Inherited property with back taxes in Georgia — can you sell before the tax sale?

Yes. You can sell your share of an inherited house even when it owes back taxes. In Georgia you can often sell even after a tax sale. The state gives you at least 12 months to buy the house back. We buy your share. We deal with the taxes. We handle the rest. The other heirs do not have to agree or sign.

Who this is for

Maybe a parent died and left the house to you and your siblings. The taxes have not been paid in years. Now a letter says the county may sell the house.

Maybe you just found out the house is behind on taxes. You live out of state. The other heirs will not pick up the phone.

Maybe the tax sale already took place. You think it is too late. Often, it is not.

If any of this sounds like you, this page is for you. It walks through heir property in Georgia and what to do when the taxes are late.

What happens when the taxes go unpaid and the owner has died

When the owner of a house dies, the taxes do not stop. They are still due each year. But often no one pays them. The heirs may not know who should. The deed may still be in the dead person’s name.

So the bill sits. The county adds more to it each year. Then the county files a lien. A lien is a legal claim on the house for the unpaid tax.

If the bill stays unpaid, the county sells the house at a tax sale. This is a public auction. The house often sells cheap — far less than it is worth. The buyer pays the back tax and takes a claim on the house.

This is the moment that scares most families. It can feel like the house is just gone. But in Georgia, it is not gone yet.

Georgia gives you a year to buy it back

Here is the part most people do not know. After a tax sale in Georgia, you still have time. The law gives you at least 12 months to buy the house back. This right is called redemption. It just means you can buy it back. (Georgia law: O.C.G.A. § 48-4-40.)

To buy it back, you pay the tax-sale buyer what they paid. You also pay a 20% premium on top. A premium is just an added fee. So you pay back what the buyer paid at the sale, plus one fifth more on top.

You have at least a full year to do this. After 12 months, the buyer can send a notice. That notice can end your right to buy it back. So the clock is real, but you do have time.

This is why a tax sale is not the end. It is a deadline. And a deadline is something we can plan around.

You can sell your share — you do not need the other heirs

In Georgia, heirs own a house as a group. Each heir owns a share. The legal name for this is tenants in common. It just means more than one person owns the house at once.

Here is the key point. You can sell your own share. You do not need the other heirs to agree. You do not need them to sign. You do not even need to tell them.

So if the house is behind on taxes and the family is stuck, you are not stuck. You can sell your share to us and walk away.

Your realistic options

You have more than one path. Here they are, plain and fair.

• Pay the back taxes yourself. If you have the cash and want to keep the house, you can pay the county. This stops the tax sale. But the other heirs still own their shares with you.
• Do nothing and let the tax sale happen. This is the risk. The house can sell cheap. You may lose your share if no one buys it back in time.
• Sell the whole house. This can work, but every heir must agree and sign. If one heir says no, this path stops.
• Sell just your share to us. You get cash now. You do not need the others. We take on the taxes and the cleanup.

There is no one right answer. The best path is the one that fits your life. We lay it out with you, with no pressure.

What we do

We buy one heir’s share at a time. Here is how it works.

1. Tell us about the house. Just the address and a rough idea of who else is on the title. You do not need any papers to start.
2. We do the digging. We pull the title and check the taxes. We find out how much time is left before or after a tax sale. We move fast, because the clock is real.
3. We send a written offer. It is clear and plain. No tricks. You take it home and think it over.
4. You decide. We close. If you say yes, we draw up the deed and wire your cash. This takes about 30 days for a clean case.

We plan the whole deal around the back taxes. If a tax sale is close, we move faster. If it has passed, we work inside the time you have left to buy it back. The tax mess and the title cleanup become our job, not yours.

Why we are safe to call

We buy houses with messy titles. That is our normal work. Back taxes, a deed in a dead person’s name, a missing heir — none of it scares us off.

We work across Georgia, in Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb, and Clayton counties. You reach us by form first. No one calls you out of the blue. We get back to you within 24 hours.

We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. If you want, talk to a probate lawyer too. We are happy to be one of the calls you make, not the only one.