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Tax Sale Atlas

Adams County, PA tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Adams County, seat of Gettysburg: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Pennsylvania tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Judicial sale scheduled for September 25, 2026.Friday · 2026
Format
In person
County office
717-337-9837
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 10, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Adams County sells delinquent taxes

No tax lien certificate sale

Pennsylvania counties do not sell tax lien certificates to investors. The county Tax Claim Bureau holds the delinquent claim itself and later sells the property.

Tax deed sale

In person
Run by
Adams County Tax Claim Bureau (a division of the Adams County Tax Services Department)
Frequency
annual
Next sale
Judicial sale scheduled for September 25, 2026.
Sale list
Upset and judicial sale lists (PDF)
When it runs
The Bureau holds one combined upset and judicial tax sale per year, in late September. The county lists the current sale date as "September 25, 2026: 9:00AM". Bidder pre-registration "is opened August 1st of each year" and closes ten days before the sale, which the 2026 bidder packet fixes at September 15, 2026.
Registration and deposit

Pre-registration is mandatory for both the upset and the judicial sale under the county's cited Act No. 133 (amended June 30, 2021). The county states "ALL Prospective Bidders are required to pre-register TEN (10) days prior to the sale date for Upset and Judicial Tax Sales." The 2026 bidder packet says registration begins August 1, 2026 and sets a "REGISTRATION DEADLINE" of September 15, 2026, with no exceptions and no late registrations. Applications must be dropped off in person at the Tax Claim Bureau, 117 Baltimore Street, Room 202, Gettysburg. Required items are the Bidder Application, a photo ID copy for all managers and members, a notarized Affidavit of Bidder, documentation of signing authority for entity applicants, and a copy of the LLC operating agreement where one applies. Bidders certify they are not delinquent on Adams County real estate taxes, have no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, are not bidding as agent for a barred person, and have no uncorrected housing code violations in the prior three years. An owner has no right to buy their own property at judicial sale under 72 P.S. 5860.618.

Sale format and venue
The sale runs live and in person at the Adams County Human Services Building, Room MPR 15, 525 Boyd's School Rd, Gettysburg, PA 17325. There is no online bidding and no auction website. Upset and judicial parcels are called in the same session, and each property is settled for before the next is offered. Terms of sale state there is no redemption period after the sale date, though taxes and costs can be paid up to the day of the sale, and a property will not be sold if the delinquent taxes and costs are paid first. Payment at an upset sale is $100 in United States currency at strike-down plus the balance by check or other accepted payment, or the full price in cash where the bid is $100 or less; at a judicial sale the cash figure is $50 on the same terms. Failing to pay the balance forfeits that cash as liquidated damages. Buyers also pay the fee for preparing and recording the deed plus realty transfer stamps, which the county calculates as (1% of the assessed value x common level ratio factor) x 2. The Bureau prepares and records the deed and mails it to the address the purchaser gives, and it will not change the name or entity on the deed after the sale. The Bureau sells only the taxable interest and offers no warranty or guarantee, so it urges buyers to have a title examination done first. Parcels that go unsold move to the county repository, which takes written offers on a form rather than bids at auction. Caution: Bid4Assets carries an Adams County, Pennsylvania entry, but it is a courtesy notice, not an auction. That page states Bid4Assets "is not conducting this public auction, nor are we affiliated in any way with this sale", labels the sale type "Live/In Person", carries a stale 2024 date, and attributes the sale to a treasurer's office rather than the Tax Claim Bureau. Bid on site with the Tax Claim Bureau.
Source: Adams County Tax Claim Bureau, Upset and Judicial Sale page· Verified Aug 10, 2026

Adams County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Adams County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Upset and judicial sale lists (PDF) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.

  3. Sale day

    Judicial sale scheduled for September 25, 2026. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Adams County Tax Claim Bureau (a division of the Adams County Tax Services Department) as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Adams County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Upset and judicial sale lists (PDF). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Pre-registration is mandatory for both the upset and the judicial sale under the county's cited Act No. 133 (amended June 30, 2021). The county states "ALL Prospective Bidders are required to pre-register TEN (10) days prior to the sale date for Upset and Judicial Tax Sales." The 2026 bidder packet says registration begins August 1, 2026 and sets a "REGISTRATION DEADLINE" of September 15, 2026, with no exceptions and no late registrations. Applications must be dropped off in person at the Tax Claim Bureau, 117 Baltimore Street, Room 202, Gettysburg. Required items are the Bidder Application, a photo ID copy for all managers and members, a notarized Affidavit of Bidder, documentation of signing authority for entity applicants, and a copy of the LLC operating agreement where one applies. Bidders certify they are not delinquent on Adams County real estate taxes, have no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, are not bidding as agent for a barred person, and have no uncorrected housing code violations in the prior three years. An owner has no right to buy their own property at judicial sale under 72 P.S. 5860.618.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Pennsylvania due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  4. Set a walk-away number

    Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.

Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases

Every Real Estate Tax Sale Law county keeps a repository for unsold properties: anything still unsold after a judicial sale is placed there, and the bureau must make the list available to the public during normal office hours. The bureau may, with the written consent of each taxing district where the property sits, set a minimum purchase price and accept any offer at or above it without court approval and without published notice. Consent is deemed given if a district does not respond within 60 days, and a district may require the buyer to appear before its governing body. The buyer files an affidavit with the same information a bidder registration requires. The deed conveys free and clear of all tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens, charges and estates except separately taxed ground rents, and the bureau records it at the buyer's expense. A former owner may not buy their own property out of the repository. Prices, forms and turnaround are set county by county, so confirm the process with the tax claim bureau.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work.

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County offices

Tax sale office

Adams County Tax Claim Bureau, Adams County Tax Services Department

717-337-9837

Adams County Courthouse, 117 Baltimore Street, Room 202, Gettysburg, PA 17325

Official website

County notes

  • Office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Tax Claim counter closes from 12 to 1 for lunch. Fax is 717-337-5767 and the department email listed on the bidder packet is [email protected].
  • The Tax Claim Bureau is a division of the Adams County Tax Services Department, led by director Daryl G. Crum, CPE, with Susan B. Miller, CPE, as assistant director and chief assessor. Registration filings and walk-in questions go to the Tax Services counter at Courthouse Room 202, while the sale itself is held offsite at the Human Services Building.
  • Both sale lists are published as dated PDFs that the county replaces as parcels are paid off. The upset list fetched for this record was regenerated on August 5, 2026 and the judicial list on July 20, 2026, so the parcel count moves right up to the sale date. The judicial list was short, at four properties, while the upset list ran to many parcels grouped by borough and township.
  • The county publishes an ArcGIS tax sale map alongside the lists, so bidders can locate parcels by tax map number before the sale.
  • Unsold parcels go to the Adams County repository, which has its own list, a written offer form, and a published repository policy. Repository purchases are made by offer and require the same bidder pre-registration.
  • Surplus from a sale is handled through the Bureau's excess money process, which publishes an unclaimed excess monies list plus a claim application and cover letter.
  • Delinquent taxes can be paid online through the county's GovPayNow link, but that is a payment channel for owners and is not a bidding platform.

Pennsylvania rules

Redemption
Under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law there is no redemption of any property after the actual sale. The owner's last opportunity is to discharge the tax claim before the sale by paying the claim and interest, any other tax claim or judgment and interest, all accrued unpaid taxes, and the record costs, or a smaller amount the political subdivision agrees to accept. Payment before July 1 of the year following the notice of claim removes the property from the sale list entirely. Payment after that date but before the actual sale still stops the sale, though the parcel and the owner's name may already appear in the advertising.
Deed deposit
The Real Estate Tax Sale Law sets no deposit and no buyer premium. What it does require is pre-registration: anyone intending to bid at an upset or judicial sale must appear and register at the bureau no less than 10 days before the sale, once per scheduled sale, and a county may charge a fee for filing the application. The application names the applicant, and every officer, member and manager if the applicant is not an individual, and carries an affidavit that the applicant owes no delinquent real estate taxes anywhere in the Commonwealth, has no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, is not acting for a person barred under section 601(d), and has not let an uncorrected housing code violation stand after conviction in the last three years. A false statement is prosecutable as a second degree misdemeanor. The bureau sends the list of registered bidders to every municipality in the county at least five days before the sale.
Surplus proceeds
The bureau distributes tax-sale proceeds, after repaying costs advanced by taxing districts and its own 5 percent commission, in this order: Commonwealth tax liens, then the taxing districts in proportion to the taxes due them, then taxing districts or municipal authorities for municipal claims, then mortgagees and other lien holders in order of record priority whether or not the sale discharged them, and last the owner of the property. Before paying anything out the bureau petitions the court of common pleas to confirm the schedule of distribution, and an absolute confirmation is final and nonappealable as to every listed distributee. If no claim for the owner's balance is presented within three years of the sale, that balance goes to the taxing districts pro rata and the county keeps the interest it earned.
Governing statute
72 P.S. 5860.101 et seq.

A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.

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Frequently asked questions

Does Adams County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax deeds. Pennsylvania sells no tax lien certificates to investors; the County Tax Claim Bureau sells the property itself at a public tax sale.

How often does Adams County hold tax deed sales?

Adams County holds its tax deed sale once a year. September 25, 2026: 9:00AM. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Pennsylvania's redemption rule: None after the sale in the 65 Real Estate Tax Sale Law counties; in Philadelphia, 9 months from acknowledgment of the sheriff's deed, and 3 months in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh. Call the Adams County Tax Claim Bureau (a division of the Adams County Tax Services Department) as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Adams County tax sale list?

Adams County posts its tax sale list at adamscountypa.gov. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

Verified Aug 10, 2026 against official county and state sources.

Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.

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