Updated about 7 years ago on . Most recent reply
Information on tax liens.
Who buys tax lien properties for rental income? Our landlord has not paid her property taxes, and the house is going to auction in February 2019. We have a lease and we don't or can't move. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you, Karen Montez
Most Popular Reply
It varies by state. I'm assuming you're in California since you posted this in the Sacramento real estate forum. California counties don't sell tax liens. In California, properties get sold at tax deed auctions. However, the property taxes have to not be paid for five consecutive years before the properties can be auctioned. So if this is the first year (or anything less than five years), you don't have anything to worry about (yet).
If the property taxes haven't been paid for five (or more) years, it's possible that the property could go to auction and you could end up with a new landlord. It doesn't necessarily mean you'd have to move though. Many investors buy properties to keep them as rentals.
The auction list for Sacramento's February 2019 auction hasn't even been posted yet, so I'm not sure how you know it's scheduled for auction. But you can go here to check for it when it does get posted: http://www.finance.saccounty.net/Tax/Pages/TaxSale.aspx
Even if the property does get scheduled for auction, properties get redeemed (pulled off the auction list) all the time before the auction takes place. They can be redeemed right up until the last business day before the auction. Happens all the time.