Five years ago, the Harris County Tax Office started an abandoned properties program, which has taken 1,185 complaints from Harris County citizens about “eyesore” abandoned properties in their neighborhoods. These properties were brought to the Interlocal Committee, formed by the governing bodies of Harris County, City of Houston, and HISD, which meets once a month to advise our delinquent property tax attorneys on foreclosure sales and tax warrants.

As a result, in conjunction with the good work of the Harris County Attorney’s office, the Harris County Constables, which conduct the property sales, and the Harris County Facilities and Property Management Department, which holds the property for resale, nearly 72% of the properties have been paid, sold, processed for sale, or referred to litigation. This has truly been a cooperative 5-year effort of multiple county departments and other taxing jurisdictions working together to help our neighborhoods.

You can report abandoned real property by downloading and completing an Abandoned Property Report, and mailing it back to our office.You can also register online to bid at Harris County Constables' tax foreclosure sales.

The pictures below reflect a tax roll success story from a property sold at a tax sale in 2002 for $43,000, and now, following development by the new owners, appraised by HCAD for $307,000 in 2004. All delinquent property tax collections of the Harris County Tax Office now amount to over 100 million dollars annually, up 68% from 2000, the year all of these programs started.

Sold as a resale August 2002. Minimum bid - $5,000, sold for $43,000, 2004 HCAD appraisal $307,000