turns away a lot of creditors. It does not turn away the taxing units. Sec. 32.05(a): “A tax lien on real property takes priority over a homestead interest in the property.” And it is automatic: under Sec. 32.01(a), on January 1 of each year a tax lien attaches to secure all taxes, penalties and interest ultimately imposed for the year on the property, for each taxing unit with power to tax it. Sec. 32.05(b) and (b-1) put it ahead of your other creditors and lienholders even where their claim came first. The Sec. 32.05(c) exceptions are narrow — a decedent’s survivor’s allowance, funeral or last-illness claims, and a recorded restrictive covenant running with the land or a valid easement of record, recorded before January 1 of the year the lien arose. Your mortgage is not one.
Walking away does not end it. Sec. 32.07(a) makes the taxes the personal obligation of whoever owns the property on January 1 of the year the tax is imposed, except as provided by Subsections (b) and (c): “A person is not relieved of the obligation because he no longer owns the property.”
What you can do without selling
An installment agreement — Sec. 33.02
On a homestead this is closer to a right than a favor. Under Sec. 33.02(a) the collector shall, on request by a person delinquent on a residence homestead with a Sec. 11.13 exemption, enter into an installment agreement — but only if that person has not had one with that collector in the preceding 24 months. Written, monthly, 12 months minimum on that homestead and 36 maximum (Sec. 33.02(a-1)). The Sec. 33.01(a) penalty pauses while the agreement holds and Sec. 33.02(b-1) restores it if you miss a payment. Under Sec. 33.02(c), signing is an irrevocable admission of liability for everything it covers.
A deferral if you are 65 or older or disabled — Sec. 33.06
Sec. 33.06(a) entitles an individual to defer collection, abate a collection suit, or abate a sale to foreclose the tax lien if the individual is 65 or older, is disabled as defined by Sec. 11.13(m), or qualifies for a Sec. 11.22 exemption — and the tax was imposed against property the individual owns and occupies as a residence homestead. File the affidavit with the chief appraiser (Sec. 33.06(b)). It is a postponement, not forgiveness: Sec. 33.06(d) keeps the lien, runs interest at five percent a year instead of the Sec. 33.01 rate, and preserves what accrued before you filed.
Read the end of that protection carefully. Sec. 33.06(b) blocks suit and sale “until the 181st day after the date the collector for the taxing unit delivers a notice of delinquency of the taxes following the date the individual no longer owns and occupies the property as a residence homestead.” Two events in sequence, then 181 days — not “180 days after you sell.” If a sale is set, the abatement affidavit is due the fifth day before it (Sec. 33.06(c-1)).
A third option gets sold hard: the property tax loan. Sec. 32.06(a-2) lets the tax lien be transferred to whoever pays the taxes — it changes hands with its priority intact rather than vanishing — and Sec. 32.06(a-3) bars a person 65 or older from authorizing that transfer where a Sec. 11.13(c) exemption is available.
There is no countdown, and that is the problem
Sec. 33.41(a) lets a taxing unit file suit to foreclose the lien, to enforce personal liability, or both, “at any time after its tax on property becomes delinquent.” The 20-year figure in Sec. 33.05 bars the unit from filing on real property taxes delinquent more than 20 years — a limit on them, not a grace period for you.
Under Sec. 34.01(r-1), a sale under that section, other than an online-bidding sale under Subsection (a-1), must take place between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday of a month — or the first Wednesday if that Tuesday occurs on January 1 or July 4. Those two dates, not “any holiday.”
Here is the hinge. Under Sec. 33.53(e), if the owner pays the amount of the judgment before the property is sold, the taxing unit shall release its tax lien and file a release of record. Up to the gavel, paying the judgment ends it, and a cash sale that closes in time is one way to produce that money. We will not tell you we can stop your tax sale — that is not ours to promise.
Locally: a delinquent tax suit is a district court case, so the Lubbock County District Clerk, Sara L. Smith, 904 Broadway, (806) 775-1585, holds the file. Deeds, liens and releases sit with County Clerk Kelly Pinion, (806) 775-1076, at erecord.lubbockcounty.gov. The county’s Notice of Trustee Sales list is mortgage foreclosures, not tax sales. City code cases stack on top — see selling a Lubbock house with code violations.
How a sale works when the taxes are behind
Sec. 31.08(a) requires a collector, at the request of any person, to issue a certificate showing the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and any known Sec. 33.48 costs due the unit according to its current tax records, for a fee not to exceed $10. That is what the title company pulls. The taxes are paid from your proceeds at closing, the liens are released, and you take home the rest.
When a cash offer is not your best move
- The payoff is bigger than the house is worth. There may be nothing left once the taxes and any mortgage come off the top. Take that to LCAD and a lawyer.
- You qualify for a deferral and want to stay. Selling a home to solve a problem Sec. 33.06 lets you postpone at 5 percent is a bad trade.
- The house is clean and you have time. A listing normally beats a cash offer on price — see our selling options page.
How we actually buy
Electrum Properties has bought houses in Lubbock since 2019, BBB accredited with an A+ rating and 18 Google reviews averaging 5.0 stars. Jarrod Frankum holds a Texas real estate license; when we buy your house we are the buyer, not your agent. We buy for our own account and sometimes assign the contract instead of closing in our own name — ask how we plan to close and we will tell you.
- Call or send the address. 806-630-0875, or the form on this page. Roughly how far behind you are is enough to start, and we look at the house as-is.
- We show the math with the number: the payoff as we understand it, and what is left for you. If you would net nothing, we say so.
- Title orders the certificate and closes it. We cover all closing costs on purchase. No commission, no listing fees, no repair credits.
- You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal. If a sale date is set, give us that date on the first call.
SELL MY HOUSE NOW!
"*" indicates required fields
Questions we get about back taxes in Lubbock
Can I sell my Lubbock house if I owe back property taxes?
Yes. A tax lien does not block a sale. The title company orders a tax certificate under Texas Tax Code Sec. 31.08 and the taxes are paid off the top of your proceeds at closing.
Who do I actually pay my Lubbock property taxes to?
The Lubbock Central Appraisal District, not the county tax office. LCAD issues the bills and takes the payments; chief appraiser Tim Radloff, 806-762-5000. The Comptroller’s directory says of the County Tax Assessor-Collector at 916 Main: “This tax office does not collect property taxes.”
I am 65. Can I defer instead of selling?
You may be able to. Sec. 33.06(a) entitles an individual who is 65 or older, is disabled as defined by Sec. 11.13(m), or qualifies for a Sec. 11.22 exemption to defer collection on property the individual owns and occupies as a residence homestead. It is a postponement, not forgiveness — Sec. 33.06(d) keeps the lien and runs interest at 5 percent a year. If a sale is set, the abatement affidavit is due the fifth day before it (Sec. 33.06(c-1)).
What if I owe more in back taxes than the house is worth?
Then a cash sale may not be your best move, and you should hear that from us in the first conversation. Ask LCAD about a Sec. 33.02 installment agreement and, if you qualify, a Sec. 33.06 deferral. “Deed in lieu” is a mortgage remedy, not something a taxing unit does.
Talk it through with us
Call 806-630-0875 or email jarrod@electrumtexas.com. Tell us the address, how far behind you are, and whether anything has been filed. We cover all closing costs on purchase. You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal.
Related reading: selling a Lubbock house with liens, selling a home in foreclosure in Texas, selling a vacant Lubbock house, how we buy houses, and selling an inherited property in Texas.