Behind on Property Taxes in Arlington County? The County’s Entire Delinquent List Is About Fifty Accounts Long

Arlington publishes its real estate delinquent list on the county website — and as of this summer’s list, it runs about fifty accounts, roughly a quarter-million dollars, county-wide. Nobody is buying a lien on your house at an investor auction; the Treasurer’s page says it plainly: Arlington “does not sell tax liens or certificates.”

If you are behind, you are not lost in a machine. You are one of a small number of accounts a small office knows by name — which cuts both ways: the help is one phone call away, and so is the enforcement. This page shows you the list, the price of staying on it, and every way off.

Investors: we don’t publish, sell, or share delinquent lists — this page is for the homeowner.

Free and no-obligation. If keeping your house is the better move, we will tell you that and point you to the county programs below.

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The List — and Which Half of It You Are On

The Treasurer’s Office posts five delinquent tax lists on the county website and refreshes them through the year. The real estate list dated July 13, 2026 held 50 accounts totaling $251,918.21 — in a county where the average tax bill alone runs over $9,000. The largest single balance was about $25,000. That is the entire universe of delinquent real estate in Arlington County.

Look closer and the county has already sorted the list into the only two categories that matter: “Accounts NOT YET Referred for Tax Sale” — 48 of the 50 — and “Accounts Referred for Tax Sale,” just two accounts, both under $8,400. Not-yet-referred means the Treasurer’s compliance staff are working your account: penalties, interest, and the money-side collection tools. Referred means the county’s tax-sale law firm has your file, and the courtroom track described further down this page has begun.

Where do you actually stand? Don’t guess from a letter. Pull your own account in the county’s payment portal (CAPP, capp.arlingtonva.us) or call the Treasurer’s Office at (703) 228-4000 — Option 4 reaches the compliance specialist who handles the delinquent lists. The county’s whole posture, in its own words, is that its delinquency rate — 0.17% — is “the lowest in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and possibly the lowest in the United States.” An office that proud of that number would much rather work with you than list you.

The Price of Staying on the List

Arlington bills real estate in two installments — June 15 and October 5. This year’s June installment has come and gone; October 5, 2026 is the next live date. Miss one and the meter runs in three published steps:

• Late, but within 30 days: a 5% penalty on the unpaid tax (Arlington’s real estate penalty is stepped — the flat “10% or $10” formula you may have read elsewhere is the county’s rule for other taxes, not your house).
• Still unpaid 30 days after the due date: an additional 5% (or $5, whichever is greater). Now the penalty has effectively doubled.
• Every day, starting the day after the due date: interest at 10% per year, running until the day you pay (county code § 27-3) — plus collection fees once enforcement starts.

Scale that to a real Arlington bill. At 2026’s rate of $1.053 per $100 on the county’s average home value of $882,900, the average annual tax bill works out to roughly $9,300. Let a year of it slide and you are carrying about $930 in penalties plus interest compounding at 10% — real money, on a debt the county’s own toolkit can collect from your bank account, your paycheck, or your state refund without ever touching the house. One mailing note worth knowing: the county now counts a payment by the date it is received or postmarked, and USPS has clarified that postmarks show the processing date, not the day you dropped it in the box. Pay online or pay early.

Not sure which half of the list you’re on? Read us the last letter you received — we’ll tell you what it means, free.

The Four Ways Off the List

1. Pay it — in full if you can, and carefully if you can’t

Check your exact balance yourself in CAPP before trusting any letter, then get your payoff in writing from the Treasurer’s Office. If you cannot cover all of it, Arlington’s own advice is to pay what you can: the county encourages taxpayers in financial difficulty to “pay as much as possible” to shrink the penalty base. One sharp legal caveat sits behind that kindness: once a tax-sale action is actually underway, Virginia law is explicit that partial payment does not redeem the property and does not suspend the case (§ 58.1-3965(B)). Informal partial payments shrink the balance; they do not change your legal position. Only a signed agreement or a full payoff does that.

2. TAP — the Treasurer will broker you a bank loan, no credit check

Arlington runs a program most counties don’t have: the Taxpayer Assistance Program (TAP). The Treasurer’s Office has partnered with community banks to offer a short-term loan — no credit check — that pays your tax bill in full; you pay the bank a non-refundable origination fee and repay it monthly over 6 months (one installment) or 10 months (both installments, if you applied before June 15). Make every payment on time and, in the county’s words, “there are no additional penalties, interest or fees.”

