A breakdown of the DeKalb County delinquent property tax timeline — from the first missed installment to the courthouse steps, the twelve-month redemption window, and the point of no return. Written for owners of vacant land, inherited lots, and unimproved acreage.
| The short answer There is no set number of years DeKalb County “allows” you to be behind. Georgia law does not give delinquent taxpayers a grace period measured in years. What governs your timeline is a sequence of statutory events, and once each one is triggered, the next can follow quickly. A bill becomes delinquent the day after its due date. By December 31 each year, the Tax Commissioner is legally required to issue a tax execution — a FiFa — against every delinquent account. From that point the parcel can be levied on, advertised for four consecutive weeks, and sold at a monthly public auction on the courthouse steps. In practice, most DeKalb parcels reach a tax sale somewhere between one and three years after the first missed payment. Some go much sooner. Some sit for five or six years. You cannot count on being one of the slow ones. And after the sale, you get exactly twelve months to redeem — that part is not discretionary at all. |
If you own land in DeKalb County and you have fallen behind on the taxes, the question you are almost certainly asking is some version of: how much time do I actually have? It is a fair question, and the answers you find online are usually either uselessly vague (“contact your county”) or flatly wrong (“Georgia gives you five years”).
The honest answer is that the timeline is driven by a chain of legal steps rather than by a countdown clock. Some of those steps are discretionary — the Tax Commissioner’s office decides when to schedule a levy and which parcels go into which monthly sale. Others are mandatory and rigid. Understanding which is which is the difference between having options and losing the property.
This article walks the DeKalb County tax sale timeline in order, with the statutes, the dollar consequences at each stage, and the local offices you can actually call. It is written with vacant land owners in mind, because unimproved property follows a different path than an owner-occupied house.
Stage 1: The lien attaches on January 1 — before you owe anything
Most people assume the county’s claim on their property begins when a bill goes unpaid. It does not. Under Georgia law, a tax lien attaches to real property at its valuation date, which is January 1 of each tax year. That is months before a bill is ever mailed.
This matters because the lien is superior to all other liens — it outranks mortgages, judgments, everything — and because if you sell mid-year, that year’s tax obligation is already riding on the land and must be resolved at closing.
Nothing dramatic happens on January 1 — no notice arrives, no filing appears. But legally the clock has started, and the lien is released only by paying the tax charged against it.
Stage 2: DeKalb’s two-installment billing schedule
DeKalb County splits the annual tax bill into two installments — a detail that trips up owners who have moved from a county that bills once a year.
Bills go out in late summer. For the 2026 tax year, the first installment was due September 30 and the second installment was due November 16. These dates shift slightly year to year, so confirm them each season rather than assuming they are fixed.
Two installments means two separate opportunities to become delinquent, on two separate clocks. Owners frequently pay the November bill they remember receiving, never realize a September balance is sitting unpaid, and find out a year later when penalties have compounded on it.
You can check the exact balance on any DeKalb parcel — including prior years — through the county’s public property search at publicaccess.dekalbtaxga.gov. You do not need to own the property or create an account to look it up.
Stage 3: Delinquency, and what it costs per month
Taxes become delinquent the first day following the due date. There is no grace period, no ten-day window. Two separate charges begin stacking.
Interest
Under O.C.G.A. § 48-2-40, delinquent taxes accrue interest at an annual rate equal to the bank prime loan rate plus three percent, accruing monthly. The Georgia Department of Revenue sets and publishes this rate each January. For calendar year 2026 the rate is 9.75%, down from 10.50% in 2025. Any period shorter than a month counts as a full month. See the department’s annual interest rate notice for the current figure.
Penalties
Separately, under O.C.G.A. § 48-2-44, a 5% penalty is added once taxes are 120 days late. Another 5% is added every additional 120 days, up to a maximum cumulative penalty of 20% of the principal amount due.
One carve-out exists, and it will not help land owners: the penalty does not apply to homestead property with a balance under $500. Vacant land does not qualify for a homestead exemption, so an unimproved lot is exposed to the full schedule from the first 120-day mark.
