Inherited a house with back taxes or liens

How a tax certificate works

A tax certificate is not a sale of the house. It's the county collecting the tax money from an investor instead of the owner.

1. The property tax bill goes unpaid and becomes delinquent.
2. The Pinellas County Tax Collector sells a tax certificate for the unpaid amount. An investor pays the tax.
3. The certificate becomes a lien on the property. It earns interest, and it keeps growing until it's paid off.
4. If more years go unpaid, more certificates can be sold on the same house.

As long as someone pays off the certificates, the house stays with the owner or the estate. The concern is what happens if nobody does.

The tax deed timeline, and why it matters to heirs

Under Fla. Stat. 197.502, a certificate holder can apply for a tax deed about two years after the certificate was issued. Once an application is made, the house can be scheduled for a tax deed auction run by the Pinellas County Clerk. At that auction the house can be sold to the highest bidder.

The danger for heirs is timing. A parent may have stopped paying taxes during a long illness. By the time the family looks into it, a certificate may be close to the two-year mark. If you've received notices about a tax deed application or auction, call the estate's attorney right away. We're not attorneys, and deadlines in this process matter.

Code enforcement fines and other liens

Property taxes are only one kind of debt that can attach to a house. Others we see often on inherited Pinellas homes:

• Code enforcement liens. Cities and the county cite properties for overgrown yards, junk, unsafe structures, or unpermitted work. Unresolved fines can be recorded as liens, and some keep growing while the violation stays open.
• Utility balances. Unpaid water or sewer charges can follow the property in some places.
• Mortgages and home equity loans still owed on the house.
• Reverse mortgages. These become due after the borrower dies. See our reverse mortgage guide.
• Judgment liens from lawsuits against the person who died.

A vacant inherited house can pick up new code violations quickly, especially in summer when grass grows fast. Keep the yard cut, and if the city sends a notice, deal with it before it becomes a lien.

What happens at closing

When an inherited house with back taxes or liens is sold, the title company handles the payoffs. Before closing, it searches the title and orders payoff amounts from the Tax Collector, the lender, the city, and anyone else with a lien. At closing:

1. The buyer's funds come in.
2. Back taxes and tax certificates are paid off.
3. Code liens, mortgages, and other liens are paid from the sale.
4. What remains goes to the heirs, according to their shares.

That's how heirs avoid bringing money to the table. When we buy, taxes, liens, code fines, and any mortgage are paid from the sale at closing, and we pay the probate cost, typically about $3,000, without deducting it from the heirs' share. The house is bought as-is, so you don't have to fix the code problems first.

The vacant houses that get forgotten

Some of the houses we buy have sat empty for years: taxes unpaid, mail piling up, the yard taking over. Tampa Bay 28 featured our work on one such "zombie house" in St. Pete in May 2024, with a renovation follow-up in January 2026.

Neighbors usually notice before the family does. Overgrown grass, a broken window, or a car that hasn't moved leads to complaints, and complaints lead to code cases.

Houses get that way for understandable reasons. The heirs live far away, or don't know they're heirs, or can't face the house. The longer it sits, though, the more the taxes, interest, and fines pile up, and the closer it gets to a tax deed auction.

What to do this week if you've found back taxes

• Look up the property on the Pinellas County Tax Collector's website to see what's owed and whether certificates have been sold.
• Check for code cases with the city the house is in, or the county if it's unincorporated.
• Gather any notices mailed to the house. Forward the deceased person's mail to someone in the family.
• Call a probate attorney, especially if there's any mention of a tax deed application.
• Decide whether to keep, sell, or sell your share. If you're leaning toward selling, a sale that closes before any auction pays the certificates off from the proceeds. Call Alex at (727) 353-6206.

We’re a home-buying company, not attorneys. This page is general information about Florida probate, not legal advice; an independent licensed Florida probate attorney represents the estate in every probate we pay for. Last updated November 2026.