Yes. You can sell a house with a lien on it in Massachusetts. A lien does not freeze your house or take away your right to sell. It attaches to the title — and because Massachusetts closings run on clean title, the lien has to be paid, released, bonded over, or negotiated down before the deed can pass.
That is the short answer. The part almost nobody explains is the Massachusetts version: which liens attach to a home here, the certificate your city or town issues that decides how the closing goes, where to look your title up, and what to do when the numbers do not work. Statute numbers are included so you can check any of it yourself.
What a Lien Actually Does to a Massachusetts Sale
A lien is a legal claim against your property, not a lock on it. You keep the right to sell. What you lose is the ability to deliver clear title until the claim is dealt with.
That is why sales stall. The buyer’s lender will not fund a mortgage sitting behind an unresolved lien, and the title insurer will not insure it. In most Massachusetts sales the lien gets handled with the sale money itself, on closing day, and the seller never writes a check.
The Liens That Actually Attach to Massachusetts Homes
Massachusetts liens split into two groups: the ones you agreed to, and the ones somebody put on you. Mortgages and home equity lines are the first group. Everything below is the second.
Municipal property tax liens (MGL c. 60)
Unpaid property taxes, water and sewer charges, and betterments. Your collector demands payment under MGL c. 60 § 16. If the bill stays unpaid 14 days later, the collector can take the property for the municipality under § 53, and the instrument of taking must be recorded at the registry within 60 days to be valid (§ 54). This is tax title, and it gets its own section below because the law changed in 2024.
Mechanic’s liens — contractors and suppliers (MGL c. 254)
A contractor with a written contract records a notice of contract at the registry (§ 2); subcontractors and suppliers do the same and must give you actual notice (§ 4). A sworn statement of account follows under § 8, and the lien dissolves entirely unless a lawsuit is filed within 90 days of that statement (§ 11). The clocks are tight enough that some contractor liens sitting on Massachusetts title have already dissolved by their own terms — which a closing attorney will check.
Judgment liens — and the Massachusetts wrinkle (c. 223, c. 236)
In Massachusetts, winning a money judgment against you does not by itself put a lien on your house. Somebody has to record something at the registry of deeds: a certified copy of a writ of attachment before judgment (c. 223 § 42, recorded under § 63), or a copy of the execution with a memorandum after judgment (c. 236 § 4). Both run on six-year clocks that must be renewed at the registry or they lapse (c. 223 § 114A, c. 236 § 49A).
Federal and state tax liens
An IRS lien arises the moment tax is assessed and you do not pay after demand, and it attaches to all your property (26 U.S.C. §§ 6321, 6322). It does not beat a buyer until the IRS files a Notice of Federal Tax Lien, which for real estate goes in the registry of deeds where the property sits (§ 6323(f)). The IRS generally has 10 years from assessment to collect (§ 6502). A Massachusetts Department of Revenue lien works the same way under MGL c. 62C § 50.
Condo liens and the six-month “super lien” (MGL c. 183A § 6)
Unpaid condo common expenses become a lien, and under § 6(c) six months of assessments — the six immediately before the association sues — jump ahead of even a first mortgage, with costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. The association must notify the first mortgage holder 30 days beforehand, by certified and first class mail. What the priority does not cover: special assessments, late charges, fines, penalties and interest.
The two liens you will not find on a title search
The Massachusetts estate tax lien. Under MGL c. 65C § 14, a lien attaches automatically to a deceased person’s Massachusetts real estate on the date of death and lasts 10 years. Nothing is recorded anywhere — if you inherited the house, it is simply there. A certificate from the Commissioner releases it, and the M-4422 application is what closes a sale before the estate tax return is filed. The Massachusetts filing threshold is generally $2 million for deaths on or after January 1, 2023 (c. 65C § 2A).
MassHealth. MassHealth can recover what it paid from the estate of someone 55 or older who received nursing facility or certain home and community-based care (MGL c. 118E § 31), with separate lien authority under § 34. Recovery generally waits until a surviving spouse dies, and does not apply where a surviving child is under 21, blind, or has a disability. The operating details live in MassHealth regulations rather than the statute — take this one to an elder law attorney.
