Bradford County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Bradford County, seat of Towanda: 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
- September 15, 2026 at 9:00 A.M. prevailing time.Tuesday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Act 33 pre-registration is mandatory.
- County office
- 570-265-1700
On this page
How Bradford County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Bradford County Tax Claim Bureau (the Bradford County Treasurer's Office acts as the Tax Claim Bureau for the county)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- September 15, 2026 at 9:00 A.M. prevailing time.
- Registration
- Act 33 pre-registration is mandatory.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Act 33 pre-registration is mandatory. The notice states a bidder "must pre-register at the bureau not less than 10 days before the scheduled upset or judicial sale," and for the September 15, 2026 sale that "the last day to pre-register for the September 15 upset sale is September 4th. NO EXCEPTIONS!" Three items complete the registration: a completed and notarized Affidavit of Bidder, a signed and dated copy of the Upset Sale Terms and Conditions, and a copy of a driver's license or other photo ID. Both forms are posted on the county Treasurer page. Terms at the sale are cash or approved check payable to the Bradford County Tax Claim Bureau at the time of the sale, and all sales are final.
Sale format and venue
Bradford County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Bradford 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 2026 upset tax sale notice and property list for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
September 15, 2026 at 9:00 A.M. prevailing time. 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 Bradford County Tax Claim Bureau (the Bradford County Treasurer's Office acts as the Tax Claim Bureau for the county) as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Bradford County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from 2026 upset tax sale notice and property list. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Act 33 pre-registration is mandatory. The notice states a bidder "must pre-register at the bureau not less than 10 days before the scheduled upset or judicial sale," and for the September 15, 2026 sale that "the last day to pre-register for the September 15 upset sale is September 4th. NO EXCEPTIONS!" Three items complete the registration: a completed and notarized Affidavit of Bidder, a signed and dated copy of the Upset Sale Terms and Conditions, and a copy of a driver's license or other photo ID. Both forms are posted on the county Treasurer page. Terms at the sale are cash or approved check payable to the Bradford County Tax Claim Bureau at the time of the sale, and all sales are final.
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
County notes
- The Treasurer page lists the office at 301 Main Street, Towanda, PA 18848, phone 570-265-1700, fax 570-265-1795, hours Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm, email [email protected]. Services listed include "Acting as the Tax Claim Bureau for the county" and "Collecting Delinquent Real Estate Taxes."
- Matt Allen signs the sale notices as Director, Bradford County Tax Claim Bureau.
- Bradford County has no dedicated tax sale web page. The statutory sale notice and the full property list run in the Bradford County Law Journal, the official legal periodical for the county, published weekly by the Bradford County Bar Association. The bidder forms live on the county Treasurer page.
- The county's 2022 blight report states that about twenty properties go to judicial sale each year and that roughly half are trailers, and that the judicial sale starting bid in the county was $125 at that time. Confirm current minimums with the Bureau.
- Delinquent real estate taxes can be searched and paid online at tax.bradfordco.org, which is a payment and search portal rather than an auction site.
- The 2026 notice sets the last moment for owners to redeem before the sale at 4:30 P.M. prevailing time on Monday, September 14, 2026, the day before the auction.
- No 2026 judicial sale notice had been published as of this research. In Pennsylvania the judicial sale is noticed separately after the court grants the Bureau's petition, so watch the Bradford County Law Journal later in the year.
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 Bradford County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Bradford County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Bradford 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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