Liens on property in Tennessee are legal claims a creditor can attach to your real estate when a debt or obligation goes unpaid. The main ones you’re likely to encounter are property tax liens, mortgages and deeds of trust, judgment liens from lawsuits, mechanics’ liens filed by contractors, homeowners’ or condo association liens for unpaid dues, and federal tax liens from the IRS. Each type has its own filing rules, its own lifespan, and its own priority against competing claims, and each is removed in a different way. Until a lien is released, it sits on your title and can block a sale or refinance.
How a Lien Gets Attached to Your Property
Most liens become effective when the creditor records a claim with the register of deeds in the county where the property sits. Tennessee Code Title 66 governs the bulk of the recording and enforcement rules for property liens.1Justia. Tennessee Code Title 66 – Property A properly filed lien identifies the debtor, describes the property, states the amount owed, and explains the basis for the claim. Once it hits the public record, any future buyer or lender will find it in a title search.
Some liens skip the filing step entirely. Property taxes attach automatically by operation of law. Federal tax liens attach the moment the IRS assesses the tax and sends a demand, though they don’t affect other creditors until the IRS files a Notice of Federal Tax Lien.
Deadlines matter more than most owners realize. A mechanics’ lien filed one day past the 90-day window is dead, regardless of how much money is owed. Tennessee courts routinely throw out liens that miss procedural requirements, so the technicalities do real work.
The Main Types of Liens
Property Tax Liens
Taxes assessed by the state, a county, a municipality, or any local taxing authority become a first lien on the property as of January 1 of the tax year. That lien outranks virtually every other claim on the title, including recorded mortgages.2Justia. Tennessee Code 67-5-2101 – Taxes on Which Lien Based
If the taxes stay unpaid, the county files a delinquent tax suit and the court can order the property sold at a tax sale.2Justia. Tennessee Code 67-5-2101 – Taxes on Which Lien Based The original owner then has one year from the date the court confirms the sale to redeem the property by paying the taxes, penalties, interest, and costs.
Judgment Liens
When someone wins a money judgment against you in court, they can turn that judgment into a lien on your real estate by recording a certified copy of the judgment with the register of deeds. Judgments from courts of record qualify, and general sessions judgments qualify if they exceed $500.3Justia. Tennessee Code 25-5-101 – Real Property
A judgment lien lasts for whatever remains of a ten-year period that starts on the date the judgment was entered in the court clerk’s office. The creditor can ask the court to extend it, but the extension order must also be registered with the register of deeds to keep the lien alive against the property.4Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 69.07 – Execution on Realty
Mechanics’ Liens
Contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, architects, and land surveyors who provide labor or materials for a construction project can secure what they’re owed with a mechanics’ lien on the improved property.5Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-102 – Lien for Work and Materials
The rules split by the claimant’s role. A prime contractor must record a Notice of Lien within 90 days after the improvement is completed or abandoned.6Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-112 – Recordation of Notice of Lien A remote contractor, meaning a subcontractor or supplier, must serve written notice on the property owner within that same 90-day window.7Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-115 – Liens by Remote Contractors The clock runs from completion or abandonment of the improvement, not from the claimant’s last day on the job.
Once the lien exists, the enforcement clock is short. A prime contractor’s lien lasts one year from the date the improvement is completed or abandoned, and a lawsuit must be filed inside that year.8Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-106 – Duration of Lien A remote contractor has just 90 days from serving the notice of lien to sue.7Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-115 – Liens by Remote Contractors Miss the window and the lien is unenforceable.
If you’re on the receiving end, you can challenge a mechanics’ lien by showing the claimant didn’t do the agreed work, missed a filing deadline, or wasn’t properly licensed under Title 62, Chapter 6.
Federal Tax Liens
When you owe federal taxes and don’t pay after the IRS demands payment, a lien attaches automatically to everything you own, including real estate, bank accounts, and vehicles.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6321 – Lien for Taxes The lien exists from the moment of assessment but only affects other creditors once the IRS records a Notice of Federal Tax Lien with state or local authorities.
The notice is effective for about six years from assessment. The IRS can extend it by refiling during a one-year window that ends 30 days after the initial six-year period expires, and it can keep refiling in successive six-year cycles.10eCFR. 26 CFR 400.1-1 – Refiling of Notice of Tax Lien If the IRS misses that refiling window, the notice loses its effect against third parties, though the underlying lien may still exist.
Removing a federal tax lien generally means paying the full balance or reaching a settlement. Once the debt is satisfied, the IRS must release the lien within 30 days. Discharge of the lien from specific property and subordination to a new lender are also possible in the right circumstances.
HOA and Condominium Association Liens
If your property is in a community with an owners’ association, unpaid assessments can become a lien on your unit. Tennessee law lets associations enforce unpaid fees, late charges, fines, and interest as assessment liens against the property.11Justia. Tennessee Code 66-27-415 – Lien for Assessments
What surprises many owners is the enforcement mechanism. If the association’s governing documents allow it, the association can foreclose the same way a lender forecloses under a deed of trust with power of sale, after sending notice to the unit owner and all lienholders of record before the first publication of the foreclosure notice.11Justia. Tennessee Code 66-27-415 – Lien for Assessments Unpaid dues can put a home on the auction block.