The Municipal Lien Certificate: The Massachusetts Document Nobody Explains
A municipal lien certificate is a written statement from your city or town collector listing everything the municipality claims against your property, and it is a standard part of nearly every Massachusetts closing. If one document decides how smoothly a lien sale goes here, it is this one.
It comes from MGL c. 60 § 23, and the details are specific and enforceable:
- Who issues it: the collector of taxes — not the assessor, not the treasurer — on written application by any person.
- How fast: within 10 days in a municipality over 5,000 people, 20 days in one at 5,000 or under, not counting Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.
- What it shows: an itemized list of all taxes, assessments, rates and charges then payable, plus a note of anything not yet ascertainable.
- What it costs: $25, paid to the city or town treasury.
- Why it protects the buyer: if recorded within 150 days of its date, the parcel is discharged from municipal tax and assessment liens that do not appear on it, subject to listed exceptions.
Two things matter to you as the seller. The 150 days runs from the certificate’s date, not your closing date, so one pulled early in a slow sale can go stale and need re-ordering. And § 23 discharges the land, not the person — a buyer walking away clean does not mean the debt evaporated.
Order it early. It is the cheapest, fastest way to learn exactly what your town says you owe, and it is what your buyer’s attorney will work from anyway.
How to Find Out What Liens Are on Your Massachusetts House
Most Massachusetts liens are recorded at the registry of deeds for the district where the property sits, and you can search them yourself at masslandrecords.com.
That is the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s portal, covering all 21 Massachusetts registry districts across the state’s 14 counties — Bristol, Berkshire, Essex, Middlesex and Worcester are each split into more than one. Suffolk is on there too. Choose your district and search by owner name and by address, since liens are not always indexed both ways.
Then do the two things the registry cannot: order the municipal lien certificate for anything the city or town claims, and account for the invisible liens — the estate tax lien if someone died owning the house, and MassHealth if anyone on the deed received long-term care benefits. A Massachusetts real estate attorney can run a full title rundown for a few hundred dollars, which is cheap next to finding a surprise on closing day.
How Liens Get Paid at a Massachusetts Closing
In a normal Massachusetts sale, liens are paid out of the sale proceeds at closing by the closing attorney, before any money reaches you. You do not have to clear them out of pocket first.
Massachusetts is an attorney closing state, which shapes the sequence:
- The closing attorney runs the title exam and finds every recorded lien.
- The attorney requests a written payoff statement from each lienholder, good through a set date.
- Those payoffs appear on the settlement statement as deductions from your proceeds.
- At closing, the attorney pays each lienholder directly from the sale funds.
- Each lienholder issues a discharge, which the attorney records at the registry.
That last step is the one sellers forget. Paying a lien does not remove it from your title — recording the discharge does. Chasing a discharge nobody recorded years ago is a common reason Massachusetts closings stall.
What If the Liens Are Worth More Than the House?
You still have real options — they just take longer and need the lienholders to agree.
Negotiate a short payoff. Lienholders take less than the full balance more often than people expect, because the alternative is often nothing. Standard practice, not a favor.
For an IRS lien, ask for a discharge of the property. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6325(b) the IRS can release your specific property while keeping the lien on everything else you own. Two routes matter to a homeowner: § 6325(b)(2)(A), where you pay the IRS what it determines its interest is worth, and § 6325(b)(2)(B), where the IRS determines its interest has no value — the underwater case. Apply on IRS Form 14135, following IRS Publication 783. The IRS asks for it at least 45 days before the closing date. If you have an IRS lien, that is the most useful number on this page: start early, or your closing date is fiction.
For a contractor lien, consider a bond. Under MGL c. 254 § 14, any person in interest can dissolve a mechanic’s lien by recording a bond from a Massachusetts-licensed surety company equal to the amount of the lien. The lien comes off the property the moment the bond is recorded, with no judge’s approval. The contractor keeps the identical claim; the fight just moves off your deed and onto the bond.
Or sell to a buyer who takes it on. A cash buyer can build the payoffs into the offer and work the discharges out after closing.
