This page explains what Texas law lets a city do about a house that sits empty. It is general information, not legal advice.
Electrum Properties is not a law firm. Talk to a Texas attorney, and to the City of Lubbock about any notice you received.
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.
Last reviewed: September 2026
The short answer
Yes. You can sell a Lubbock house that has been vacant for years. Vacancy is not a legal barrier to selling. It changes who can buy: without an appraisal-ready house, financed buyers usually cannot get a loan, so the pool narrows to cash. Open code cases and city liens do not block a sale — they surface in the title search and come off your proceeds at closing.
An empty house is not the problem. An empty, open house is.
Texas Local Government Code Sec. 214.001(a) lets a municipality, by ordinance, require the “vacation, relocation of occupants, securing, repair, removal, or demolition” of a building that is, among other things, “regardless of its structural condition, unoccupied by its owners, lessees, or other invitees and is unsecured from unauthorized entry to the extent that it could be entered or used by vagrants or other uninvited persons as a place of harborage or could be entered or used by children.”
“Regardless of its structural condition” means a sound house is reachable. And it takes both halves, unoccupied and unsecured. A house that is genuinely closed up does not fall under it. Plywood over a broken back door is not busywork.
Securing it is not a permanent pass. Sec. 214.001(a)(3) also reaches a building “boarded up, fenced, or otherwise secured in any manner” if “the building constitutes a danger to the public even though secured from entry” or the means used are “inadequate to prevent unauthorized entry or use of the building in the manner described by Subdivision (2).” This is authority for a city to adopt an ordinance, not a self-executing rule. Lubbock adopted one, at Sec. 28.01.014 and Art. 28.08 of the city code.
If the city has already ordered the house repaired or demolished, that is a condemnation case, covered in can you sell a condemned house.
Which letter did you get?
City of Lubbock Code Enforcement covers “zoning, junk vehicles, weeds and substandard structures.”
| Track | What the City covers | The state rule |
|---|---|---|
| Weeds and rubbish | vegetation “over 8 inches,” plus junk or debris | Health & Safety Code Sec. 342.006(a): if the owner does not comply “within seven days of notice of a violation,” the city may do the work and charge the expenses to the owner |
| Substandard structures | “structures and properties that have become open and accessible”; cases go to the Substandard Structure Commission | Loc. Gov’t Code Sec. 214.001(b): proper notice, plus “a public hearing to determine whether a building complies with the standards set out in the ordinance” |
Eight inches is low. The City says properties still in violation at re-inspection go “on mowers lists that are issued to private contractors for abatement.”
Nobody can give you a day count
The City’s own page says “Cases vary on a severity basis, which effects compliance times.” State law sets a ceiling, only after a hearing: Sec. 214.001(j) says a municipality “may not allow” the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee more than 90 days to “repair, remove, or demolish the building or fully perform all work required to comply with the order” unless that person both “submits a detailed plan and time schedule for the work at the hearing” and “establishes at the hearing that the work cannot reasonably be completed within 90 days because of the scope and complexity of the work.” Both, not either.
That caps the city; it does not entitle you to time. And Sec. 214.001(l) gives the owner, lienholder, or mortgagee “the burden of proof to demonstrate the scope of any work that may be required to comply with the ordinance and the time it will take to reasonably perform the work.” Not showing up is how owners lose.
The city can board it up first and tell you afterward
Sec. 214.0011 is a separate authority, “in addition to that granted by Section 214.001.” Under Sec. 214.0011(b) the city “may secure a building the municipality determines” both “violates the minimum standards” and “is unoccupied or is occupied only by persons who do not have a right of possession to the building.” A squatter does not stop it.
Notice comes after the work: Sec. 214.0011(c) requires it “before the 11th day after the date the building is secured.” A hearing happens only if you file a written request within 30 days (Sec. 214.0011(e)).
What it costs, and who pays
You pay. When the city mows, Health & Safety Code Sec. 342.007(c) runs interest “at the rate of 10 percent on the amount due from the date of payment by the municipality,” and Sec. 342.007(d) makes that lien “inferior only to: (1) tax liens; and (2) liens for street improvements.” When the city secures, removes or demolishes, Sec. 214.001(n) lets it assess the expenses and take a lien, “unless it is a homestead as protected by the Texas Constitution” — and where the lienholder notice steps were followed, Sec. 214.001(o) makes it “a privileged lien subordinate only to tax liens.”
The mistake we see most: Sec. 342.006(b)(2) lets the city mail a notice to the address “as recorded in the appraisal district records,” and Sec. 342.006(c) and Sec. 214.001(r) both say mail returned “refused” or “unclaimed” is still “considered delivered.” If your address on file at the Lubbock Central Appraisal District is stale, those letters still count. It still does not block a sale: a city lien is paid at closing like any other lien or back taxes.
