Delinquent Property Taxes in Pennsylvania: One September Sale, and the Statute Says Nothing Comes After It
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Pennsylvania · Last updated October 21, 2026
Pennsylvania gives an owner one hard edge and almost nothing behind it. The county tax claim bureau exposes the property itself at an upset sale it must schedule no earlier than the second Monday of September and before October 1 (72 P.S. 5860.601), and three separate sections of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law say there is no redemption after it. Delinquent property taxes are taxes an owner did not pay by the date their taxing body set, after which penalties and interest are added and the property can be sold to collect them. The July claim notice has to warn that there shall be no redemption after the actual sale (72 P.S. 5860.308). Section 501 says there shall be no redemption of any property after the actual sale thereof (72 P.S. 5860.501). Section 607 says it a third time once the court confirms the bureau's return (72 P.S. 5860.607). So every date worth knowing sits before the gavel. Taxes go delinquent December 31 (72 P.S. 5860.102), the collector returns them to the bureau by the last day of April (72 P.S. 5860.306), the claim notice goes out by July 31 and a one year discharge period starts that July 1 (72 P.S. 5860.308), and the claim becomes absolute the next January 1 (72 P.S. 5860.311). Nine percent a year runs on the returned taxes (72 P.S. 5860.306). An owner occupied home cannot be sold unless the owner occupant is personally served with notice ten days out (72 P.S. 5860.601). Attorney review is available through DocDraft.
Find out where you stand in Pennsylvania
Where are you with the unpaid property taxes?
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
Can I buy my house back after a Pennsylvania upset tax sale?
Generally no. The Real Estate Tax Sale Law provides that there shall be no redemption of any property after the actual sale thereof (72 P.S. 5860.501), the claim notice must warn of that in advance (72 P.S. 5860.308), and section 607 adds that there shall be no period of redemption after such sale (72 P.S. 5860.607).
When does a Pennsylvania county hold its upset tax sale?
In a tight autumn window. The bureau shall schedule the date of the sale no earlier than the second Monday of September and before October 1, and the sale may be adjourned, readjourned or continued, with no additional notice required if it is held by the end of the calendar year (72 P.S. 5860.601).
How much interest does Pennsylvania charge on delinquent property taxes?
Nine percent a year, simple, on the taxes the collector returned to the bureau, charged from and after but not before the first day of the month following the return (72 P.S. 5860.306). The collector's separate penalty of up to ten percent was already added four months after the tax notice (72 P.S. 5511.10).
What notice does a Pennsylvania owner occupant get before the sale?
A person at the door. No owner-occupied property may be sold unless the bureau has given the owner occupant written notice at least ten days before the actual sale by personal service by the sheriff, a deputy, or someone the county appointed for it (72 P.S. 5860.601). Published, mailed and posted notice apply too (72 P.S. 5860.602).
Pennsylvania delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Pennsylvania answers by county class, and for most owners the answer is the harsh one. Delinquent property taxes are taxes left unpaid past the date the taxing body set, after which the county adds charges and can sell the property to collect them. The Real Estate Tax Sale Law defines the counties it covers as those of the second class A through the eighth class (72 P.S. 5860.102), and in those counties there is no redemption after the actual sale (72 P.S. 5860.501). Counties of the first and second class fall outside that definition, and under the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act an owner may redeem within nine months of the acknowledgment of the sheriff's deed, three months where the property is in a city or county of the second class or a municipality in it, and not at all if it counts as vacant (53 P.S. 7293).
Four dates on a Williamsport duplex, and the last one ends it
Start with a date, not a house. December 31, 2024 passes with about 5,600 dollars of county, city and school tax unpaid on a Williamsport duplex, so those taxes are delinquent (72 P.S. 5860.102). The collector returns them to the Lycoming County Tax Claim Bureau the following April, and nine percent a year begins the month after that (72 P.S. 5860.306). July 2025 brings the bureau's claim notice, boxed warning included, stating that there shall be no redemption after the actual sale (72 P.S. 5860.308). January 1, 2026 makes the claim absolute (72 P.S. 5860.311). The parcel then lands on the county's 2026 upset sale list for September 15, and the bureau's published terms take payment to remove a property up to the day of the sale. Whether a certified check clears in time is for the bureau's cashier.