Tax Title in Massachusetts, and What Changed After Tyler
A Massachusetts tax taking does not immediately cost you the house — you keep a right of redemption, and since November 1, 2024 you also have a statutory right to the leftover equity if the property is foreclosed and sold. That second part is new, and it is the biggest change in Massachusetts tax lien law in decades.
The redemption stage
After the collector records an instrument of taking (MGL c. 60 §§ 53–54), the municipality holds title as security only. You still own the house, and you can redeem by paying the tax title account plus charges and interest to the treasurer under § 62. Two recent changes help: redemption interest dropped from 16% to 8%, and § 62A payment agreements now run up to 10 years with the municipality able to waive interest. A town generally cannot petition the Land Court to foreclose your right of redemption until 12 months after the taking (§ 65).
What changed after Tyler v. Hennepin County
In Tyler v. Hennepin County (No. 22-166, decided May 25, 2023), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a government cannot keep the surplus when it sells a home over unpaid taxes. The equity above the debt belongs to the owner, and keeping it is a taking under the Fifth Amendment.
Massachusetts responded through outside sections of the FY2025 state budget — Chapter 140 of the Acts of 2024, signed July 29, 2024. It was never a standalone “tax title reform act”; the reforms rode inside the budget bill, which is part of why so few people know about them. The tax title provisions took effect November 1, 2024.
The centerpiece is a new section, MGL c. 60 § 64A. After a Land Court judgment foreclosing redemption, a municipality can no longer simply keep the whole property. It must now elect within a short statutory window whether to keep or sell; get an independent licensed appraisal within 120 days if it keeps; list with a broker within 180 days if it sells, and auction at a minimum bid of two-thirds of appraised value if still unsold after 12 months; send the former owner a written itemized accounting by certified mail within 30 days of the sale or appraisal; and hold the excess equity in a segregated interest-bearing account, with 18 months for the former owner to file a written claim. Valuation and distribution disputes go to Superior Court.
One honest caveat. Chapter 140 also created a retroactive path for owners whose foreclosure judgments entered on or after May 25, 2021 but before the act took effect. The filing deadline for that retroactive claim is genuinely unclear — the state’s own Division of Local Services flagged that it is ambiguous whether it was July 1 or November 1, 2025, and told municipalities to consult counsel. Both dates have passed. We are not going to print one and pretend it is settled. If you lost a Massachusetts property to tax foreclosure in that window, talk to an attorney right away rather than assuming the door has closed.
Does a Massachusetts Homestead Protect You From a Lien?
Partly — a homestead is strong against ordinary creditors and useless against tax collectors. That distinction is the whole answer.
Massachusetts gives every homeowner an automatic homestead of $125,000 with no paperwork, and a declared homestead of $1,000,000 if you record a written declaration (MGL c. 188 §§ 1, 3, 4). But § 3(b) lists what a homestead does not stop, starting with a sale for federal, state and local taxes, assessments, claims and liens. It also does not override a lien recorded before the homestead, a mortgage, a support order, or a judgment based on fraud, duress, undue influence or lack of capacity.
So a homestead will not stop a property tax lien, an IRS lien, or a DOR lien. It generally does shield your equity up to the exemption amount from an ordinary judgment creditor, provided their attachment was not recorded first. Whether it defeats a contractor lien recorded after the homestead is not something the statute answers on its face, and we are not going to guess. Ask an attorney about that one.
Selling the House Instead
For a lot of Massachusetts homeowners, selling is simply the cleanest way out of a lien. The sale money pays the claim, the discharges get recorded, and the problem ends rather than accruing interest. That works on the open market with a good agent and a patient buyer, and with a cash buyer when speed or condition is the constraint. If the property is a rental you are tired of carrying, or you want the wider picture on selling a house in Massachusetts, both are worth a read.
Have a Lien on Your Massachusetts House?
We are a family-owned Massachusetts home buyer, and liens are a normal part of what we handle — tax title, contractor liens, judgments, IRS, inherited property with an estate tax lien nobody knew about. We buy single-family houses, condos, multi-family buildings of any size, and vacant land, in any condition, across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Tell us the address and roughly what is owed, and we will give you a straight read on whether a sale actually works. No cost, no obligation, no repairs, no agent fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you sell a house with a lien on it in Massachusetts?
