Behind on Property Taxes on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Behind on property taxes in Harrison or Jackson County, Mississippi

If a letter came about your taxes, or a stranger knocked and told you your house was sold in August, read this before you do anything else. Most of what people are told about the Mississippi tax sale is wrong, and the wrong version is frightening. You almost certainly still own your house. You still live in it. There is a clock running, it is a long one, and there is a free way to stop it that does not involve us at all. Here is the whole thing, plainly, in the order it actually happens. This is general information about how Mississippi handles tax sales, not legal or tax advice about your property. For that, talk to the Chancery Clerk, a Mississippi attorney, or a free HUD-approved counselor.

Redeem it yourself, and pay us nothing

If you can cover the payoff, redeeming your own property at the Chancery Clerk is the better outcome and it costs you nothing to find out. Ask for Land Redemption. Harrison County has two judicial districts: 228-865-4036 in Gulfport covers Gulfport, Long Beach, Pass Christian and Saucier, and 228-435-8220 in Biloxi covers Biloxi and D'Iberville. In Jackson County, Land Records and Land Redemption is 228-769-3131. Ask for the payoff good through the end of this month, and what it becomes next month. Both figures are free.

What the county actually sold in August

Mississippi counties hold a tax sale in late August every year. What the county sells is not your house. It is the tax lien, the right to collect what you owe. A bidder pays your unpaid taxes to the county, and in exchange the Chancery Clerk issues that bidder a certificate. You keep the title. You keep the keys. You keep living there, renting it out, or leaving it empty, exactly as before. Nobody who bought at that sale can enter the house, change the locks, or collect rent from you. If somebody has told you otherwise, they are either mistaken or they are hoping you will sign something cheap. You can check it yourself, for free, with the Chancery Clerk.

The two years, and what 1.5% a month really costs

Redeeming is not just the back tax bill. Under Mississippi law you pay the amount of taxes the land was sold for, all the costs of that sale, five percent damages on those taxes, and interest at 1.5 percent per month running from the date of the sale, plus the clerk's fees and any later years that also went unpaid. Two details catch people out. The five percent damages sits on top of everything else. And the interest runs per month or any fractional part of a month, so redeeming in the first week of a month still costs that whole month. We are not going to print an example figure here, because the only number that matters is the one the Chancery Clerk quotes for your parcel on the day you call. Ask them for the payoff good through the end of the month, and ask what it becomes the month after. Both numbers are free and they take one phone call.

The honest first option: redeem it yourself

The cheapest way out of a tax sale is almost always to redeem it yourself, and it costs nothing to find out what that would take. Call the Chancery Clerk in the county where the house sits. Ask for Land Redemption. Harrison County has two judicial districts, so use the one your property sits in: 228-865-4036 in Gulfport for District 1, which covers Gulfport, Long Beach, Pass Christian and Saucier, and 228-435-8220 in Biloxi for District 2, which covers Biloxi and D'Iberville. In Jackson County, Land Records and Land Redemption is 228-769-3131. Ask for land redemption, give them the parcel number off your tax notice or just the address, and ask two questions. What is the total to redeem today, and what date does the redemption period end. They will tell you. It is public information and they answer that question all day. Write both answers down. If you can pay it, or borrow it, pay it and be done. That path ends with you keeping your house and owing us nothing.

What a tax deed means, and the letter you may never see

If the two years run out and nobody redeems, the certificate holder can apply for a tax deed, and title passes to them. That is the actual loss point, and it is the only one. Before it happens, the Chancery Clerk is required to search for the record owner and send notice that the period is ending. Do not build your plan around that letter arriving. It goes to the mailing address the county has on file, which for a lot of owners is a house they moved out of, a parent's old address, or a box nobody checks. If you have moved, update your mailing address with the county tax assessor this week. It is a five minute call that protects two years of warnings.

Where selling fits, and where it does not

Selling is one option, not the first one. It fits when the redemption figure is more than you can raise, when the house needs repairs you were never going to make, when it sits empty three states away, or when the two years are nearly gone and no money is coming. It does not fit if you can redeem and stay. If you do sell, the back taxes do not follow you. Every Mississippi closing here goes through a licensed title attorney. The attorney orders the payoff from the county, pays the taxes and any other liens out of the sale proceeds, clears the title, and wires you what is left. You never settle the county yourself first.

The three numbers that decide this

Before you decide anything, get three numbers on paper. One, the exact redemption figure from the Chancery Clerk. Two, the date the redemption period ends, which is two years from the August sale, not two years from the letter you were mailed. Three, what the house is worth today in the condition it is genuinely in, counting the roof, the wiring and what insurance costs on the coast now. Mississippi is a non-disclosure state, so sale prices are not public record here, and any figure you pull off a website was produced by a computer that has never seen your house. Once those three numbers exist, the right move is usually obvious, and often it is not a sale.

Questions we get asked

Did I lose my house at the August tax sale?

No. The county sold the tax lien, not the property. You still hold title, you still have the right to live there or rent it out, and the person who bought at that sale has no right to enter the house or collect anything from you. Ownership only changes if the full two-year redemption period runs out and the certificate holder then applies for a tax deed. Until that happens, the house is yours.

How much will it cost me to redeem?

More than the unpaid tax. Mississippi requires the taxes the property sold for, the costs of the sale, five percent damages on those taxes, and 1.5 percent per month interest from the sale date, counting a part month as a whole month, plus clerk's fees and any later unpaid years. The Chancery Clerk will quote the exact payoff for your parcel over the phone at no charge, and that quoted figure is the only one to plan against.

Can I make payments, or redeem only part of it?

Redemption is generally a single payment to the Chancery Clerk rather than an installment plan, though a partial redemption can apply where somebody owns only a share of the property, which comes up often with heirs. Ask the clerk about your specific parcel instead of assuming. If the full figure is out of reach, that is the point to look at a family loan, a refinance if you have equity and steady income, or a sale, roughly in that order.

My mortgage company escrows my taxes. How did this happen?

More easily than you would think. An escrow account can run short, a loan can transfer between servicers and the tax parcel not follow it, or the house may have been paid off years ago and nobody moved the bill into your name. Call your servicer, ask whether their records show that year paid, and ask them to pull the county record while you are on the line. If they missed it, they will often redeem it and charge the escrow. Get the answer in writing.

Is there any way to lose the house before the two years are up?

Not from the tax sale itself. Other things move faster. A mortgage in default goes to a trustee sale in Mississippi, which is non-judicial and runs on notice published in the local paper rather than through a court, so if you are behind on both a loan and the taxes, the loan is the more urgent problem. Code enforcement and condemnation keep their own timelines too. Tell whoever helps you about all of it, not only the taxes.

If I sell, do I have to pay the back taxes first?

No. Payoffs come out of the sale, not out of your pocket beforehand. The title attorney orders the redemption figure from the Chancery Clerk, pays the county and the certificate holder at closing, clears anything else recorded against the property, and wires you the balance. If what is owed is more than the house is worth, that shows up in the title work early, and you get told plainly rather than sitting through a closing that cannot happen.