Relevant Laws
72 P.S. 5860.102 (who the Real Estate Tax Sale Law covers, and when taxes are delinquent)
The definitions section provides that taxes shall be considered delinquent on December 31 of each calendar year for all taxing districts. It also defines County as a county of the second A, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth class, and excludes counties of the first and second class, and cities of the second class A and the school districts in them, from the definition of Taxing District. It defines Owner Occupant as the owner of a property with improvements on it for which the annual tax bill is mailed to an owner residing at the same address, and sets out in detail what Posted means.
72 P.S. 5860.306 (return of delinquent taxes to the bureau and nine percent interest)
Requires each receiver or collector of county, city, borough, town, township, school district or institution district taxes to make a return to the bureau on or before the last day of April, listing every property with unpaid taxes from the preceding calendar year. It provides that interest shall be charged on taxes so returned from and after but not before the first day of the month following the return, at the rate of nine per centum per annum. Subsection (c) lets the county commissioners fix a different uniform return date by resolution, no earlier than January 1 and no later than the last day of April.
72 P.S. 5860.308 (the July claim notice and its boxed warning)
Requires the bureau, not later than July 31 each year, to give one notice of the return of taxes and entry of claim per delinquent property by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, with posting where the owner is unknown or mail is undelivered. The notice must state that the claim becomes absolute if payment is not made by the following December 31, that a one year period for discharge of tax claim commenced that July 1, and that there shall be no redemption after the actual sale. It prescribes a conspicuous 10-point warning that the property will be sold without the owner's consent and may be sold for a small fraction of its fair market value.
72 P.S. 5860.501 (discharging the tax claim, and no redemption after the sale)
Lets an owner, heir, legal representative, lien creditor or other interested person discharge tax claims by paying the bureau the claim and interest, any other tax claim or tax judgment and interest, all accrued returned taxes, and the record costs including pro rata notice costs. Payment before July 1 of the year following the notice of claim removes the property from exposure to sale and from the delinquent tax advertisements; payment after that July 1 but before the actual sale still prevents the sale, though the property and owner may appear in the advertising. Subsection (c) provides that there shall be no redemption of any property after the actual sale thereof.
72 P.S. 5860.503a and 5860.502a (county option hardship extension of up to twelve months)
Section 502.1 lets a county, at the option of its commissioners, enact legislation extending the period for discharge of tax claim for up to twelve additional months. Section 503.1 then lets the commissioners, acting through the bureau, extend that period for owner-occupied real estate or stay the sale where a tax claim is a severe hardship caused by extenuating circumstances beyond the taxpayer's control, defined as serious physical illness or injury or unemployment. The payment schedule must allow at least four payments spaced at least thirty days apart with an initial payment of not more than twenty-five percent, the bureau must allow or disallow within thirty days, and the court of common pleas reviews de novo.
72 P.S. 5860.504 (extension and deferral for owners aged 65 and over)
Lets the county commissioners enact legislation under which, for residential real estate owned and occupied solely by one or more people aged 65 or older whose household income is within the limit for a property tax or rent rebate, the bureau may extend the discharge period by up to three months, or stay the tax sale and defer payment until title transfers or the owner is no longer the sole occupant, or arrange a special sale at a price midway between two independent appraisals so the owner's equity is not lost. Deferred taxes bear simple interest at the section 306 rate.
72 P.S. 5860.601 (the September sale window and personal service on an owner occupant)
Provides that the bureau shall schedule the date of the sale no earlier than the second Monday of September and before October 1, that the sale may be adjourned, readjourned or continued without additional notice if held by the end of the calendar year, and that the bureau shall sell where a claim has become absolute and the property has not been discharged or removed from sale. Clause (a)(3) provides that no owner-occupied property may be sold unless the bureau has given the owner occupant written notice at least ten days prior to the actual sale by personal service by the sheriff, a deputy, or a person appointed by the county commissioners, with a return of service filed with the bureau.
72 P.S. 5860.602 (published, mailed and posted notice of the sale)
Requires the bureau, at least thirty days before a scheduled sale, to publish notice twice in newspapers of general circulation and once in the designated legal journal, stating the purpose, time, place and terms including the approximate upset price, plus the property descriptions and owner names. In addition, notice must go by certified mail, restricted delivery, return receipt requested at least thirty days before the sale; by first class mail with proof of mailing at least ten days before to any owner who did not acknowledge the first notice; and by posting the property at least ten days before. Each non-newspaper notice carries a boxed 10-point warning, and the notices must state that the sale may be stayed by an instalment agreement.