Two details that matter if you are already behind: existing delinquent taxes “must be either paid in full beforehand or included with your loan application” — the program can wrap your past-due balance — and the loan documents must be signed in person at the Treasurer’s Office. For the October 5 installment, that signing has to happen by 5 p.m. Monday, October 5. The county’s own plea is worth repeating: reach out before your taxes are late.

3. Tax relief if you are 65+ or disabled — and this deadline is still open

Arlington’s Real Estate Tax Relief program is one of the most generous in Virginia, and unlike almost every other deadline in this corner of the tax world this year, its 2026 filing window is still open: applications are due November 16, 2026. Homeowners 65 and older (or totally and permanently disabled) qualify with household income up to $139,551 and assets up to $515,200 not counting the home: full exemption up to $63,104 of income, then 75% / 50% / 25% tiers up to $112,187, and a deferral-only band above that — deferred balances carry no penalty or interest until the property changes hands.

In 2025 the program delivered more than $5.3 million in relief to more than 800 homeowners. Applications go to the Department of Human Services, 2100 Washington Blvd, 3rd Floor — (703) 228-1350. If you might qualify, file before you do anything else on this page; late applications are accepted only in hardship cases. One honest caution: relief addresses this year’s bill — the delinquent years already behind you remain due.

4. Sell the house before any sale date exists

The exit that outlasts every other: until the day of a judicial sale, you keep the ordinary right to sell the property yourself and pay the debt out of the proceeds at closing — § 58.1-3974 keeps redemption open “prior to the date set for a judicial sale” even after a suit is filed. In Arlington that right is worth more than almost anywhere in Virginia, because the equity at stake is so large relative to the debt: the delinquencies on the county’s whole list average about $5,000 against home values averaging near $900,000. Nobody on that list is upside down on their taxes; the risk is not losing the math — it is losing the timeline.

Want a second, private read on your options? Send us the address. We will lay out what the county’s records show, what a sale would put in your pocket, and whether — in our view — one of the programs above beats selling. If it does, we will say so. We do not charge you anything for a conversation.

Free and no-obligation. If keeping your house is the better move, we will tell you that.

The Two Accounts at the Bottom of the List: What “Referred for Tax Sale” Means

When an account moves to the referred half of the list, the file goes to the county’s tax-sale law firm — Taxing Authority Consulting Services (TACS), named on the county’s own Tax Sales page with a named contact, Cathryn Bertram, (804) 545-2377. We re-verified that this month; a TACS letter about an Arlington property is real. The legal ground rules, from the county’s page and the statute together: property can be sold only once taxes are delinquent on December 31 two years after they were due (one year, if the property carries a condemned, derelict, nuisance, or blighted structure); the process “usually requires court approval before an auction can be held”; there are “no fixed dates for such auctions” — and as we write this, “There are no real estate property sales scheduled at this time.”

The suit itself, if one is filed, lands in the Arlington Circuit Court, 1425 N. Courthouse Road: every interest-holder — you, your lender, heirs — is named as a defendant, a lis pendens goes on the land records, and before filing, the county must mail you notice and publish the delinquent list in a newspaper at least 30 days ahead. Under a 2025 change in the law, that pre-suit notice must tell you about your right to request a payment agreement of up to 72 months — a statutory installment agreement, separate from TAP, that can suspend even a filed tax-sale suit (§ 58.1-3965(C)). It is discretionary, and default is expensive: miss it, or miss new taxes coming due while it runs, and the county can void it on 15 days’ notice, resume the suit without re-noticing anything, and bar you from a second agreement for three years.

If nothing interrupts the case, a court-appointed special commissioner auctions the property and the court confirms the sale. After confirmation, Virginia gives you no post-sale redemption — Maryland’s buy-it-back window does not exist here. What survives: an owner served only by publication can petition to reopen within 90 days, for good cause; and the former owner or heirs can claim the surplus — whatever the auction brought above the taxes, penalties, interest, fees, costs, and other liens — within two years of confirmation, with the burden of proof on the claimant (§ 58.1-3967). On a typical Arlington house, understand what that surplus is: an auction price obtained by a court officer, minus the mortgage, minus every lien, minus the fees. It is the mathematical floor of your equity. Every exit that ends before the auction beats it.

