How Georgia property taxes go from delinquent to a tax sale
Every year your county mails a property tax bill, usually in the summer. In Fulton and Cobb counties the county bill is due October 15. In Cherokee County it is due November 15. Some cities mail their own separate city tax bills with their own due dates, so make sure you are looking at every bill tied to the property.
Once the due date passes, the balance starts growing. Georgia counties charge interest of about 1% per month on unpaid taxes, and they add a one-time late penalty too: 5% in Cobb County, and 10% after 90 days in Fulton County. A $6,000 bill can grow by hundreds of dollars in a few months just from interest and penalties, before any legal action begins.
The county does not move to a sale right away, but it does not wait forever either. Counties mail late notices after the due date. Georgia law allows the tax commissioner to issue a tax execution, called a FiFa (short for the Latin term fieri facias), as early as 30 days after the due date once the owner has received a 30-day notice. In practice, most counties send several notices and work through their delinquent lists before they start the sale process, but the timeline is the county's choice, not yours. Cobb County's own delinquent-tax page states that any taxes remaining unpaid after October 15 are subject to levy and tax sale.
After the FiFa stage comes the levy and advertising. The sheriff or levying officer seizes the property on paper, and the upcoming sale must be advertised for four consecutive weeks in the county's legal newspaper. In Fulton County those ads run in the South Fulton Neighbor. By this point, title research and advertising fees have been added to what you owe, and in Cobb County, once a property is coded for tax sale, the county will no longer accept online payments for the delinquent years. At that stage only certified funds are accepted.
Then comes the sale. In Georgia, tax sales are held on the first Tuesday of each month (or the next business day if that Tuesday is a county holiday), the same day as foreclosure auctions. In Fulton County the sheriff conducts the auction on the courthouse steps at 136 Pryor Street in downtown Atlanta, starting at 10:00 AM. The minimum bid is the amount of taxes, penalties, and costs owed. Bidders pay with certified funds or cash on the spot.
What is a FiFa (fieri facias), and why it matters to you
A FiFa is the county's tax lien. It is a legal writ that says "cause it to be done," and it gives the county the authority to have the sheriff levy on and sell your property to satisfy the unpaid taxes. The FiFa is recorded at the county's Clerk of Superior Court, where it becomes a public record attached to the property and to you.
Three things about a FiFa matter for a homeowner:
- It costs you money just to exist. The county adds a small execution fee to your bill when the FiFa is issued.
- It shows up. Because a FiFa indicates non-payment, it can affect your credit standing, and any title search on the property will find it. You cannot sell or refinance the property without dealing with it first.
- It has to be cleared at closing. When a property with a FiFa is sold, the back taxes, penalties, and interest are paid off from the sale proceeds at the closing table, and the FiFa is then marked cancelled and satisfied. It stays in the public record as history, but it no longer clouds the title.
This is one reason a voluntary sale before the auction is cleaner than letting the property go to a tax sale. In a normal closing, the title company gets an exact payoff figure, pays the county, and the FiFa is released. Nothing is left hanging.
The first-Tuesday tax sale: what actually happens
Georgia does not sell tax lien certificates the way some states do. Georgia sells redeemable tax deeds. The winning bidder at the auction receives a tax deed to your property. That deed is not yet the same as full ownership, because you still have a right of redemption for 12 months, but it is a real interest in your home, recorded in the county records.
Bidding starts at the total amount owed: back taxes, penalties, interest, and the county's advertising and levy costs. Investors routinely bid far more than that opening number, especially on properties in desirable areas, because they know about the 12-month redemption premium and they want the property itself.
If the winning bid is higher than what was owed, the leftover is called excess funds. Under Georgia law (O.C.G.A. 48-4-5), excess funds after paying taxes, costs, and expenses belong to the person authorized to receive them, usually the owner, but getting that money is not automatic. The tax commissioner can file an interpleader action in Superior Court to sort out who gets paid, lienholders get paid in order of priority, and the owner has to make a claim. Cobb County's policy is to interplead excess funds to the Cobb County Superior Court. In practice, many owners never claim their excess funds, or they wait years, or they hire third parties who take a large cut. Counting on excess funds after a tax sale is a bad plan.
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