Armstrong County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Armstrong County, seat of Kittanning: 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
- Upset sale scheduled for September 29, 2026.Tuesday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Pre-registration is mandatory and is done in person.
- County office
- 724-548-3289
On this page
How Armstrong County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Armstrong County Tax Claim Bureau
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- Pre-registration is mandatory and is done in person.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Pre-registration is mandatory and is done in person. The Tax Claim Bureau page states "All prospective bidders are required to pre-register for tax sales", that the Bidder Application and Conditions of Sale forms must be submitted "not less than 10 days prior to the sale date", that "There are NO EXCEPTIONS!", that "A fee of $15.00 is due at the time of registration" and that "You must appear in person at our office to register." Separate packets exist for the upset, judicial and repository sales. Registration must satisfy Act 33 of 2021, and the bureau states it is prohibited by law from accepting late or non-compliant registrations. The bidder affidavit requires certification under 72 P.S. 5860.619.1 that the bidder owes no delinquent real estate taxes to any Pennsylvania taxing district and has no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, under 72 P.S. 5860.618 that the bidder is not the owner or an affiliate of the owner of the parcels bid on, and under 72 P.S. 5860.601(d) that no landlord license has been revoked in any Armstrong County municipality. At the upset sale the winning amount "MUST be paid by 3:00 P.M. the day of the sale by CASH OR CERTIFIED CHECK, drawn to the order of the Armstrong County Tax Claim Bureau". At the judicial sale the bid price and all additional costs are payable at the time of sale by cash, money order or certified check. Repository bids are payable by cash, money order or certified check no later than 3 p.m. on the sale day.
Sale format and venue
Armstrong County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Armstrong 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.
Get the advertised list
Use Tax Claim Bureau sale dates and bidder registration packets for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Upset sale scheduled for September 29, 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.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Armstrong County Tax Claim Bureau as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Armstrong County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax Claim Bureau sale dates and bidder registration packets. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Pre-registration is mandatory and is done in person. The Tax Claim Bureau page states "All prospective bidders are required to pre-register for tax sales", that the Bidder Application and Conditions of Sale forms must be submitted "not less than 10 days prior to the sale date", that "There are NO EXCEPTIONS!", that "A fee of $15.00 is due at the time of registration" and that "You must appear in person at our office to register." Separate packets exist for the upset, judicial and repository sales. Registration must satisfy Act 33 of 2021, and the bureau states it is prohibited by law from accepting late or non-compliant registrations. The bidder affidavit requires certification under 72 P.S. 5860.619.1 that the bidder owes no delinquent real estate taxes to any Pennsylvania taxing district and has no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, under 72 P.S. 5860.618 that the bidder is not the owner or an affiliate of the owner of the parcels bid on, and under 72 P.S. 5860.601(d) that no landlord license has been revoked in any Armstrong County municipality. At the upset sale the winning amount "MUST be paid by 3:00 P.M. the day of the sale by CASH OR CERTIFIED CHECK, drawn to the order of the Armstrong County Tax Claim Bureau". At the judicial sale the bid price and all additional costs are payable at the time of sale by cash, money order or certified check. Repository bids are payable by cash, money order or certified check no later than 3 p.m. on the sale day.
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.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
unsold properties
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.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, per the courthouse hours block on the Tax Claim page. The bureau supervisor is listed as Melissa Hirtz.
- Registration closes 10 days before each sale and must be completed in person with a $15.00 fee. There is no online or mail registration path, so plan a trip to Kittanning well ahead of the sale date.
- The upset sale does not clear liens. Mortgages, judgments and Commonwealth tax liens not covered by the upset price ride through the sale. The judicial sale is the one sold free and clear on court order.
- Deed delivery is slow. The bureau tells upset buyers to expect about five months for the deed and bars entry onto the property until the Court of Common Pleas confirmation is absolute, roughly 45 days after the sale.
- Delinquent 2023 school taxes for the Apollo-Ridge School District are collected by Portnoff Law Associates, Ltd. rather than the Tax Claim Bureau, so check that separate track for parcels in that district.
- The Armstrong County Land Bank holds a statutory right to take repository parcels before other bidders under 68 Pa. C.S.A. 2117, which can pull attractive repository inventory off the table.
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.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does Armstrong County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Armstrong County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Armstrong County tax sale list?
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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