What that actually adds up to
Consider a DeKalb parcel with a $2,800 annual tax bill that goes entirely unpaid:
| Days past due | Cumulative penalty | Penalty amount | Approx. balance |
| Day 1 | 0% | $0 | $2,800 |
| Day 121 | 5% | $140 | ~$3,032 |
| Day 241 | 10% | $280 | ~$3,262 |
| Day 361 | 15% | $420 | ~$3,493 |
| Day 481 | 20% (capped) | $560 | ~$3,724 |
Figures are illustrative and rounded, and assume interest at the 2026 rate on the original principal. Your actual payoff will differ — always request an exact figure from the Tax Commissioner’s office.
Sixteen months of non-payment turns $2,800 into roughly $3,724 — a 33% increase — before any levy, advertising, recording, or commission costs are added once the parcel moves toward sale. Those costs are folded into your opening bid.
DeKalb does accept partial payments, and you are welcome to make as many as you need. But penalties and interest keep accruing on whatever remains outstanding, and a partial payment does not stop the parcel from moving toward a tax sale. Details are on the county’s Delinquent Taxes page.
Stage 4: December 31 — the FiFa is issued
This is the first hard deadline in the process, and it is not discretionary.
Under O.C.G.A. § 48-3-3, on December 31 of each year the Tax Commissioner must issue an execution against all delinquent taxpayers. The execution is called a FiFa, short for the Latin fieri facias, and it is also referred to as a tax execution or tax lien.
A FiFa authorizes the Tax Commissioner or the Sheriff to take whatever action is necessary and allowed by law to collect the overdue taxes. It directs the levying officer to levy on the property, and that officer has a duty to enforce it by collection or by levy and sale.
Two consequences matter. A FiFa is a public record, and although the Tax Commissioner’s office does not report to credit agencies, the lien may still surface on your credit reports. More importantly, it is the first formal step toward tax sale — once it exists, the county has the instrument it needs.
A FiFa is canceled and marked satisfied by paying the outstanding taxes along with applicable fees, penalties, and interest.
| Key point for land owners A FiFa does not mean a sale is imminent — many DeKalb parcels carry executions for years. But the county no longer needs any further preparatory step before scheduling a levy. From here, timing is up to county discretion, not to any statutory waiting period protecting you. |
Stage 5: Levy, advertisement, and the four-week window
When the county moves a parcel toward sale, the levying officer levies on it under the execution, and the parcel is advertised.
Notice of the sale is published once a week for four weeks immediately preceding the sale in the county’s legal organ — the officially designated newspaper — which is currently The Champion Newspaper. This four-week advertising run is your last clear, public warning before the auction.
This is where things get urgent, and where many land owners never find out. The county does not maintain a mailing list for tax sales. If the mailing address on file is outdated — common with inherited parcels — you may never receive anything.
One other change at this stage catches people badly. Once a property is scheduled for tax sale, the office accepts only cash, a bank-issued cashier’s check, or a wire transfer. Personal checks, business checks, money orders, and debit and credit cards will not be accepted.
You can see which parcels are currently scheduled on the county’s tax sale property listings. The county also publishes a delinquent property listing covering taxes due within the last seven years. Some properties owe more than that; for anything older, you have to contact the Delinquent Division directly.
Stage 6: The tax sale itself
DeKalb County holds tax sales monthly, generally April through December, and reserves the right to add or cancel sales, so the schedule is not perfectly predictable.
Sales are held on the first Tuesday of a given month, on the DeKalb County Courthouse steps in Decatur, at 12:00 p.m. or sooner. Legal tax sale hours run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Bidders must register in advance, either online or in person the morning of the sale.
Bidding opens at the total of taxes and costs on the parcel — levy, recording, advertising, and commissions. The property goes to the highest bidder. Importantly, opening bids include all prior year taxes due, not just the most recent year. If there are no bidders at all, the County itself may enter a bid equal to the starting bid, which means a parcel nobody wants still changes hands.
The winning bidder receives a tax deed. A tax deed is not full ownership and does not give the purchaser control of the property — but the clock has now flipped from a slow, discretionary process to a fixed twelve-month countdown.
