Getting denied for heloc due to real estate taxes

[Jordan Townes]

New real estate investor here. I inherited the home I had been living in from my mother which needs some repairs in order to be rental ready- no mortgage on it. I purchased a duplex in May of this year and moved into the bottom unit with the intention of renting the top unit as well as the sf I moved out of which would put me in positive cashflow (the top unit of the duplex does not cover the duplex mortgage entirely on its own). I am now in a position where I am trying to get a HELOC on the sf to make the repairs but the real estate taxes that were passed on to me are on a payment agreement. The agreement includes prior and future tax years automatically so as long as I pay the monthly amount the taxes are considered in good standing. The total tax balance is about 18k. Even with the new retal income lenders are denying the heloc due to the tax balance despite providing copies of the agreement and letter from the department of revenue which says I am current on the agreement. It was suficient/accepted by the lender that granted the mortgage for the duplex, so I did not anticipate running into this issue trying to get the heloc. I asked if that could be a condition of the loan that the taxes are paid out of it first. \i was told "that's not possible because can't escrow the real estate taxes".

I don't know what this means. Are there lenderss that WILL escrow the taxes and approve the heloc? What other oprtions should I be pursuing instead? I didn't want to pay the taxes at once if I didnt have to, I'm loving the agreement of course.