The NYC Tax Lien Sale List: How to Check an Address, and How to Get Off It
On this page:
- What the lien sale list is — and the 90/60/30/10-day countdown
- Check any address free
- How to get off the list
- What happens if the lien sells
- What it means for buyers and lenders
- FAQ
What the lien sale list is — and the 90/60/30/10-day countdown
A tax lien sale does not sell your property. It sells the City’s claim on your unpaid property taxes, water and sewer charges, and certain other property charges to an authorized buyer, who then has the right to collect what you owe.
DOF puts it plainly on its lien sales page: “This does not mean that your property has been sold, but if you do not resolve your outstanding debt, the lien sale can be a first step toward foreclosure.” The City sells liens to a single authorized buyer, not the general public — the individual-investor tax-lien auction seen in other states does not exist here.
The authority. Local Law 82 of 2024 (Council Int. No. 962), passed June 30, 2024 and returned unsigned by the Mayor on July 30, 2024, reauthorized the sale and rewrote much of Chapter 3 of Title 11 of the Administrative Code. It deems enactment “authorization by the council for the commissioner of finance to conduct a sale or sales of tax liens through and including December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-eight,” after which “the city shall not have the authority to sell tax liens” unless the Council acts again. The same law created a temporary Task Force on Tax Liens, which has published a set of preliminary recommendations.
The countdown. Administrative Code § 11-320, as amended, requires DOF to mail owners notice “four times: not less than ninety, sixty, thirty and ten days prior to the date of sale.” At each mark DOF must also give the Council a list of every noticed property, by council district, with the address and borough-block-lot, the owner of record, the amount that would render the lien ineligible, and the debt split by charge type. DOF posts borough-by-borough versions as PDF and Excel — that is “the NYC tax lien sale list PDF.”
What makes a property eligible depends on type, amount, and how long the debt is overdue:
| Property type | Property tax debt | Water/sewer debt |
|---|---|---|
| 1 family, owner-occupied | $5,000 · 3 years | Cannot be sold |
| 2–3 family, owner-occupied | $5,000 · 3 years | $3,000 · 1 year |
| Residential condominium | $5,000 · 3 years | $1,000 · 1 year |
| Developable class 1 vacant land | $1,000 · 3 years | — |
| Other residential (non-owner-occupied 1–3 family, co-op buildings, small mixed-use) | $5,000 · 3 years (HDFC rentals: $5,000 · 2 years) | $1,000–$3,000 · 1 year |
| All other property (commercial, larger buildings) | $1,000 · 1 year | $1,000 · 1 year |
Own a one-family house and owe only water and sewer charges? The City cannot sell a lien on it — though DEP may still shut off service. That is why DOF’s lists carry a “Water Debt Only” column.
Sales are episodic, not annual. The most recent was held June 3, 2025; DOF’s archive holds lists for 2025, 2021, 2019, 2018 and earlier, with no sale in 2020 or in 2022 through 2024.
Check any address free
For a worried owner and for a lender pricing risk, the question is the same: has this address appeared on a DOF lien sale notice list?
We mirror DOF’s published lists as one queryable table: 264,142 rows spanning cycles from 2019 through the June 2025 final sale. Each row carries the fields DOF publishes — borough-block-lot and address, tax class, the water-debt-only flag — plus the notice stage (90, 60, 30, or 10 Day Notice, or Final Sale) and the report date. Because stage is preserved, you see not just whether a property was noticed but how far down the countdown it went.
🔎 Has this address been on the lien sale list? — free
Ask in plain English — “has 123 Main Street, Brooklyn appeared on the tax lien sale list?” — and you’ll get every notice stage and cycle on record for that BBL. No signup for your first queries.
An honest note on data vintage. Our mirror is only as current as DOF’s publications. As of August 11, 2026 the newest cycle we have ingested is the 2025 sale — we do not have 2026 rows, because DOF has not published 2026 notice lists. If a 2026 cycle appears upstream, the mirror will pick it up. To be clear about roles: we report what DOF published; DOF holds the account. For a live balance or the deadline that applies to you, use DOF’s tools and call 311.