72 P.S. 5860.603 (removal from sale and the twenty-five percent stay agreement)
Lets any owner or lien creditor of the owner, at the option of the bureau and prior to the actual sale, either pay in full the taxes that have become absolute with all charges and interest, or enter a written agreement with the bureau to stay the sale on payment of twenty-five percent of the amount due on all tax claims and tax judgments plus interest and costs, with the balance in not more than three instalments all within one year. The sale is stayed while the agreement is complied with. On default, after written notice, the bureau applies payments oldest first and sells at the next upset sale or a special upset sale held at least ninety days later, and no new instalment agreement may be made with that party for three years.
72 P.S. 5860.605 (the upset price, which is a floor the bid must reach)
Requires the bureau to fix as the upset price the sum of Commonwealth tax liens, the claim absolute and its interest, any other tax claim or tax judgment and interest to the date of sale, all accrued taxes including the current year whether or not returned, municipal claims, and the record costs and costs of sale including pro rata publication, mail and posting costs. Taxing districts and municipal authorities must certify their claims by August 30 of the sale year or the claim is divested. No sale may be made unless a bid equal to the upset price is received, and no property may go to private or judicial sale unless it was first exposed to upset sale and not sold.
72 P.S. 5860.607 and 5860.607a (confirmation, the objections window, and the search duty)
Section 607 requires the bureau to make a consolidated return to the court of common pleas not later than sixty days after the sale, requires notice to each owner within thirty days of the actual sale that objections or exceptions may be filed no later than thirty days after the court's confirmation nisi, and provides that a decree of absolute confirmation is entered as of course if none are filed. Objections may question the regularity or legality of the bureau's proceedings but not the legality of the taxes, the return or the claim. Subsection (g) provides that there shall be no period of redemption after such sale. Section 607.1 requires the bureau, where mailed notice is returned unsigned or receipt is in significant doubt, to exercise reasonable efforts to find the person, including telephone directories and assessment, recorder and prothonotary records, and to note the efforts in the file.
72 P.S. 5860.608 and 5860.609 (the bureau's deed, and the liens it does not clear)
Section 608 requires the bureau, after the court has confirmed the sale and the purchaser has paid the bid, to make a deed in fee simple in the name of the bureau as trustee grantor, acknowledged before the prothonotary and recorded before delivery at the purchaser's cost. Section 609 provides that every such sale shall convey title under and subject to the lien of every recorded obligation, claim, lien, estate, mortgage, ground rent and Commonwealth tax lien not included in the upset price, which is why an upset sale purchaser does not take clear title.
72 P.S. 5860.610, 5860.612 and 5860.616 (the judicial sale route and its deadline)
Section 610 provides that where the upset price is not bid the sale is continued and the bureau may, and at the written direction of a taxing district shall, petition the court of common pleas to sell the property, on which the court grants a rule on all interested parties returnable in not more than thirty days. Section 612 provides that if service is proved and the petition's facts are true the court shall decree a sale freed and cleared of all tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens, charges and estates except separately taxed ground rents, with the purchaser taking absolute title. Section 616 requires the bureau, if it has not petitioned within ten months of the scheduled upset sale and the property has not sold at private sale, to petition within the next two months.
72 P.S. 5860.618 (the limited chance to pay a parcel off after it fails to sell)
Provides that the owner has no right to purchase the owner's own property at a judicial sale, a private sale, or from the bureau's repository. Subsection (a.1), added in 2018, then provides that if a property remains unsold after an upset sale and on the docket of a bureau, the bureau may accept full payment for the property from or on behalf of the owner, including all delinquent taxes returned and any costs, penalties and interest due when the owner appears to pay. The bureau may not accept partial payments or enter an instalment agreement with such an owner, and full payment discharges the claims and removes the property from further exposure to sale.
72 P.S. 5860.205 (the order the sale money is paid out in, and the three year surplus window)
Requires the bureau to distribute money from any tax sale, after a five percent commission it retains on all money collected, first to the Commonwealth for its tax liens, second to the taxing districts in proportion to taxes due, third to taxing districts or municipal authorities for municipal claims, fourth to mortgagees and other lienholders in order of priority, and fifth to the owner of the property. Distribution happens only after the bureau petitions the court of common pleas and the court confirms a schedule of distribution. Where no claim for the balance due the owner is presented within three years of the date of the sale, the balance goes to the taxing districts pro rata and the county keeps the interest earned.