Free and no-obligation. If keeping your house is the better move, we will tell you that.

Inherited a House in Arlington? Virginia Wrote a 2025 Rule for Exactly Your Situation

Arlington’s delinquency stories often start the same way: a parent’s escrow or autopay quietly ends, the notices go to a name that can no longer answer them, and the heirs discover the problem when the penalties are already stacked. Since 2025, the law has a door built for that moment: an heir who asserts ownership by inheritance can give written notice to the Treasurer’s Office, and a tax-sale action can be suspended while the court adds them to the case; once the heir’s interest is confirmed, they get 30 days to enter their own payment agreement of up to 72 months (§ 58.1-3965(C)).

The warning that goes with it: a vacant, deteriorating house can cross into the one-year fuse instead of two if it picks up a condemned, derelict, nuisance, or blight declaration — and an inherited empty house is exactly the property that does. The tax clock and the estate clock have to be worked together. Our guide to selling an inherited house in Arlington County covers the probate side, or tell us a bit about your situation and we will walk you through both clocks honestly: the tax deadlines and, for heirs, how probate timing interacts with them.

If Selling Is the Right Answer

For some homeowners the honest math says: the programs don’t fit, the penalties have doubled once already, and the equity — in Arlington, often the largest asset a family will ever hold — is worth protecting by converting it to cash while you still control the terms. If that is where your numbers point, here is exactly what working with us looks like — and what we will not promise.

• We are a buyer. We buy houses in Arlington directly. We are not a foreclosure rescue service, a counseling agency, or a negotiator. We do not contact your lender, we do not modify loans, and we do not represent you before the Treasurer’s Office, TACS, or the Circuit Court.
• The debt ends at closing, not at signing. When the sale closes, the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and any suit costs are settled through the title company out of the sale proceeds — and it is that funded closing, not a signed contract, that ends the tax sale process. You receive any remaining equity.
• Speed, honestly stated. Most sellers have a written, no-obligation offer within 24 hours. Most of our closings take two to three weeks. When the title is already clean, we’ve closed in as little as 7 days. But we will not promise you a closing by any particular date against the deadlines above — anyone who does is guessing with your house.
• As-is means as-is. No repairs, no cleaning, no agent commissions. Deferred maintenance, a lifetime’s belongings, liens stacked on the title — all of it. We cover closing costs at settlement, and the valuation and written offer are free with no obligation.

Between the offer and the closing table

• The price we write is the price we close at. We never renegotiate just to renegotiate. The number only changes if the property’s condition turns out to be materially different from what we could see or were told.
• Proof of funds comes with the offer. You will not have to take our word that the money is real — it is on the table when the number is.
• We keep visits to a minimum — scheduled around you, typically a single walkthrough before we finalize our number.
• You deal with Jacob from the first call to the closing table. If you tell us no, you get one follow-up and then we leave you alone — you will not be handed off to a call center or sold as a lead to five other investors.
• No pressure to sign. Accept it, or take time to think it over — either way, we understand. A real offer survives a second opinion.
• Closings run through established, independent local title companies. A neutral title company handles the settlement and the funds.

Tell us about the property and we will start with where you actually stand — which half of the county’s list you are on and what its records show — not with a pitch:

Where We Buy in Arlington

We buy houses across Arlington — Columbia Pike, Shirlington, Clarendon, Ballston, Rosslyn, Crystal City, Westover, East Falls Church, Arlington Ridge, and everywhere between. Older single-family homes with decades of deferred maintenance, condos with special assessments stacked on the ledger, estate houses full of a lifetime’s belongings — if it is in Arlington, we will look at it.

Questions Arlington Homeowners Actually Ask

My name is on the county’s delinquent list. How do I get off it?

Pay the account in full — or resolve it through one of the paths above (a TAP loan that includes the delinquent balance, or a statutory payment agreement once one is in place) — and the account clears from the next posted update. The list is maintained by the Treasurer’s compliance staff; questions go to (703) 228-4000, Option 4. What does not get you off the list: informal partial payments without an agreement.

I got a letter from a law firm called TACS. Is that real?