How to get off the list
A notice is a warning, not a verdict — and DOF’s own published lists show that most owners who act come off.
Counting DOF’s borough files for the 2025 cycle, the list drains at every stage: 29,972 properties at the 90-day notice, 26,511 at 60 days, 21,546 at 30 days, 18,445 at 10 days — and 4,545 on the final sale list. Roughly 85% of properties noticed at 90 days were paid off, put under agreement, exempted, or otherwise removed before the sale.
Every official route off, from DOF:
- Pay the minimum on your notice. Taxes and Emergency Repair / Alternative Enforcement charges via CityPay; water and sewer via DEP. The minimum shown — not the full balance — is what removes you.
- Enter a payment agreement. A standard agreement is available to all owners regardless of age or income, runs one to ten years, and a down payment is “encouraged, but not required.” You must keep new charges current too.
- PT AID. The Property Tax and Interest Deferral program covers owners of a 1–3 family home or condo that has been their primary residence a year or more, earning $107,300 or less. Owners 65 or older can defer indefinitely, to be paid by the estate. A “Circuit Breaker” variant applies when the tax bill exceeds 10% of income and assessed value is $250,000 or less. Compare the PT AID plans.
- Reduced interest rate. Where assessed value is $250,000 or less, the home has been a primary residence a year or more, and owner income is under $200,000 — automatic for PT AID enrollees and up-to-date standard-plan holders with Enhanced STAR, SCHE, or DHE.
- Property tax exemptions. Per DOF, SCHE, DHE, Veterans, and Not-for-Profit exemptions “can either keep your property out of the lien sale or cancel the sale of a lien if approved within 90 days of the date sold.” That second clause matters: approval can undo a sale that already happened.
- Lien Sale Easy Exit Program. Removes a property for one year if you own a 1–3 family home or condo that has been your primary residence for the past 12 months, own no other NYC property, and combined owner income is no greater than $107,300. Time in a hospital, nursing home, or rehab facility — up to three years — does not break the residency test. Apply for Easy Exit; DOF decides within 30 days.
- Narrower removals. An Emergency Repair certification (class 1, owner-occupied, ERP charges only), a Military Request for Relief for active-duty personnel, and a probate removal where the owner of record has died and ownership is unsettled.
Deadlines are short — the 2025 cutoff was June 2, 2025, the day before the sale. If a notice arrives, call 311 rather than waiting. DOF also runs free outreach events with the Center for NYC Neighborhoods.
What happens if the lien sells
The debt moves to a private trust, a 5% surcharge attaches to the whole lien, interest compounds daily, and foreclosure can begin one year later.
- Where the lien goes. Into a specialized trust — the 2025 vintage is the NYCTL 2025-A Trust, serviced by MTAG and Tower Capital, with older unresolved liens in the NYCTL 1998-2 Trust.
- You get notified. Within 90 days the City mails the terms, the new lienholder’s name and address, and the authorized representative to contact. DOF warns owners not to pay anyone else. New City charges still go to the City.
- What it costs. A 5% surcharge on the entire lien amount, plus interest compounded daily and payable semi-annually: 6% a year where assessed value is $250,000 or less, 9% from $250,000 to $450,000, and 16% above $450,000 — the same rates the City charges on delinquent property tax — plus an estimated $300 in administrative costs. (Older write-ups citing 18% are out of date.)
- The surcharge can be waived for owners whose property has been their primary residence for 12 months, who own no other NYC property, with combined income no greater than $110,750.
- Foreclosure timing. One year after the sale date if the lien is unpaid and not under agreement — earlier if a semi-annual interest payment is 30 days late, or current charges go unpaid for six months.
- A last option. Owners of certain 1–3 unit class 1 homes may choose the Voluntary Foreclosure Program: the property transfers to an approved nonprofit and the former owner stays as a tenant at an affordable rent.