Which Lien Gets Paid First
When several liens hit the same property, priority controls who gets paid, and in what order, from any sale. Tennessee’s default rule is “first in time, first in right,” meaning the earlier-recorded lien wins. Several statutory exceptions rearrange that order.
Property tax liens take first position over everything else, regardless of when other claims were recorded.2Justia. Tennessee Code 67-5-2101 – Taxes on Which Lien Based A properly recorded mortgage or deed of trust normally comes next, based on its recording date, so it typically outranks a judgment lien filed later.
Mechanics’ liens can leapfrog an earlier-recorded mortgage, but only if the lien claimant serves proper notice on the mortgage holder. Without that notice, the mechanics’ lien stays behind the mortgage.12Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-108 – Priority Over Mortgage Among competing judgment creditors, the one who first delivers a writ of execution to the sheriff takes priority over the others for that property.4Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 69.07 – Execution on Realty
How Lienholders Actually Collect
Collection depends on the type of lien. Tennessee is a non-judicial foreclosure state for deeds of trust: the trustee named in the deed of trust can sell the property without going to court, provided the trustee publishes notice at least three separate times in a local newspaper, with the first publication at least 20 days before the sale.13Justia. Tennessee Code 35-5-101 – Twenty Days Notice by Publication
Judgment creditors use a writ of execution, which lets the sheriff sell the debtor’s property.14Tennessee Courts. Writ of Execution – Garnishment or Other Levy While the judgment lien is in effect, the creditor doesn’t need a separate levy on real estate and can move directly for a court-ordered sale. No sale proceeds until the debtor’s time to move to quash has expired. If the auction doesn’t cover the debt, the creditor can pursue a deficiency judgment for the balance.4Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 69.07 – Execution on Realty
Mechanics’ lien holders enforce by lawsuit, and the timelines are unforgiving. A prime contractor has one year from completion or abandonment.8Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-106 – Duration of Lien A remote contractor has 90 days from service of the notice of lien.7Justia. Tennessee Code 66-11-115 – Liens by Remote Contractors
Getting a Lien Off Your Title
Once you pay the debt, the lienholder has to record a release with the register of deeds. Tennessee gives you a strong tool if the lienholder stalls: send a written demand, and if the release isn’t filed within 15 days, the lienholder faces the same penalties that apply to refusing to release a paid-off mortgage.15Justia. Tennessee Code 66-21-106 – Penalty for Failure to Release That demand letter is often the fastest way to move a slow lienholder.
Mechanics’ liens are released by the claimant after payment. If you disagree that anything is owed, you can petition the court to remove the lien. In some situations you can post a surety bond that substitutes for the property as security, which discharges the lien from the title so you can sell or refinance while the underlying dispute continues in court.
Tax liens require a release from the taxing authority once the tax, penalties, and interest are paid. The IRS must release a federal tax lien within 30 days of full payment; counties handle their own releases for property tax liens once the delinquent amount is settled.
If a lien is filed against your property without a legitimate basis, or a lienholder refuses to release a paid lien, you may have a claim for slander of title, and Tennessee has a specific process for challenging fraudulent liens by affidavit filed with the register of deeds.16Tennessee Secretary of State. County Register of Deeds – Uncontested Lien Affidavit Instructions
What Bankruptcy Does and Doesn’t Do
Filing bankruptcy does not automatically wipe liens off your property. A discharge cancels your personal obligation to pay the debt, but the lien itself, the creditor’s claim against the property, can survive. A mortgage lender or judgment creditor may still be able to foreclose after the bankruptcy closes.
Two bankruptcy tools can help. Under 11 U.S.C. § 522(f), you can ask the court to avoid a judicial lien to the extent it impairs an exemption you’d otherwise be entitled to, which matters when a judgment lien is eating into equity that Tennessee’s homestead exemption would protect. In a Chapter 13 case, a wholly unsecured junior mortgage, where the senior mortgage balance is more than the property is worth, can sometimes be stripped off and treated as unsecured debt in the repayment plan. The math turns on the property’s value, each lien balance, and the exemptions available, so the analysis is technical.
What Liens Mean for Selling or Inheriting
Liens usually have to be cleared before property changes hands. Buyers and their lenders run title searches specifically to catch outstanding liens, and most won’t close until the title is clean. A single unresolved lien can delay closing by weeks or kill the deal.
In a typical sale, the closing attorney or title company uses the sale proceeds to pay each lienholder and record the releases. If the price won’t cover every lien, the parties may need to negotiate reduced payoffs or arrange a short sale with lienholder consent.
Liens do not disappear at death. Heirs inherit both the property and whatever liens are attached to it. If the estate can’t pay them off, creditors can still enforce against the property through foreclosure. Before treating inherited or gifted real estate as an asset, order a title search and get legal advice; the debts can be larger than the equity.