Texas Tax Code 32.05 – Priority of Tax Liens Over Other Property Interests
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(a) A tax lien on real property takes priority over a homestead interest in the property.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c)(1), a tax lien provided by this chapter takes priority over:
(1) the claim of any creditor of a person whose property is encumbered by the lien;
(2) the claim of any holder of a lien on property encumbered by the tax lien, including any lien held by a property owners’ association, homeowners’ association, condominium unit owners’ association, or council of owners of a condominium regime under a restrictive covenant, condominium declaration, master deed, or other similar instrument that secures regular or special maintenance assessments, fees, dues, interest, fines, costs, attorney’s fees, or other monetary charges against the property; and
(3) any right of remainder, right or possibility of reverter, or other future interest in, or encumbrance against, the property, whether vested or contingent.
Terms Used In Texas Tax Code 32.05
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- sworn: includes affirm or affirmed. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Taxing unit: means a county, an incorporated city or town (including a home-rule city), a school district, a special district or authority (including a junior college district, a hospital district, a district created by or pursuant to the Water Code, a mosquito control district, a fire prevention district, or a noxious weed control district), or any other political unit of this state, whether created by or pursuant to the constitution or a local, special, or general law, that is authorized to impose and is imposing ad valorem taxes on property even if the governing body of another political unit determines the tax rate for the unit or otherwise governs its affairs. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
- Year: means 12 consecutive months. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(b-1) The priority given to a tax lien by Subsection (b) prevails, regardless of whether the debt, lien, future interest, or other encumbrance existed before attachment of the tax lien.
(c) A tax lien provided by this chapter is inferior to:
(1) a claim for any survivor’s allowance, funeral expenses, or expenses of the last illness of a decedent made against the estate of a decedent as provided by law;
(2) except as provided by Subsection (b)(2), a recorded restrictive covenant that runs with the land and was recorded before January 1 of the year the tax lien arose; or
(3) a valid easement of record recorded before January 1 of the year the tax lien arose.
(d) In an action brought under Chapter 33 for the enforced collection of a delinquent tax against property, a property owners’ association, homeowners’ association, condominium unit owners’ association, or council of owners of a condominium regime that holds a lien for regular or special maintenance assessments, fees, dues, interest, fines, costs, attorney’s fees, or other monetary charges against the property is not a necessary party to the action unless, at the time the action is commenced, notice of the lien in a liquidated amount is evidenced by a sworn instrument duly executed by an authorized person and recorded with the clerk of the county in which the property is located. A tax sale of the property extinguishes the lien held by a property owners’ association, homeowners’ association, condominium unit owners’ association, or council of owners of a condominium regime for all amounts that accrued before the date of sale if:
(1) the holder of the lien is joined as a party to an action brought under Chapter 33 by virtue of a notice of the lien on record at the time the action is commenced; or
(2) the notice of lien is not of record at the time the action is commenced, regardless of whether the holder of the lien is made a party to the action.
(e) The existence of a recorded restrictive covenant, declaration, or master deed that generally provides for the lien held by a property owners’ association, homeowners’ association, condominium unit owners’ association, or council of owners of a condominium regime does not, by itself, constitute actual or constructive notice to a taxing unit of a lien under Subsection (d).