Stage 7: The twelve-month redemption period — the one deadline you cannot miss
After a tax sale, the taxpayer — or anyone else with a right, title, interest in, or lien upon the property — may redeem it within twelve months by paying the redemption price. Twelve months from the sale date. No grace period, no extensions.
During this window the purchaser holds what Georgia law calls defeasible title. They are not entitled to rents or profits, and cannot develop, clear, or sell the property free and clear. Your right to get it back is real and enforceable — provided you can produce the money.
How the redemption price is calculated
The redemption price is the amount paid for the tax deed at the sale, plus any taxes the purchaser subsequently paid, plus 20% of that total for the first year or fraction of a year, and 10% for each additional year or fraction until redemption.
Two features deserve emphasis. The 20% premium applies to a fraction of a year exactly as to a full year, so redeeming on day 30 costs the same as day 360. And the premium is calculated on the full bid amount, not on your original tax debt.
That second point is where the numbers get away from people. Say your delinquent balance was $3,700 and, after costs and bidding, the parcel sold for $9,000. Your redemption price is not $3,700 plus something — it is $9,000 plus 20%, plus any taxes the purchaser has paid since. Roughly $10,800. A $2,800 tax bill has become a five-figure problem.
| Why owners of vacant land run out of road here A homeowner can often refinance or borrow against the house to redeem. An owner of a wooded three-acre parcel in south DeKalb usually cannot — conventional lenders rarely lend against raw land, and almost never against raw land encumbered by a tax deed. That is why vacant land goes unredeemed at a far higher rate than improved property. |
Stage 8: Barment — the purchaser closes the door
After twelve months from the sale date, the purchaser may begin to bar or foreclose your right of redemption. Practitioners call this barment; it is governed by O.C.G.A. §§ 48-4-45 and 48-4-46.
Barment is not automatic, and the purchaser must follow the statute precisely. Notice must be served on:
- The defendant in the execution — the owner at the time of the sale
- The occupant of the property, if any
- All persons having a recorded right, title, interest in, or lien upon the property
Parties in the county are served personally. Those outside it are sent notice by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, if their address is ascertainable. The notice must also run in the sheriff’s advertising newspaper once a week for four consecutive weeks during the six months before the redemption deadline stated in the notice.
If the owner at the time of sale has died, the purchaser must serve the heirs. Georgia courts are strict here: a purchaser who misses a required party has not validly barred redemption, and the defect can be raised years later. But notice is not required to anyone whose interest does not appear of record — a real hazard for informal heirs who never recorded anything.
Once barment is properly completed, your right to redeem is terminated, foreclosed, divested, and forever barred. That is the statutory language, and it means what it says.
Stage 9: Ripening by prescription — the four-year backstop
There is a second, slower path to full title that requires no barment notice at all.
Under O.C.G.A. § 48-4-48, a title under a tax deed properly executed on or after July 1, 1996, at a valid and legal sale, ripens by prescription after a period of four years from the recordation of that deed in the county land records. Notice of foreclosure of the right to redeem is not required for title to ripen this way.
For an owner trying to understand the outer limit, this is the number that matters: four years from the recording of the tax deed. Most purchasers still prefer barment, since ripening requires proving four years of open possession in a quiet title action — awkward evidence for a vacant wooded lot. But a patient purchaser can rely on it.
The full DeKalb County tax sale timeline at a glance
| Stage | Timing | What happens |
| Lien attaches | January 1 | Tax lien attaches at valuation; superior to all other liens |
| Bills mailed | Late summer | Two installments issued for the tax year |
| 1st installment due | ~Sept 30 | Delinquent the following day if unpaid |
| 2nd installment due | ~Nov 15-16 | Delinquent the following day if unpaid |
| Interest begins | Day 1 late | Prime + 3%, accruing monthly (9.75% for 2026) |
| First penalty | Day 120 | 5% of principal; repeats every 120 days to a 20% cap |
| FiFa issued | December 31 | Mandatory tax execution against all delinquent accounts |
| Levy | County discretion | Levying officer levies on the property under the FiFa |
| Advertisement | 4 weeks pre-sale | Published weekly in The Champion Newspaper |
| Tax sale | 1st Tuesday, Apr-Dec | Courthouse steps, Decatur, 12:00 p.m. or sooner |
| Redemption window | 12 months | Fixed. Redemption price = bid + 20% for year one |
| Barment may begin | After 12 months | Purchaser serves notice on all recorded parties and heirs |
| Ripening | 4 years from deed recording | Title ripens by prescription without barment |
Why vacant land in DeKalb follows a different path than a house
Nearly every article on delinquent property taxes is written for homeowners. If you own unimproved land, several assumptions baked into that advice do not hold.