There is no vacant-property registration program in Lubbock
National articles push “registration compliance.” The Texas authorising statute, Loc. Gov’t Code Sec. 214.233(a), reaches only “a municipality located in a county with a population of 2.5 million or more.” Lubbock County is nowhere near that. The “150 days” presumption in Sec. 214.232 is scoped “under this subchapter” — the registration one.
What changes while the house sits empty
Your insurance, probably first. Most homeowner policies restrict or suspend coverage once a dwelling has been vacant. The trigger period and which perils drop off vary by policy and carrier. Read your vacancy provision and tell your agent before the house is empty. If a line splits in a hard freeze or the copper walks off while coverage is suspended, you eat it.
Your homestead exemption can change too. Tax Code Sec. 11.13(l) protects a temporary absence only “if that owner does not establish a different principal residence,” and then only where it is “for a period of less than two years and the owner intends to return,” or is caused by military service or “residency in a facility that provides services related to health, infirmity, or aging” (those last two carry no two-year limit). An heir who never lived there does not inherit it. Ask LCAD, and read inherited property or probate first.
Someone is living in my vacant house
Through the justice court, not yourself. Nothing in Texas Property Code Chapter 24 lets you change the locks or cut the utilities; removal happens on a writ of possession executed by an officer. Step one is a demand for possession, which Sec. 24.002(b) requires to be “made in writing by a person entitled to possession of the property.”
How much notice you owe depends on who they are. Under Sec. 24.005(b) a “tenant at will or by sufferance” — a holdover tenant, say — gets “at least three days’ written notice to vacate … unless the parties have contracted for a shorter or longer notice period in a written lease or agreement.” But under Sec. 24.005(d), where “the entry by the occupant was a forcible entry under Section 24.001,” the notice “may be to vacate immediately or by a specified deadline,” and it may be oral.
Which one you have is a fact question for a lawyer. Sec. 24.0041 requires the suit to be filed “in the justice precinct in which the real property is located,” and Lubbock County has four; that court “may not adjudicate title to the premises” (Sec. 24.004(c)). Chapter 24 was rewritten by S.B. 38 effective January 1, 2026; older articles are out of date. If they are tenants you signed with, read bad tenants.
When a cash offer is not your best move
A cash offer trades price for certainty. Sometimes that is wrong.
- It is empty but sound, and you can carry it. If it is insurable and financeable, clean it out, secure it and list it. A loan buyer pays more. See our comparison.
- You owe more than it is worth. Mortgage plus tax and city liens can exceed what any cash buyer will pay. Talk to a lawyer, and read avoiding foreclosure.
- You have not pulled the record. Find what the city has open on the address through Lubbock’s Civic Access self-service portal, or call Code Administration at 806-775-2193. An offer built on a guess gets renegotiated.
How we buy a vacant house in Lubbock
Call 806-630-0875 or send the form with the address. You do not need to clean it out, mow it, or be here — most of these houses belong to somebody who lives somewhere else. We go look, tell you what we found, and give you a written cash offer, as-is, with code exposure priced in.
A title company runs the search and anything of record comes off the top at closing. We cover all closing costs on purchase. No commissions, no repair credits, no cleanout bill. You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal.
Jarrod Frankum holds a Texas real estate license; here we are the buyer, not your agent. We sometimes assign a contract to another buyer instead of closing in our own name — you will know before you sign, and your price does not change. Buying here since 2019. BBB accredited, A+. Related: hoarder house, code violations, all options.
SELL MY HOUSE NOW!
"*" indicates required fields
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell a house in Lubbock that has been vacant for years?
Yes. Vacancy is not a legal barrier to selling. It narrows the buyer pool toward cash, and open code cases and liens are paid out of your proceeds at closing.
Do I have to register a vacant property with the City of Lubbock?
No. Loc. Gov’t Code Sec. 214.233(a) reaches only “a municipality located in a county with a population of 2.5 million or more,” and Lubbock County is far below that.
The city mowed my lot and billed me. Do I pay before I sell?
It gets paid at closing either way. Sec. 342.007(c) runs interest “at the rate of 10 percent on the amount due from the date of payment by the municipality.”
Is a vacant house outside the Lubbock city limits treated the same way?
No. Sec. 343.011(a) says that county nuisance section “applies only to the unincorporated area of a county,” and Sec. 342.004 borrows only subdivisions (c)(1), (2) and (3) of it for use inside a city. Inside Lubbock the building is a Chapter 214 matter. We buy in Slaton, Idalou, Wolfforth, Shallowater, New Deal, Levelland and Woodrow.
Get a cash offer on your vacant Lubbock house
Empty houses do not get easier: the letters keep going to the old address and the lien keeps earning 10 percent. Tell us the address and we will go look.
Call or text 806-630-0875. 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.