What Is a Tax Title and How Does It Affect Your Property?

In Massachusetts, a tax title is a legal claim a city or town records against real estate when the owner falls behind on property taxes. Once the claim is filed at the Registry of Deeds, it clouds ownership, blocks a clean sale or refinance, and starts a clock that can end in foreclosure. Reforms enacted under Chapter 140 of the Acts of 2024 cut the interest rate on new tax titles in half, expanded payment plan options, and now require municipalities to return any surplus value to former owners after foreclosure.

How a Tax Title Gets on Your Property

The process begins when a property owner fails to pay a tax bill within fourteen days of receiving a formal demand. If the balance stays unpaid, the municipal tax collector can initiate what state law calls a “taking.”

Before recording the taking, the collector must give at least fourteen days’ notice. For residential Class One property, the notice has to be mailed to the taxpayer’s last known address, physically posted on the property, and published on the municipality’s website.¹

If the debt still isn’t paid, the collector files an Instrument of Taking at the Registry of Deeds. The document identifies the owner, describes the parcel, and states the total owed as of the taking date, including interest, charges, and fees.²

There is no courtroom hearing at this stage. The collector records the instrument and the tax title exists. The property is not seized and you can still live in it, but the cloud on the title is real and immediate, and it blocks anything that requires clear title.

Interest and Costs While a Tax Title Sits

A tax title balance does not stay fixed. Interest and fees keep adding on from the date of the taking.

For any tax title recorded on or after November 1, 2024, interest runs at 8% per year on the original amount owed. That is half the previous rate. Tax titles already on the books before November 1, 2024, continue to accrue at the old 16% rate.³

The municipality also adds administrative costs: advertising for the required notices, recording fees, demand fees, and legal expenses tied to collection. If later tax bills go unpaid while the tax title is active, those amounts are folded into the tax title account, and interest runs on each addition from the date it’s added.⁴

How to Redeem a Tax Title

Redeeming means paying the full balance so the cloud is removed. You can redeem at any point before a foreclosure petition is filed in Land Court.

Start by contacting your municipal treasurer or tax collector and requesting a payoff statement. You will need the parcel identification number and the recorded date of the taking. The treasurer provides a breakdown of principal, accrued interest, and additional charges. Because interest accrues daily, get a current figure close to the day you plan to pay.

Most municipalities require certified check or bank check. Personal checks are almost always refused. Once the treasurer processes the full payment, an instrument of redemption is recorded at the Registry of Deeds, and the owner may be required to pay that recording fee as a condition of redemption.⁴

Recording that instrument is what actually clears the title. Until it is on file at the Registry, the tax title still shows up in any title search. If you are closing on a sale or refinance, confirm the instrument has been recorded rather than assuming payment took care of it.

Payment Agreements When You Cannot Pay in Full

Massachusetts law lets municipalities offer payment agreements on tax titles, provided the city or town has adopted a bylaw or ordinance authorizing them. Most have done so or are doing so following the 2024 reforms.

The current terms under Chapter 140:

Payment plans can extend up to 10 years.
You must pay at least 10% of the total redemption amount at signing.
The agreement may waive up to 100% of the interest that would otherwise accrue, as long as you keep to the schedule.
Collection costs and recording charges cannot be waived, only the interest portion.

A payment agreement holds off foreclosure while you are making payments on schedule. Default, and the municipality can resume collection and move toward foreclosure. If you are already in tax title and struggling to pay, asking about a payment agreement before the municipality files a foreclosure petition is the single most important step you can take to protect your home.

Foreclosure of the Right of Redemption

If a tax title goes unredeemed, the municipality or an assignee can petition the Massachusetts Land Court to permanently cut off the owner’s right to pay and reclaim the property. This is the proceeding that can end with you losing the property entirely.

Under the general rule, a foreclosure petition can be filed 12 months after the taking. Earlier filing is allowed if the property is found to be abandoned, if the redemption amount exceeds the assessed value of the parcel, or if the owner consents in writing.⁵

The Land Court reviews the case to confirm that all required notices were properly given during the original taking. If satisfied, the court issues a decree of foreclosure. That decree wipes out the owner’s rights. The municipality receives absolute title and can sell the property or retain it for public use. The process is not quick even after the petition is filed, because the court will not issue a decree without confirming proper notice to everyone with a known interest. Once the decree becomes final, though, the former owner cannot reclaim the property.