No mortgage servicer is watching
On a financed house, the lender escrows taxes and pays them, stepping in to protect its collateral if something goes wrong. On land owned free and clear — which describes most inherited parcels — nobody is in that seat. There is no institutional safety net.
No occupant to receive notice
The barment statute requires service on the property’s occupant. A vacant lot has none — and more practically, nobody is there to notice a posted sign or call you. An owner-occupant in Decatur will almost certainly learn about a pending sale. An owner of forty acres near Lithonia who last visited in 2019 may not.
Notices go to a stale address
Heir property compounds this. When a parcel passes to several children with nothing probated or recorded, county records keep showing the deceased parent as owner and mail to that parent’s last address. Every notice in the chain goes to a house that may have been sold a decade ago — and because the heirs hold no recorded interest, the purchaser is not required to notify them at all.
Small bills, split responsibility
An unimproved lot might carry a tax bill of a few hundred dollars, and that smallness is exactly what makes it dangerous. It is easy to shrug off a $340 bill and assume the county will not bother. The statutory machinery does not scale with the size of the debt, and a parcel worth $80,000 can be lost over an amount that would not cover a car repair. The most common story behind a DeKalb land tax sale is not hardship — it is four siblings who each assumed one of the other three was handling it.
If the sale already happened: excess funds
When a tax sale brings in more than is owed in taxes, costs, and fees, the surplus is called excess funds, and the Tax Commissioner’s office holds it until an entitled party claims it.
If your parcel sold for $9,000 against a $3,700 debt, that $5,300 difference does not belong to the county or the purchaser. It belongs to the parties with an interest in the property — typically the former owner, after lienholders are satisfied.
A few rules worth knowing before you engage with anyone offering to recover this for you:
- Claims must be filed by the party entitled to the funds or by a Georgia-licensed attorney
- Powers of attorney are not accepted — this rule exists specifically to keep unlicensed recovery operations out of the process
- Claims are evaluated case by case, and the office cannot estimate how long payment will take
- If competing claims arise, the funds may be interpled into Superior Court, after which the Tax Commissioner cannot provide updates
The county publishes both an excess funds list and a claim form. If someone contacts you offering to recover funds for a percentage, check the list yourself first — the information is free and public.
What you can actually do, by stage
If you are behind but no FiFa has issued
- Pull your balance from the county’s public search, checking every year — and confirm the mailing address on file is one you actually check
- Ask the Tax Commissioner’s office for a precise payoff figure including accrued interest
- Make a partial payment if that is what you can do — it reduces the principal penalties are calculated against
If a FiFa exists but no sale is scheduled
- This is your widest window and the cheapest point at which to resolve things
- Pay in full if possible; the FiFa is marked satisfied once taxes, fees, penalties, and interest are paid
- If you cannot pay and do not want the land, this is the best moment to sell — you still control the timeline and the price
- If title is unclear from an unprobated estate, start resolving it now; it takes months and you cannot sell without it
If the parcel is scheduled for sale
- Get certified funds ready — cash, bank cashier’s check, or wire only
- Confirm the sale date and the exact amount required to stop it
- If you cannot cover it, a sale before the auction date will net you far more than the auction will
If the sale already happened
- Calendar the redemption deadline immediately — twelve months from the sale date
- Get the redemption figure from the purchaser or the Tax Commissioner’s office
- Talk to a real estate attorney; the interest you are trying to protect is worth more than the consultation
- Check whether excess funds are being held for you
DeKalb County and Georgia resources
DeKalb County Tax Commissioner
- Main site: dekalbtaxga.gov
- Delinquent tax information: Delinquent Taxes
- Tax sale process and rules: Tax Sales