Real Estate Tax Sale Law section 619.2 (naming someone else to receive the delinquency notices, added 2026)
Added by Act 27 of 2026, which the Governor approved on July 12, 2026 with this provision effective sixty days later. It requires the Department of Community and Economic Development to develop a designation form an owner can use to assign a designated individual, meaning a next of kin or an agent, guardian, trustee or other representative under Title 20, to receive notifications about delinquent real estate taxes, whether because the owner has limited ability to manage the notice or simply chooses to. Once the owner files the form with the bureau and the taxing district, notices required under the act must go to both the owner and the designated individual. The owner may rescind in writing, and the form is confidential and outside the Right-to-Know Law.
53 P.S. 7293 (post-sale redemption under the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act)
Section 32 of the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act, which governs tax and municipal claim sheriff's sales in the counties the Real Estate Tax Sale Law does not reach. As amended in 2023, it lets the owner, an assignee, or a party whose lien or estate was discharged redeem within nine months from the date of the acknowledgment of the sheriff's deed, or within three months if the property is in a city of the second class or a county of the second class or a municipality in it. The redemption figure is the amount bid, the cost of drawing, acknowledging and recording the deed, taxes and municipal claims and undischarged encumbrances and insurance and necessary expenses actually paid less rents or income, and a sum equal to interest at ten percent a year on each payment from the time it was made. Subsection (c) bars any redemption of vacant property after acknowledgment, and treats property as vacant unless it was continuously occupied by the same individual or basic family unit as a residence for at least ninety days before the sale and still is at acknowledgment.
72 P.S. 5511.10 and 5511.11 (the discount, the up to ten percent penalty, and local instalments)
Section 10 of the Local Tax Collection Law provides that the rates of discounts and penalties on taxes shall be established by the taxing district, that every taxpayer is entitled to a discount of at least two percent for paying the whole amount within two months after the date of the tax notice, and that a taxpayer who has not paid for four months after that date shall be charged a penalty of up to ten percent, added by the tax collector. Subsection (b) requires a bold capital-letter first class mail notice warning that the taxes will be delinquent if not paid by December 31. Section 11 lets a taxing district provide by ordinance or resolution for payment of its taxes in not more than four instalments, with no discount allowed on instalment payments.
Lycoming County Tax Claim Bureau: tax sale information
A county tax claim bureau page showing how the statutory scheme runs in practice. It states flatly that there is no redemption in Pennsylvania, that judicial sales are conducted for properties not sold at the September upset sale and are free and clear with tax and municipal liens, mortgages and other filed liens discharged, that the bureau will accept payment to remove a property from the sale up to the day of the sale, that no personal checks or same-day online card payments are taken on sale day, and that payment to remove a property must be cash or a certified check payable to the bureau. It also notes that bidders must pre-register and that repository bids take six to eight weeks to process.
Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts: county classes
The state judiciary's reference table of the nine county classes established in 1953, which is what decides whether the Real Estate Tax Sale Law or the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act applies to a given property. It lists the county of the first class, the county of the second class, and the counties of the second class A, third class, fourth class, fifth class, sixth class, seventh class and eighth class, with the census population band for each. Use it to identify your own county's class, then read the statute that class points to.
Regional Variances
Pennsylvania delinquent property tax rules at a glance
Sale mechanism
Tax deed, sold by the county tax claim bureau, with a court-decreed judicial sale as the second route. No lien certificate is auctioned to an investor. The bureau exposes the property itself at the upset sale and may not sell at all unless a bid equals the statutory upset price (72 P.S. 5860.605). The purchaser takes a bureau deed in fee simple (72 P.S. 5860.608) but under and subject to every recorded lien, mortgage and ground rent not included in the upset price (72 P.S. 5860.609).
Which statute applies
Set by county class. The Real Estate Tax Sale Law defines the counties it covers as those of the second class A through the eighth class, and excludes counties of the first and second class, and cities of the second class A and their school districts, from Taxing District (72 P.S. 5860.102). Outside its reach, collection runs on tax and municipal claim sheriff's sales under the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act (53 P.S. 7293).
Delinquency date
Taxes are considered delinquent on December 31 of each calendar year for all taxing districts (72 P.S. 5860.102). The earlier clock runs off the date on the tax notice rather than a statewide date: at least a two percent discount for paying in full within two months of that notice, and a penalty once four months have passed (72 P.S. 5511.10).
