Selling a House with Delinquent Property Taxes in Richmond, VA

No repairs. No cleanout. No commissions. We buy inherited and probate properties across Central Virginia.

If you have inherited a house in Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield or anywhere in Central Virginia, you are probably being told you have to wait for probate to finish before you can do anything with it. In Virginia, that is usually not true.

You almost certainly have more time than you think

Falling behind on property taxes does not work like falling behind on a mortgage. In Virginia, a locality cannot begin selling your property the moment you miss a bill. Under Va. Code § 58.1-3965, land can only be sold for delinquent taxes once those taxes are still unpaid on the December 31 following the second anniversary of the date they came due. In practice that means roughly two to three years of arrears before anything formally begins.

If you have had one bad year, you are not close to losing the house. If you have several years of arrears and a letter from the county attorney, the clock matters and it is worth moving.

It goes through a court, not the courthouse steps

A delinquent tax sale in Virginia is a judicial sale. The locality files suit, the court appoints a special commissioner to handle the sale, and everything happens under court supervision. That is slower than a mortgage foreclosure auction. The process commonly runs several months and can take up to about eighteen months from filing to sale.

The practical upside is that it gives you room. A foreclosure auction date can be weeks away. A tax suit usually leaves enough time to sell the property properly and walk away with the equity instead of losing it.

You can redeem right up until the sale date

Virginia law gives the owner, and their heirs and successors, the right to redeem the property at any point before the date set for the judicial sale. Redeeming means paying the taxes, penalties and interest in full, plus costs, which include the cost of publication and a reasonable attorney fee set by the court.

That right is what makes selling work. If you sell before the sale date, the back taxes and costs come out of the closing proceeds and the suit goes away. You do not have to find the money first.

What this looks like when you sell to us

• The back taxes are paid at closing out of the proceeds, not out of your pocket beforehand.
• We contact the treasurer’s office for the exact payoff figure, including penalties, interest and accrued costs.
• If there is also a mortgage, a judgment or a contractor’s lien, the title company sorts out the payoff order before closing.
• You bring nothing to the table. If the numbers do not leave you with anything, we will tell you that plainly rather than waste your time.

What we need to know to give you a real number

• Which locality the property is in, since Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover each run their own collections.
• Roughly how many years behind the taxes are.
• Whether you have received anything from an attorney or seen a suit filed.
• Whether there is a mortgage or any other lien on the property.

This is general information about how Virginia handles delinquent property taxes, not legal or tax advice. If a suit has already been filed against your property, talk to an attorney about your specific situation.

Get a cash offer on the property

Tell us the address and a little about the situation. There is no obligation and no pressure, and if selling to us is not your best option we will say that.

This page is general information about Virginia law and is not legal or tax advice. James River Homes is a real estate investment company, not a law firm or a licensed real estate brokerage. For advice about your specific estate, speak with a Virginia attorney or CPA.