Your Right to Excess Equity After Foreclosure

Until recently, a Massachusetts homeowner who lost a $400,000 property over a $15,000 tax debt received nothing back. The municipality kept the entire value. In 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that governments cannot keep surplus value beyond what a taxpayer owes, holding that seizing property worth far more than the debt violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.⁶

Massachusetts responded with Chapter 140 of the Acts of 2024. Once a foreclosure decree becomes final:

The municipality must decide within 14 days whether to sell the property or keep it for municipal use.
If selling, the property must be listed with a real estate agent within 180 days. If it has not sold after 12 months on the market, the municipality must hold an auction, and bids below two-thirds of the appraised value cannot be accepted.
If retaining, the municipality must obtain an appraisal within 120 days.
Within 30 days of a sale or appraisal, the municipality must prepare an itemized accounting showing the sale price or appraised value, legal fees, marketing costs, and any excess equity owed.
Former owners and anyone else who held a right of redemption can file a written claim with the municipality within 18 months of receiving the accounting notice. Disputes go to Superior Court.

⁷

Retroactive claims are also allowed. If your property was foreclosed between May 25, 2021, and the effective date of the Act, you may file a complaint in Superior Court to recover excess equity. Foreclosures that became final on or before May 24, 2021, are not eligible.³

When a Private Investor Holds Your Tax Title

Municipalities do not always pursue collection themselves. Massachusetts law allows a city or town to transfer its tax title interest to a private investor through an assignment. The investor pays the municipality the outstanding balance and receives the tax title along with the collection rights the municipality held. The assignee’s rights are subrogated to the municipality’s, meaning the investor can charge the same statutory interest, add the same categories of charges, and eventually file a foreclosure petition in Land Court. The assignment is recorded at the Registry of Deeds through an Instrument of Assignment.⁸

One protection: a municipality cannot assign tax receivables if the treasurer or tax collector has received notice that the taxpayer is a veteran as defined under Massachusetts law.⁸

If your tax title has been assigned, redemption changes slightly. You pay the assignee the amount stated in the Instrument of Assignment plus interest from the assignment date and the cost of recording the assignment. Alternatively, you can pay the treasurer that same total plus an additional $10, and the treasurer handles the redemption.⁴

How Bankruptcy Affects a Tax Title

Filing for bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay under federal law that halts most collection actions against you and your property. A tax title foreclosure is enforcement of a lien, so it falls under the stay. If you file while a municipality or investor is pursuing foreclosure in Land Court, those proceedings must stop.⁹

Bankruptcy does not erase the tax debt. Under Chapter 13, you can propose a repayment plan lasting up to five years that brings delinquent property taxes current while the automatic stay protects your home. Chapter 7 provides less help because it does not offer a long-term repayment structure for secured debts like tax liens.

One wrinkle: while the automatic stay prevents enforcement of existing tax liens, it does not prevent a municipality from creating or perfecting new tax liens for property taxes that come due after you file. You will still need to stay current on new tax obligations during the bankruptcy.⁹

Checking for a Tax Title Before Buying

A municipal lien certificate is the tool that reveals whether a tax title or other municipal lien exists on a property. Any person can request one from the municipal tax collector. The collector has 10 days to issue the certificate in cities and towns with more than 5,000 residents, or 20 days in smaller towns. The fee is $25. The certificate lists all taxes, assessments, water charges, and other municipal liens currently attached to the property.¹⁰

A municipal lien certificate showing no outstanding liens can be recorded at the Registry of Deeds within 150 days of its date. Once recorded, it discharges the property from any liens not listed on it, with limited exceptions for separately recorded liens. For buyers, this is a critical piece of due diligence. For owners trying to sell a property that once had a tax title, confirming that the instrument of redemption was recorded and obtaining a clean lien certificate are the two steps that prove the title is clear.¹⁰

1
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c.60 Section 53 – Taking for Taxes; Notice
2
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 60 Section 53 – Taking for Taxes; Notice
3
Mass.gov. Ask DLS: Tax Title Reform – Part 2
4
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c.60 Section 62 – Redemption
5
Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c.60 Section 65 – Rights of Redemption; Petition for Foreclosure; Legal Fees
6
Supreme Court of the United States. Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota (2023)
7
Mass.gov. Ask DLS: Tax Title Reform – Part 3
8
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 60 Section 2C
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 11 Section 362
10
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 60 Section 23