Erie County, PA tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •Erie County moved both of its deed sales online to GovEase. There is no courthouse outcry auction for the upset or judicial sale, and no registration is taken on sale day.
• •The upset sale and the judicial sale differ sharply in what the buyer receives. Upset sale deeds carry every recorded lien, judgment and rent; the judicial sale conveys free and clear except separately taxed ground rents. Price the two paths differently.
• •Same-day settlement is the hardest logistical constraint. Upset bidders must deliver the full bid plus transfer taxes and recording fees by 3:30 p.m. on sale day, so funds have to be staged with GovEase in advance.
• •The judicial sale is run by outside counsel, MacDonald, Illig, Jones & Britton LLP, at (814) 870-7638. The Tax Claim Bureau does not set its date, structure or registration terms.
• •Repository parcels are the one in-person path. Bids go to Room 110 of the courthouse by money order with a $250 minimum, and every bid needs written approval from the county, the municipality and the school district, which can take months.
• •The county advertises the upset list in the Erie Times and the Erie County Legal Journal thirty days before the sale and posts a free copy on the Tax Sales page around the same date. Expect heavy attrition between the advertised list and the parcels that actually reach the block.

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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