Sell a Fire Damaged House in Bessemer, Fairfield, Tarrant, Irondale or Center Point

One Tax Office, Many Situations

Bessemer, Fairfield, Tarrant, Irondale, Center Point, Trussville and Gardendale are separate municipalities. The county handles tax assessment, collection and sales for all of them.

So the process by which a property can be sold for taxes is identical across the ring, while the likelihood of it happening varies as much between these cities as it does between neighbourhoods inside Birmingham. The framework is on our page covering redemption and possession.

Which City Has My Address?

The county parcel record names it, and postal addresses around here mislead regularly. It matters for the rebuild, since each city runs its own building department, and it does not change the tax question, which is the county's throughout. Getting it wrong sends you to a building department with no jurisdiction over your property.

The Older Cities and the Newer Ones

Bessemer, Fairfield and Tarrant carry older industrial-era housing where delinquency is more common and values are modest. Trussville, Gardendale and much of Irondale are later, stronger and largely current on taxes.

Those are genuinely different files. In the first group the tax question leads; in the second it rarely arises and the ordinary questions decide.

How Do I Tell Which Situation I Am In?

One call to the county tax office settles it for your parcel, and it is worth making regardless of which city you are in. Reasoning from the general character of a place is exactly how owners on the wrong side of an average get caught, and inherited property falls behind in prosperous cities as readily as anywhere else.

We publish no tax positions, city requirements or values for individual Jefferson County properties. The county tax office and each city state their own.

Distance Widens the Offers

Away from the core, contractors price travel and buyers price uncertainty about access. That spreads the offers on the same property, because those who have visited price accurately and those who have not guess.

Getting somebody to the property is worth more out here than in the city neighbourhoods where a buyer can form a view from the street.

Construction Varies With the Era

The older cities hold dimensional framing that chars and can frequently be retained. The newer ones hold engineered roof trusses and floor systems that come out whole once heat has compromised the connections.

Which you have decides whether a repair route exists, and the build year on the county record predicts it better than the city name does.

The County Cities in Context

Where values remove the tax question almost entirely, see our page about Over the Mountain. Where it is sharpest, see our page for Ensley, West End and Pratt City.

The Statute Behind Every City in the Ring

Title 40 Chapter 10 of the Code of Alabama governs all of them. Section 40-10-120 gives 3 years to redeem, section 40-10-83 sets 12 per cent per annum, and section 40-10-122(d), added in 2002, covers preservation improvements.

Section 40-10-82 carries the possession doctrine, under which the 3 year limitation runs only against an owner who has given up possession.

County City Questions

Who Handles My Tax Records?

Jefferson County, for every city in the ring. Your own city handles permits for a rebuild.

Is Delinquency a Risk in Trussville?

Less common, and inherited property falls behind anywhere. One call rules it out.

Will You Buy in Bessemer or Center Point?

Yes, across the county cities and in any condition, including where taxes are behind.

Sell a Fire Damaged House in The Jefferson County Cities