How to check for liens on land and back taxes before buying
Two searches, not one. You need the county circuit clerk for recorded liens against the parcel and the owner, and the county collector for unpaid property tax, because those live in different offices and a clean result in one says nothing about the other. Both are public, and both are free.
Debt that is attached to land does not care who owns it next. That is the whole reason this check exists.
How to check for liens on land, office by office
Four passes. The first two are the ones that actually matter.
| Pass | Where | What it shows | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | County circuit clerk records | Mortgages, deeds of trust, judgment liens, mechanic's liens recorded against the parcel or the owner | Free to search |
| 2 | County collector | The property tax bill and whether it was paid | Free |
| 3 | State tax delinquent list | Whether the parcel was certified to the state for non payment | Free |
| 4 | The municipality, if the lot is inside city limits | City level fees and charges that never touch the county bill | A phone call |
Pass one is a records search, and the key is the legal description rather than the address, the same key that opens the plat and the deed. Search the parcel, then search the seller's name, because a judgment against a person can attach to land that person owns. If pulling records by parcel number is new to you, the sequence is in how to research land before buying.
Pass two is the tax record, and it takes about two minutes once you have the parcel number. In Arkansas the assessor values the parcel and the collector bills it, and the payment window for a year's taxes runs from March 1 to October 15 of the following year. Look for the bill, the amount, and the word paid.
Pass three is the backstop. Parcels that stay unpaid are eventually certified to the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, which is the office that sells tax delinquent land at public auction and publishes the list. A parcel sitting on that list is not automatically a disaster, but it is a question you want answered before money moves, not after.
Does the buyer inherit unpaid taxes?
The obligation attaches to the parcel, not to the person who ran it up. Unless it is cleared at or before closing, it comes with the land.
That is why contracts address it directly. My own cash purchase agreement, which is public on this site, states that the seller satisfies all mortgages, deeds of trust and monetary liens created by the seller affecting the property prior to recording. Language like that is normal, and it is worth reading in whatever you are asked to sign, because it tells you who is responsible for the cleanup and when.
All 7 of my Izard County parcels were bought clear of taxes at closing, and the assessor's own record showed the existing bills marked paid. I check that before I buy, and I would expect a buyer to check it on me rather than take my word for it.
The trap: one paid bill is not proof
Property tax runs a year behind. That single fact causes most of the confusion on recently sold land.
My parcels were all acquired in 2026, so the first bill issued in my name is the 2027 bill, payable in 2028. Anyone looking at those parcels today sees a clean paid record for an earlier year and an owner name that may still be the seller's, and neither of those settles the current year. On one of my lots the assessor still showed the previous owner's name after I owned it, because the assessor updates from the county recording rather than from the closing.
So the useful question to the collector is not "is it paid". It is "what is currently owed on this parcel, and through what date". Then ask the seller for the same answer in writing and compare.
The bill that is not on the county record
There is a second billing office in many towns, and buyers rarely think to call it.
On my lots inside Horseshoe Bend there is an annual city fee of $80 per lot under Ordinance 2025-02, billed by the city, which does not appear on the county tax record at all. The county bill on one of my parcels was $43.98 for 2025. The city fee is nearly double that, and a buyer checking only the county record would never see it. I broke the full annual number down in the cost of owning rural land.
The general rule this points at is simple. Ask who else can bill this parcel. A city, an improvement district, a water association. Each of them is a separate call and each of them can produce a balance that no deed search will reveal.
FAQ
How do I check for liens on land for free?
Search the county circuit clerk records by legal description and by the owner's name for mortgages, judgments and mechanic's liens, then check the county collector separately for unpaid tax. A deed search does not surface a tax balance.
Does the buyer inherit unpaid property taxes on land?
The obligation attaches to the parcel, so it follows the land unless it is cleared at closing. Contracts usually put the burden of satisfying seller created monetary liens on the seller before recording.
How do I know if land is tax delinquent in Arkansas?
Check the county collector's record first. Parcels that stay unpaid are certified to the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands, which publishes a searchable list of tax delinquent parcels and runs the public sale.
Is one clean tax bill enough proof?
No. Tax runs a year in arrears, so land bought in 2026 produces its first bill in the new owner's name in 2027. Ask the collector what is currently owed and through what date.
Can there be a bill that the county tax record does not show?
Yes. My lots carry an $80 annual city fee under Horseshoe Bend Ordinance 2025-02 that is billed by the city and never appears on the county record. Ask the municipality directly.
Before you buy
Get the parcel number, run the clerk and the collector, then call the city. Three offices, one afternoon, and it is the same afternoon in which you can also settle access, flood zone and what is or is not conveyed underground, which I covered in mineral rights on rural land. If a seller cannot tell you the current tax status of the parcel they are selling, that is information too. Every lot page on this site prints the parcel number so you can run the checks yourself, for example the Ranchview Road lot.
This is not financial or legal advice. Tax amounts, city fees, recording practice and the status of any pending litigation change, and every parcel is its own case. Confirm current figures with the Izard County collector and circuit clerk and with the City of Horseshoe Bend, and have your own attorney review anything you sign.