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Tax Sale Atlas

Crawford County, PA tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Crawford County, seat of Meadville: 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 25, 2026.Friday · 2026
Format
In person
County office
(814) 333-7332
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 10, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Crawford 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
Crawford County Tax Claim Bureau, housed in the Crawford County Treasurer's Office
Frequency
annual
Next sale
Upset sale scheduled for September 25, 2026.
Sale list
Tax Claim Bureau sale notice, current sale listing and terms of sale
When it runs
Annual upset sale each September. The Tax Claim Bureau page states: "The Tax Sale is held once a year during the month of September. The treasurer and the county solicitor set the date of the sale." The 2025 upset sale ran on 9/26/2025 per the county's own results sheet. Judicial sales run on their own schedule and are lettered within each year, for example Judicial Sale 2025A on 11/21/2025 and Judicial Sale 2025B on May 15, 2026 at 10 AM in the Assembly Room of the Crawford County Courthouse.
Registration and deposit

Pre-registration is mandatory and must be done in person at the Tax Claim Bureau in the courthouse. The county posts an Act 2021-33 registration window before each sale: for the 05/15/26 judicial sale it ran from April 1, 2026 to May 5, 2026 at 4:30 with no exceptions. Registration requires a notarized Affidavit of Bidder and a copy of photo ID for every individual listed on the paperwork, plus a $10 non-refundable bidder fee paid in cash or certified funds at the time of registration. Separate registration forms exist for an individual, a business, and an LLC. Registered bidders sign in starting at 9 AM for a 10 AM start.

Sale format and venue
Bidding happens in the room, not online. The county posts the sale notice, the parcel listing PDF and the terms of sale on the Treasurer and Tax Claim Bureau page, and pulls the listing after the sale closes, so check that page again close to each sale date. Recent judicial sales have been held in the Assembly Room of the Crawford County Courthouse, 903 Diamond Park, Meadville, and the county names the venue in each sale notice, so confirm the location before traveling. Terms at the judicial sale: a deposit of $3,000.00 per property in cash, certified check or cashier's check is due as soon as the property is struck down, or the full purchase price if the price is under $3,000.00. Overpayment refunds are paid within one week of the sale, and no refund is paid if a winning bidder walks away after paying the deposit. For the upset sale the county states that cash or cashier's checks are accepted at the sale. Upset sale buyers take the parcel subject to encumbrances: the county writes "Buyer beware" and that "All liens against the property go with the property," and advises full research before and up to the time of the sale. The deed is issued roughly 4 months after the sale. Parcels that draw no bid become county-held and are then open to private bid through the Treasurer's Office, which keeps a viewable book of those properties along with unsold parcels from earlier sales. Caution on third-party sites: Bid4Assets carries a Crawford County listing headed "NOTICE OF SALE: Crawford County, Pennsylvania - Live Tax Deed Sale" with the courthouse address as the location. That is a notice about the county's live auction, not an online bidding venue, and no bid is placed through it. In person, live outcry auction run by the Tax Claim Bureau

Crawford County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Crawford 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 Tax Claim Bureau sale notice, current sale listing and terms of sale 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

    Upset 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 Crawford County Tax Claim Bureau, housed in the Crawford County Treasurer's Office as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Crawford County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax Claim Bureau sale notice, current sale listing and terms of sale. 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 and must be done in person at the Tax Claim Bureau in the courthouse. The county posts an Act 2021-33 registration window before each sale: for the 05/15/26 judicial sale it ran from April 1, 2026 to May 5, 2026 at 4:30 with no exceptions. Registration requires a notarized Affidavit of Bidder and a copy of photo ID for every individual listed on the paperwork, plus a $10 non-refundable bidder fee paid in cash or certified funds at the time of registration. Separate registration forms exist for an individual, a business, and an LLC. Registered bidders sign in starting at 9 AM for a 10 AM start.

  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

Crawford County Tax Claim Bureau, Crawford County Treasurer's Office

(814) 333-7332

Crawford County Courthouse, 903 Diamond Park, Meadville, PA 16335

Official website

County notes

  • The Treasurer and the Tax Claim Bureau are one combined office. The county names Renee Kiser as County Treasurer and Director of the Tax Claim Bureau.
  • Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Fax is (814) 333-2025.
  • The bureau collects for 35 townships, 14 boroughs and 2 cities, Meadville and Titusville, across 7 school districts.
  • Crawford County holds judicial sales more than once a year, lettered A, B and sometimes C or D within the same year, so the deed calendar is not limited to September.
  • The county keeps a public archive of upset sale results back to 2013 and judicial sale results back to 2013A, which is a workable way to read historic clearing prices before bidding: https://crawfordcountypa.net/government/tax-sale-results/
  • A hardship policy PDF is published alongside the sale material, which affects which owner-occupied parcels reach the 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.
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 Crawford 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 Crawford County hold tax deed sales?

Crawford County holds its tax deed sale once a year. Annual upset sale each September. 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 Crawford County Tax Claim Bureau, housed in the Crawford County Treasurer's Office 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 Crawford County tax sale list?

Crawford County posts its tax sale list at crawfordcountypa.net. 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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