Yes. A lien does not stop you from selling — it attaches to the title, and Massachusetts buyers and lenders require clean title. In almost every case the lien is paid from your sale proceeds at closing by the closing attorney, and the lienholder then records a discharge. You do not normally have to pay it off before you list.
What is a municipal lien certificate in Massachusetts?
An itemized written statement from your city or town collector of every tax, assessment, rate and charge the municipality claims against your property, issued under MGL c. 60 § 23. The collector must furnish it within 10 business days in a municipality over 5,000 people, or 20 in a smaller one, for a $25 fee. If recorded within 150 days of its date, the property is discharged from municipal tax liens that do not appear on it.
How do I find out if there is a lien on my house in Massachusetts?
Search your property at masslandrecords.com, the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s portal covering all 21 Massachusetts registry districts. Search by owner name and by address, since liens are not always indexed both ways. Then order a municipal lien certificate from your collector, because municipal charges will not be at the registry. Estate tax and MassHealth claims may not appear anywhere at all.
Does a judgment automatically become a lien on my house in Massachusetts?
No. In Massachusetts a money judgment sitting in a court file does not encumber your real estate. A creditor has to record something at the registry of deeds — a certified copy of a writ of attachment before judgment under MGL c. 223 §§ 42 and 63, or a copy of the execution with a memorandum after judgment under c. 236 § 4. Those recordings run on six-year clocks that must be renewed or they lapse.
Can I sell my house with an IRS lien on it?
Yes. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6325(b) the IRS can discharge your specific property from the lien while it stays on everything else you own. With equity, § 6325(b)(2)(A) lets you pay the IRS the value of its interest; if the property is underwater, § 6325(b)(2)(B) covers the case where the IRS’s interest has no value. Apply on IRS Form 14135 using Publication 783, and submit it at least 45 days before your closing date.
What happens if the liens are more than my house is worth?
You can still sell, but the lienholders have to agree to take less. Negotiating a short payoff is standard practice, since a partial payment usually beats their alternative. For an IRS lien, the § 6325(b)(2)(B) discharge exists for exactly this case. For a disputed contractor lien, recording a surety bond under MGL c. 254 § 14 takes the lien off the property immediately, with no judge’s approval needed.
Can I sell my house if it is already in tax title in Massachusetts?
Usually yes, as long as the Land Court has not entered a judgment foreclosing your right of redemption. A tax taking under MGL c. 60 §§ 53 and 54 gives the municipality title as security only — you still own the property and can redeem under § 62, now at 8% interest rather than the old 16%. Section 62A also allows payment agreements of up to 10 years. A sale that pays off the tax title account is a normal way out.
Do I get my equity back if Massachusetts forecloses on a tax lien?
Since November 1, 2024, yes — MGL c. 60 § 64A gives a former owner the right to excess equity after a tax foreclosure. It was added by Chapter 140 of the Acts of 2024 in response to Tyler v. Hennepin County. The municipality must appraise or sell the property, send a written itemized accounting by certified mail, and hold the excess in a segregated account while you have 18 months to claim it. A retroactive path exists for judgments entered on or after May 25, 2021, but its filing deadline is disputed — get legal advice quickly rather than assuming.
Does my Massachusetts homestead protect my house from liens?
Only from some. The automatic homestead is $125,000 and a recorded declaration raises it to $1,000,000 under MGL c. 188. But § 3(b) expressly excepts federal, state and local taxes, assessments and liens, so a homestead does nothing against a property tax lien, an IRS lien or a DOR lien. It also does not override a mortgage, a lien recorded before the homestead, a support order, or a fraud-based judgment. Against an ordinary judgment creditor it does shield your equity up to the exemption amount.
This is not legal advice. We buy houses — we are not attorneys. This page is general information about Massachusetts law as we understand it, written to help you know what questions to ask. Your situation has facts we do not know, statutes change, and a few points here are genuinely unsettled, which we have flagged where they come up. Before deciding anything about a lien on your property, talk to a Massachusetts real estate attorney — and for tax or estate liens, a tax professional or elder law attorney. Statute references are to the Massachusetts General Laws and the U.S. Code as of August 2026.