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The short answer
Yes — you can sell Mississippi land that has back taxes or a lien. In most sales the debt is paid straight out of your proceeds at closing through a real estate attorney or title company, and you keep the rest. Even if the parcel already went to a county tax sale, you can usually still sell during the state's two-year redemption window — as long as you act before the clock runs out.
Back taxes
Short version — yes, and it's more common than people think. What matters is where your land sits on the county's tax-delinquency timeline. There are really two situations:
Taxes are just past due (no tax sale yet). The cleanest case. The unpaid taxes are a lien against the parcel, but you still hold clear title. At closing, the county is paid first out of your proceeds, the lien is released, and you walk away with the balance.
Your land already sold at a tax sale. When property taxes go unpaid, Mississippi counties hold an annual tax sale — by law on the last Monday in August — where investors bid on the debt. Here's the part people miss: the bidder buys a lien, not your land. You stay the legal owner and have two years to redeem. You can still sell in that window; the redemption amount is settled at closing so the buyer takes clean title.
Not sure where you stand? Find your spot on the timeline below.
Your timeline
Tap a stage to see what it means for selling.
You're in great shape. Catching the county up is usually cheap, and selling is straightforward — any small balance is cleared at closing and you pocket the rest. If you'd rather not pay out of pocket, a cash buyer can take the land as-is and net the taxes out of the offer.
Your taxes are delinquent and the parcel hasn't been auctioned yet. You still hold clear title. The unpaid taxes are a lien that gets paid first from your sale proceeds at closing, and then released. Selling now sidesteps the interest, fees, and hassle of a tax sale entirely.
An investor bought the tax lien at the August sale — but they did not buy your land. You remain the legal owner, and the two-year redemption clock has started. You can still sell. At closing, the redemption amount (back taxes plus interest and fees) is paid to the chancery clerk to release the lien, and the buyer takes clean title.
You're deep into the redemption window, so time is now the priority. If the two years lapse without redemption, the tax-sale buyer can obtain a tax deed and your ownership ends. Selling to a buyer who can close fast — often a cash buyer — is usually the safest way to turn the land into money before the deadline instead of losing it.
If the redemption window closed, title may have matured to the tax-sale buyer. If no one bid at the sale, the parcel is struck off to the State and handled through the Mississippi Secretary of State's tax-forfeited land program. At this point selling is complicated and fact-specific — talk to a real estate attorney or title company before you do anything, and we're happy to look at your situation too.
How the redemption amount adds up
To redeem land after a Mississippi tax sale, the chancery clerk collects the unpaid taxes, plus interest at 1.5% per month from the sale date (about 18% a year), plus statutory fees and penalties. The longer it sits, the bigger that number grows — which is exactly why selling sooner usually nets you more.
Liens
A lien is just a legal claim attached to your property until a debt is paid. Most liens don't stop a sale — they get paid or released at closing, out of your proceeds, in priority order. A title search turns them up so there are no surprises. The common ones:
The loan you used to buy or borrow against the land. The lender provides a payoff figure; it's paid from proceeds at closing and the deed of trust is released.
When a creditor wins a money judgment and enrolls it, it can attach to real property you own in that county. It's paid or formally released at closing so title can transfer clean.
Federal or Mississippi Department of Revenue liens for unpaid taxes attach to your property. They're paid from proceeds, or the agency issues a discharge for the parcel — your closing agent coordinates it.
A materialman's lien for unpaid work, or unpaid subdivision assessments, are handled the same way — satisfied and released at closing.
If the liens add up to more than the land is worth, your options narrow — but a sale can still make sense to stop interest and penalties from growing. A real estate attorney or title company can tell you exactly where you stand.
At closing
A real estate attorney or title company pulls the record and lists every claim — back taxes, mortgage, judgments, tax liens.
Each payoff is requested — the county or chancery clerk for taxes and any redemption, the lender, the lienholders — in priority order.
At closing those payoffs come out of the sale price first. The releases are recorded, the buyer gets clean title, and you keep what's left.
You don't write a check up front to clear the debts — they come out of the proceeds. As long as the price covers them, the math works itself out on the closing statement.
Your options
Two honest paths, depending on how much time and clean title you have.
Can fetch full retail if you have the time and the title is clean enough to attract a traditional buyer. But back taxes, a ticking tax-sale clock, or a tangled lien can scare off retail buyers and their lenders — and listing takes months you may not have if redemption is running.
We buy land for cash, take it with the back taxes or liens in place, and net them out of a fair offer — so there's nothing for you to pay up front and nothing to fix first. We don't pay retail — we're a direct buyer, not a marketplace — but every offer is fair, every closing runs through a real estate attorney or title company, and we can move quickly when the clock matters.
"Back taxes make people think they've already lost the land. In Mississippi you usually have two years after a tax sale to make it right — and selling is often the cleanest way to walk away with money in your pocket instead of watching the clock run out."
Common questions
Yes. If the parcel hasn't been to a tax sale yet, you hold clear title and the unpaid taxes are simply paid from your proceeds at closing, then the lien is released. If it has already sold at a tax sale, you can still sell during the two-year redemption window, with the redemption amount settled at closing.
The investor bought a lien, not your land. You remain the legal owner and have two years from the sale date to redeem. During that window you can sell; at closing the redemption amount — back taxes plus interest and fees — is paid to the chancery clerk and the buyer takes clean title.
Two years from the date of the tax sale under Mississippi law. If you don't redeem — or sell — within that window, the tax-sale buyer can obtain a tax deed and your ownership ends. The closer you are to that deadline, the more speed matters.
They're paid out of the sale proceeds at closing, so you don't have to come up with the money up front. As long as the price covers what's owed, the county and any lienholders are paid first and you keep the balance — it's all reconciled on the closing statement.
Almost always, yes. A mortgage, judgment, or tax lien is paid or released at closing from your proceeds, in priority order, so the buyer receives clean title. A title search finds them first. Only when the liens exceed the land's value do your options narrow — and even then a sale can still make sense.
They affect the math, not your ability to sell. A direct buyer nets the payoff out of the offer rather than asking you to clear it first, so a bigger debt means a lower net to you — but you avoid paying anything up front and you stop interest and penalties from growing.
If there was no bidder, the parcel is struck off to the State and handled through the Mississippi Secretary of State's tax-forfeited land program. Selling from there is more involved and fact-specific, so start with a real estate attorney or title company — and we're glad to look at your situation and tell you honestly whether we can help.
Send us the parcel and we'll give you a straight answer — and a fair cash offer you can take with the taxes or liens still in place. No agents, no up-front costs, no surprises on closing day.
Prefer to talk it through? Call (970) 829-8580.
Good to know
Debrosland is a land company — not a law firm, tax advisor, or financial advisor. Everything on our blog is general information to help you get your bearings, not legal, tax, or financial advice for your situation. For that, talk to a qualified professional — and run any closing through a real estate attorney or title company.
Sources: Mississippi Code §§ 27-45-3 and 21-33-61 (two-year redemption), § 27-45-27 (tax-sale lien and 1.5%-per-month interest), and § 27-41-59 (conduct of tax sales); see the Mississippi Code, Title 27, Chapter 45, plus county chancery-clerk land-redemption guidance. Current as of 2026; statutes and county practice can change — confirm details with the chancery clerk in your county or a Mississippi real estate attorney.
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