Berks County, PA tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Three deed paths run each year. The county sale FAQ describes them as: upset, held in September, where properties are "sold with their liens and encumbrances to the highest bidder"; judicial, also called "Free & Clear", typically held in June for parcels that went unsold at upset; and repository, open March 1 through October 31 for parcels unsold at both prior sales.
• •Upset buyers take the property subject to existing encumbrances. The 2026 conditions of sale state: "THIS IS AN UPSET TAX SALE - not a free and clear sale! Every sale shall convey the property under and subject to the lien of every recorded obligation, claim, lien, estate, mortgage, ground rent, and Commonwealth tax lien with which the property is or may become charged."
• •The repository sale is not an online auction. The county FAQ calls it "a sealed bid auction through the mail to our office", where the highest bid received that day is forwarded to the taxing authorities for approval before the property is conveyed.
• •The Bureau's FAQ states there is no post-sale redemption period in Berks County, and no statute of limitations on a former owner objecting to the sale. It also warns the Bureau can set a sale aside if it finds the parcel should not have been exposed, refunding the buyer's funds but not the transaction and registration fees.
• •Bidders must not be delinquent on real estate taxes to any Pennsylvania tax claim bureau or taxing district, and must not have municipal utility bills more than one year outstanding. Bidders must be at least 18.
• •Costs beyond the bid: a $35 per-parcel-won administrative fee added to the sale price, plus a 2.5% buyer's premium with a $100 minimum per parcel, plus recording fees, document preparation fees, a demolition fund fee, and transfer tax where applicable, all itemized per parcel on the active sale list.
• •Berks describes its collection accounting as a "Hybrid" that blends the Real Estate Tax Sale Law with the Municipal Claims Tax Law, letting the Bureau retain a 5% operating fee while returning tax, penalty, and interest to the taxing bodies. This affects the delinquency fee ladder, not the sale format: the sale remains a RETSL upset and judicial sale run by the Tax Claim Bureau. The county documents a 21 month path from January turnover to the September upset sale.

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.Real Estate Tax Sale Law section 501 - who may pay off a tax claim before sale, and the rule that there is no redemption after the actual sale72 P.S. 5860.501Verified Aug 9, 2026

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.Real Estate Tax Sale Law section 601 - the upset sale is scheduled no earlier than the second Monday of September and before October 172 P.S. 5860.601Verified Aug 9, 2026

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.Real Estate Tax Sale Law section 205 - the five-part distribution priority for tax-sale proceeds and the three-year cutoff on an owner's surplus claim72 P.S. 5860.205Verified Aug 9, 2026

Governing statute

72 P.S. 5860.101 et seq.Real Estate Tax Sale Law section 102 - definitions of "Delinquent", "Actual sale", "County" and "Owner"72 P.S. 5860.102Verified Aug 9, 2026

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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