Selling land with back taxes in New York

First, take a breath — you can still sell it

A lot of folks think that once they’ve fallen behind on property taxes, the land is basically gone and there’s nothing left to do. That’s not true. As long as the county hasn’t completed foreclosure, you still own the parcel, and you can still sell it. The back taxes don’t have to be paid out of your pocket first, either — in almost every sale, they come straight out of the closing proceeds. You don’t write a check; the title company just pays the county from the sale and you keep what’s left.

The thing to understand is that the clock is running, and the longer you wait, the less room you have.

How tax foreclosure works here

In New York, unpaid property taxes are collected under a part of the law called Article 11. In most counties, the county can start a foreclosure proceeding once taxes have gone unpaid for two years. A lot of counties give you a little more breathing room than that — three years is common before they’ll actually move on a parcel — but the exact timeline and the redemption deadline vary county by county, so don’t assume you have longer than you do.

Once that redemption deadline passes and the county gets its judgment of foreclosure, ownership transfers to the county. At that point it’s no longer yours to sell. So the window to act is before that deadline, not after.

What happens to your equity if it goes to foreclosure

This part used to be brutal. For years, if the county foreclosed on your land and it was worth far more than the taxes you owed, the county could keep the entire value — taxes, plus all of your equity on top. Owe $4,000 on a parcel worth $30,000, lose the whole $30,000. That’s a rotten deal, and in 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, ruling in Tyler v. Hennepin County that a government keeping more than it’s owed is an unconstitutional taking.

New York changed its law in 2024 in response. Now, former owners have a right to file a claim for the surplus — the money left over after the taxes and fees are paid — when a foreclosed parcel is sold. That’s a real improvement and it protects people. But be clear-eyed about it: it’s a legal claim you have to file, on the county’s timeline, for whatever the parcel happens to fetch at a tax sale, which is often well below what it’s actually worth. It is a backstop, not a plan. You almost always come out better selling the land yourself while you still own it.

Selling before the deadline is almost always the better move

When you sell on your own terms — even with taxes owed — you control the price and the timing. The buyer pays a fair number, the back taxes and any liens get cleared at closing out of that number, and the rest is yours. Compare that to letting it foreclose, watching it sell at auction for a fraction, and then filing paperwork to try to recover a surplus that may or may not be much. It’s not close.

And here’s the honest part: back taxes don’t scare off a buyer who does this for a living. We deal with them all the time. Liens, unpaid taxes, a parcel that’s been sitting for years — none of that stops a sale, it just gets handled as part of it.

What you’ll want to have handy

• The parcel number or address — so the land and the tax record can be pulled up.
• The county and town the land sits in.
• A rough idea of what’s owed — the tax office can give you the exact figure and the redemption deadline if you don’t have it.
• Any other liens or issues you know about — these are almost always workable, but it helps to say so up front.

The simplest path when the clock is ticking

If you just want the parcel off your hands before it costs you anything more, a direct cash sale is usually the cleanest way out. At Ursa Land we buy vacant and rural land across upstate New York as-is, back taxes and all. We pull the county records, send you a clear offer, explain exactly how we got to the number, and let the title company pay off the taxes at closing so you don’t have to front anything. We buy in Steuben, Allegany, Livingston, Wyoming and the surrounding counties.

Want the bigger picture on selling first? Read our guide on how to sell vacant land in New York, or if the land came to you through an estate, selling inherited land in New York. When you’re ready, see how it works, the areas we buy in, or just tell us about the parcel.