If a house is foreclosed on and it has liens on it, what happens to the liens?

Question

If a house is foreclosed on and it has liens on it, what happens to the liens?

Answer 1

It depends on what type of liens they are.

Some liens "run with the land" which means they get passed to the new owners if sold.  Property taxes liens are good examples.

Some liens "run with the owner" which means that they were secured against the property, but were actually generated at another source, usually from a collection for services (other than mechanics liens)...sometimes the lienholder will petition the court to have these types of liens removed from the subject property (if there is no equity to be paid) and re-attached to future property.

A good example of that is employment tax liens filed by the state...they'll find you where ever you are.

Answer 2

The liens have to be paid off. They don't just go away.