Almost certainly, yes. Taxing Authority Consulting Services facilitates Arlington County’s real estate tax sales — the county’s own Tax Sales page says so and names its TACS contact, Cathryn Bertram, (804) 545-2377. Confirm it there rather than trusting any letter on its face, get your payoff figure in writing, and never pay anyone who is not the county, TACS, or the court.

How long before the county can actually sell my house?

Real property can be sold only once taxes are delinquent on December 31 two years after they were due — one year for a condemned, derelict, or blighted structure. Even then the process usually requires court approval, there are no fixed auction dates, and as of this writing the county’s own page says no real estate sales are scheduled at all. What starts much sooner is money enforcement: bank liens, employment liens, your state refund withheld. The list of fifty is not a list of fifty auctions — but it is a list of fifty accounts being worked.

Can I get on a payment plan?

Arlington’s published program is TAP — a community-bank loan the Treasurer’s Office brokers, no credit check, that can fold in an existing delinquent balance and stops new penalties and interest as long as you pay the bank on time. Separately, once a tax-sale action exists, state law allows a written installment agreement of up to 72 months that can suspend the suit — the pre-suit notice must now tell you about your right to request one. Ask the Treasurer’s Office at (703) 228-4000 which fits your situation; both routes require signatures, not just good intentions.

Can I get my house back after the auction?

No. Virginia’s redemption right runs until the date of the sale and no section of the law restores it afterward — there is no post-sale redemption period like Maryland’s. The narrow exceptions: an owner served only by publication can ask the court to reopen the case within 90 days of confirmation, for good cause; and the former owner can claim surplus proceeds within two years. Neither returns the house.

If it sells at auction for more than I owed, do I get the difference?

You are legally entitled to it — after the taxes, penalties, interest, attorney fees, costs, and every other lien (including any mortgage) are paid first. You must file the claim yourself, prove your entitlement, and do it within two years of the court confirming the sale; unclaimed surplus goes to the county. It is a real right. On an Arlington house it is also the most expensive way to receive your own equity: an auction price, minus everyone’s fees, on the court’s timeline.

The house is inherited, or it has tenants or open violations. Do you still buy it?

Yes — those usually arrive together with tax trouble. See our Arlington County probate guide, our guide to selling with tenants in Arlington, and our Arlington code violations guide, or just call and describe the situation.

Official Contacts — Verify Everything Here

Virginia’s judicial tax sale statutes live in Title 58.1 of the Code: § 58.1-3965 (the two-year rule, the pre-suit notices, the 72-month agreements, the partial-payment rule, and the new heir provision), § 58.1-3967 (the suit, confirmation, the 90-day rehearing window, and surplus proceeds), § 58.1-3969 (the special commissioner), § 58.1-3974 (redemption after suit is filed), and § 58.1-3958 (the caps on collection fees). Tap any of them and read the law yourself — nothing on this page asks you to take our word for it.

Who You Are Dealing With

Other Ways We Help Arlington Homeowners

• Sell a house in Arlington — for sales with no tax issues
• Selling an inherited house in Arlington County
• Selling with tenants in Arlington
• Arlington County code violations
• Tax delinquency nearby: Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudoun County, Washington, DC
• ← All tax delinquency solutions

Important Disclaimer

Consistent Homebuyers is a real estate investment firm — not a law firm, not a financial advisor, not a tax preparer. Jacob Simpson is not a licensed attorney or accountant, and nothing on this page constitutes legal, tax, or financial advice.

The county and statutory information on this page is sourced from Arlington County’s official pages at arlingtonva.us and the Code of Virginia as published at law.lis.virginia.gov, and was verified on July 24, 2026 — including the July 13, 2026 delinquent list figures. Lists refresh, rates and program terms change, several of these statutes were amended as recently as 2025, and individual circumstances vary enormously. Before acting on anything you read here you should:

• Check your own account in CAPP and get your payoff figure in writing from the Treasurer’s Office at (703) 228-4000 — and from TACS at (804) 545-2377 if your account has been referred
• Ask about TAP, and if you are 65+ or disabled, file for 2026 tax relief before November 16 at (703) 228-1350 — before assuming you have no options
• Consult a licensed Virginia attorney about your specific situation, particularly if you have been served with a lawsuit
• Read the statutes yourself at law.lis.virginia.gov

This page is updated periodically but should not be your only source of information for decisions involving your home and your equity. Verify everything.