Forest County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Forest County, seat of Tionesta: 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
- Annual sale in September.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- The notice states no registrations will be accepted after August 28, 2026.
- County office
- (814) 755-4373
On this page
How Forest County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Forest County Tax Claim Bureau
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Annual sale in September.
- Registration
- The notice states no registrations will be accepted after August 28, 2026.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Registration is in person only at the Forest County Tax Claim Bureau, 526 Elm Street, Tionesta, PA 16353, office hours 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The department page states bidder registration is open August 19, 2026 through August 28, 2026; the published sale notice lists the weekday windows August 17 to 21 and August 24 to 28, 2026. The notice states no registrations will be accepted after August 28, 2026. Each sale takes its own registration: registering for the upset sale does not qualify you to bid at the judicial sale. Per sale you must submit a completed bidder registration form, a completed affidavit for every individual to be listed on the deed or for the business entity, a copy of valid photo identification for each affidavit signer, and a non-refundable $20.00 fee in cash or check payable to the Tax Claim Bureau. Separate business, multiple-owner and LLC registration forms are posted for each sale. Under Pennsylvania Act 33 the bureau requires bidders to pre-register at least 10 days before any sale and certify that they are not delinquent on real estate taxes or municipal utility bills anywhere in the Commonwealth, are not the owner, and are not bidding for a barred party.
Sale format and venue
Forest County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Forest 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 and judicial sale list (PDF) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Annual sale in September. 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 Forest County Tax Claim Bureau as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Forest County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from 2026 upset tax sale and judicial sale list (PDF). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Registration is in person only at the Forest County Tax Claim Bureau, 526 Elm Street, Tionesta, PA 16353, office hours 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The department page states bidder registration is open August 19, 2026 through August 28, 2026; the published sale notice lists the weekday windows August 17 to 21 and August 24 to 28, 2026. The notice states no registrations will be accepted after August 28, 2026. Each sale takes its own registration: registering for the upset sale does not qualify you to bid at the judicial sale. Per sale you must submit a completed bidder registration form, a completed affidavit for every individual to be listed on the deed or for the business entity, a copy of valid photo identification for each affidavit signer, and a non-refundable $20.00 fee in cash or check payable to the Tax Claim Bureau. Separate business, multiple-owner and LLC registration forms are posted for each sale. Under Pennsylvania Act 33 the bureau requires bidders to pre-register at least 10 days before any sale and certify that they are not delinquent on real estate taxes or municipal utility bills anywhere in the Commonwealth, are not the owner, and are not bidding for a barred party.
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.
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County offices
Tax sale office
Forest County Tax Claim Bureau
Forest County Courthouse, First Floor, 526 Elm Street, Box 10, Tionesta, PA 16353
Official websiteCounty notes
- Forest County is one of Pennsylvania's smallest counties by population, and the Tax Claim Bureau sits with Assessment at the courthouse in Tionesta. The Tax Claim Director listed on the county page is Morgan Miller, reachable at [email protected].
- The bureau's direct line is (814) 755-4373. The number in the site footer, 814-755-3537, is the general county courthouse line, with a mailing box of 526 Elm Street, Box 3, Tionesta, PA 16353.
- A single PDF carries both lists: the upset (tax) sale properties first, then the judicial sale properties. Parcels are listed by control number, map number, township, owner, acreage, site address, approximate upset price or minimum bid, and deed book and page.
- Two older documents still linked from the Assessment department page return outdated content: the Upset Sale PDF shows a 2017 sale date and the Repository PDF shows a stale list. Use the Tax Claim page's current sale notice and the repository page instead.
- The Tax Claim page also links a Tax Claim Excess Funds resource for uncollected tax sale overages.
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 Forest County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Forest County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Forest 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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