The County of Ventura collects Unsecured Taxes of approximately $40M annually. A special division within the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office handles Unsecured Tax and prior year Unsecured Tax.

An Unsecured property tax is an ad-valorem (value based) property tax that is the liability of the person or entity assessed for the tax as of the lien date, January 1st. Because the tax is not secured by real property, such as land, the tax is called “unsecured.” Unsecured property includes personal property such as boats, airplanes, business equipment, leased equipment, and Real Estate of Others/Possessory Interest.

If an Unsecured tax statement is left unpaid, it may result in a Tax Lien (County Tax Lien) against the owner on record for the effective tax year of the Unsecured statement. A County Tax Lien has the possibility of showing up on a title search by an escrow or title company, or on a credit report from any of the reporting agencies. Once the lien is “satisfied” it may be up to the person on record to notify the escrow company or credit reporting agency.

If you have questions regarding an Unsecured tax statement, you may contact our office at (805) 654-3744. If you are calling regarding a lien against your name, please make sure the lien is a County Tax Lien. If you know the lien was recorded in the County of Ventura and you are unsure whether or not the lien was recorded by our office, you may visit the Ventura County Recorder’s Office to obtain more information about the recorded document. Unfortunately, we do not have any information regarding liens recorded by other agencies such as State Tax Liens, Federal Tax Liens, Mechanics Liens, etc. You must directly contact the agency that recorded the lien.