Disputing your assessment does not pause any of this. DOF is explicit that a lien can be sold while you contest the value or the charges — you must pay or enter an agreement to stop the sale, with a refund later if you win.
What it means for buyers and lenders
A lien sale notice is one of the cleanest distress signals in NYC public records: dated, address-level, and triggered only when debt clears a statutory dollar-and-age threshold.
- A threshold event, not a soft score. An owner-occupied 1–3 family home only lands on the list at $5,000 or more in tax debt at least three years overdue — a hard fact about the owner’s cash position, not a model output.
- Stage carries information. A property that appears at 90 days and vanishes by 30 behaved very differently from one that reached the final sale list.
- Repeat appearances are the real tell. A BBL showing up across 2019, 2021, and 2025 is a chronic-delinquency pattern no single-year snapshot reveals. The City’s Task Force defines a “chronically unresolved” property as one still unresolved 36 months after its lien transferred to the trust.
- It changes your title work. If a lien sold, an outside lienholder holds a claim carrying a 5% surcharge and daily-compounding interest — a payoff to pin down before closing, not after.
Caveats: appearing on a notice list is not proof a lien sold; the water-debt-only flag matters, since a water-only lien on a one-family house cannot be sold at all; and these lists are point-in-time, so confirm payoffs with DOF and the servicer. Use it as a screen for where to look harder, then pair it with a recorded-document check — see our NYC property lien search guide — and fold both into the NYC property due-diligence guide.
FAQ
Is there a 2026 NYC tax lien sale?
None has been announced as of August 11, 2026. DOF’s lien sale page still describes the sale held June 3, 2025, its archive lists no 2026 list, and no 2026 notice files have been published. The City’s authority to sell tax liens runs through December 31, 2028 under Local Law 82 of 2024, so a future sale remains possible. The 90-day notice list is the first public signal that a cycle has started.
Where do I find the NYC tax lien sale list PDF?
On DOF’s lien sale page, which posts the current cycle’s notice lists as PDF and Excel files, one per borough, and in DOF’s lien sale archive, which holds prior years’ lists, final sale lists, quarterly status reports, and trust documents. The most recent is the 2025 final sale list, covering 4,545 properties.
Does being on the lien sale list mean I’m going to lose my house?
No. The sale transfers your debt, not your property, and most noticed properties never reach the sale — of roughly 29,972 properties on DOF’s 2025 90-day notice lists, 4,545 appeared on the final sale list. Even then, foreclosure generally cannot begin until one year after the sale date, and only if the lien is unpaid and not under a payment agreement.
How do I get my property off the lien sale list?
Pay at least the minimum shown on your warning notice, enter a payment agreement (a standard plan is open to any owner and needs no down payment), get an exemption approved — SCHE, DHE, Veterans, or Not-for-Profit — or apply to the Lien Sale Easy Exit Program, which removes an eligible owner-occupied home for one year. Narrower removals cover emergency-repair-only charges, active-duty military, and properties in probate.
What does it cost me if the lien is sold?
Per DOF, a 5% surcharge on the entire lien amount, plus interest compounded daily and payable semi-annually — 6% a year where the assessed value is $250,000 or less, 9% from $250,000 to $450,000, and 16% above $450,000 — plus an estimated $300 in administrative costs. Lower-income owner-occupants may qualify for a waiver of the 5% surcharge.
Sources: NYC Department of Finance lien sales and lien sale archive pages, including the 2025 90/60/30/10-day notice lists and the 2025 final sale list — row counts here were tallied directly from those published borough files; Local Law 82 of 2024 (Council Int. No. 962) amending Chapter 3 of Title 11 of the NYC Administrative Code; the Recommendations of the Temporary Task Force on Tax Liens; and NYC DEP. This page is general information, not tax or legal advice — eligibility, deadlines, and balances are determined solely by DOF. If you received a notice, call 311 or confirm at nyc.gov/liensale and with a qualified attorney or housing counselor. See our Terms of Use.