Penalty and interest before the sale
Two separate charges. The tax collector adds a penalty of up to ten percent after four months from the tax notice date, and the taxing district fixes the actual rate within that ceiling (72 P.S. 5511.10). Then interest runs at nine percent a year on the taxes returned to the bureau, from and after but not before the first day of the month following the return (72 P.S. 5860.306).
Time before the sale
A chain of statutory dates. Delinquency on December 31, return to the bureau by the last day of April or an earlier uniform date the commissioners fix by resolution (72 P.S. 5860.306), claim notice by July 31 with a one year discharge period running from that July 1 (72 P.S. 5860.308), claim absolute the next January 1 (72 P.S. 5860.311), and the upset sale in the September window (72 P.S. 5860.601).
Redemption period and clock
In a Real Estate Tax Sale Law county there is none after the sale. The window simply closes at the actual upset sale, which the bureau must schedule no earlier than the second Monday of September and before October 1 (72 P.S. 5860.601). Three provisions say so: the claim notice must warn of it (72 P.S. 5860.308), there shall be no redemption of any property after the actual sale thereof (72 P.S. 5860.501), and there shall be no period of redemption after such sale (72 P.S. 5860.607). Where the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act applies instead, the clock starts at the acknowledgment of the sheriff's deed and runs nine months, or three months in a city or county of the second class or a municipality in it, with none at all for vacant property (53 P.S. 7293).
Redeemer's charge
In most of the state there is no redeemer's charge at all, because there is no redemption: the owner pays the claim off beforehand, and the charge is the county's own simple interest of nine percent a year on the returned taxes plus the collector's penalty and the record costs (72 P.S. 5860.306, 5860.501). Where the Municipal Claims and Tax Liens Act governs, the redemption figure is the amount bid, deed costs, taxes, claims, undischarged encumbrances, insurance and necessary expenses actually paid less rents, plus a sum equal to ten percent a year on each of those payments from when it was made (53 P.S. 7293).
Other costs of clearing the claim
The claim and its interest, any other tax claim or tax judgment and interest, all accrued returned taxes, and the record costs including the pro rata cost of every notice mailed, posted or published (72 P.S. 5860.501, 5860.308, 5860.602). The bureau also retains a five percent commission on all money it collects (72 P.S. 5860.205). Once the upset price is fixed it additionally carries Commonwealth tax liens, current year taxes and municipal claims (72 P.S. 5860.605).
Notice to the owner
Registered or certified claim notice by July 31 with a boxed warning (72 P.S. 5860.308). For the sale: publication at least thirty days out in two newspapers and the legal journal, certified mail restricted delivery at least thirty days out, first class mail at least ten days out to anyone who did not sign, and posting at least ten days out (72 P.S. 5860.602). An owner occupant must also be served personally by the sheriff at least ten days before the actual sale (72 P.S. 5860.601). Unsigned mail triggers a documented search duty (72 P.S. 5860.607a).
Where to pay
The county Tax Claim Bureau, created in the office of the county commissioners, and discharge is by payment to the bureau (72 P.S. 5860.201, 5860.501). A county may instead provide by ordinance for an alternative collection arrangement, which stays subject to all of the notices, time frames, enumerated fees and protections in the act (72 P.S. 5860.201a). County bureaus commonly require cash or a certified check on sale day.
Surplus proceeds
Claimable, but the owner ranks fifth. Sale money goes to the Commonwealth, then the taxing districts, then municipal claims, then mortgagees and lienholders in order of priority, then the owner, and only after the court of common pleas confirms a schedule of distribution (72 P.S. 5860.205). A balance left unclaimed for three years from the date of the sale is distributed to the taxing districts pro rata.
Payment plan
A written stay agreement at the bureau's option before the actual sale: twenty-five percent of the amount due on all claims and judgments plus interest and costs down, then the balance in not more than three instalments within one year, with default locking the party out of a new agreement for three years (72 P.S. 5860.603). Where the county has enacted the option, a hardship extension of up to twelve months for owner-occupied property (72 P.S. 5860.502a, 5860.503a) or relief for owners aged 65 and over (72 P.S. 5860.504). A taxing district may also take its current taxes in up to four instalments (72 P.S. 5511.11).
Frequently Asked Questions
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