- Search any parcel’s tax status: Public Access portal
- Pay online: govhub.com/tax/ga-dekalb
- Exemptions you may qualify for: Exemptions
- Office locations: Central, North, and South offices
- Main phone: 404-298-4000 | Tax sale questions: 404-298-3053 | Pay by phone: 678-501-7995
- Property appraisal / assessment questions: 404-371-0841
Legal notices and sale listings
- Legal organ for DeKalb County: The Champion Newspaper
- Current tax sale listings: Tax Sale Property Listings
- Bidder registration: Tax Sale Pre-Registration Portal
Georgia statutes and state resources
- Current interest rate on past-due taxes: Georgia DOR annual notice
- Penalty and interest overview: Georgia DOR
- Barment statute: O.C.G.A. § 48-4-45
- Redemption article (§§ 48-4-40 to 48-4-48): Georgia Code, Title 48, Chapter 4, Article 3
Free and low-cost legal help
- Atlanta Legal Aid Society — DeKalb office: 404-377-0701 | atlantalegalaid.org
- Georgia Senior Legal Aid (statewide, age 60+): 404-389-9992
- Self-help guides on property tax issues: GeorgiaLegalAid.org
Atlanta Legal Aid serves Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties and has income eligibility requirements, with some exceptions for seniors.
Frequently asked questions
How many years can you be behind on property taxes in DeKalb County before losing the property?
There is no fixed number. A parcel can be sold as soon as a FiFa exists and the county schedules a levy and four weeks of advertising — realistically within a year or so of the first missed installment. Many parcels sit delinquent for several years before a sale. The only truly fixed period is the twelve-month redemption window after a sale has occurred.
Will DeKalb County set up a payment plan?
The Tax Commissioner’s office accepts partial payments and you may make as many as you need. That is not the same as a formal payment plan that pauses enforcement. Penalties and interest continue to accrue, and accounts with a balance after December 31 are subject to a lien regardless.
Can I sell land that has delinquent taxes on it?
Yes. Delinquent taxes do not prevent a sale; they are simply paid out of the proceeds at closing, exactly like a mortgage payoff. The obstacle is more often unclear title from an unprobated estate than the tax debt itself.
What happens if nobody bids on my land at the tax sale?
If there are no bidders, the County may enter a bid equal to the starting bid. The parcel still changes hands, and your twelve-month redemption clock still starts.
Does a tax sale wipe out my mortgage?
No. This is a common and costly misconception. A tax sale does not extinguish your personal obligation on a promissory note, and a mortgage holder is itself a party with a recorded interest that can redeem the property to protect its position.
I just found out my deceased parent’s land was sold at a tax sale. Do I have any rights?
Possibly. Heirs of a deceased owner are entitled to be served in a barment proceeding, and courts have invalidated barments that missed required parties. You may also be entitled to excess funds. This is a situation to take to a real estate attorney promptly rather than working out alone.
| Considering selling instead of paying it off? For a lot of DeKalb land owners, the math stops working long before the tax sale does. If the parcel is inherited, landlocked, or simply not part of your plans, continuing to carry it means paying penalties on an asset you do not want. Atlanta Land Buyers purchases vacant land throughout DeKalb County, including parcels with delinquent taxes and liens. We handle the payoff at closing. Get a no-obligation cash offer or learn how our process works. The single most important thing: the earlier in the timeline you act, the more the land is worth to you. Once it reaches the courthouse steps, you are no longer setting the price. |
Related reading
- Selling Land With Back Taxes in Georgia: How Closing Actually Works — the mechanics of paying off a tax debt at closing
- What Is a FiFa in Georgia, and What Does It Mean for Your Land? — a deeper look at tax executions
- Heir Property in Georgia: Clearing Title on Inherited Land — why unprobated estates stall land sales
- Fulton County Delinquent Property Tax Timeline — how the neighboring county’s process differs
- Claiming Excess Funds After a Georgia Tax Sale — recovering surplus proceeds
- We Buy Land in DeKalb County — our DeKalb service area page
- The True Cost of Holding Vacant Land in Metro Atlanta — taxes, liability, and opportunity cost