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Tax Sale Atlas

Lawrence County, PA tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Lawrence County, seat of New Castle: 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 24, 2026.Thursday · 2026
Format
Bid4Assets
Registration
Pre-registration is required and closes well before the sale.
County office
(724) 656-2125
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 10, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Lawrence 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

GovEase in a growing number of counties; some counties still sell in person at the courthouse, and some judicial sales are handled through a county solicitor or on Bid4Assets
Run by
Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau
Frequency
annual
Next sale
Upset sale scheduled for September 24, 2026.
Registration
Pre-registration is required and closes well before the sale.
Sale list
Tax Claim Bureau sale notice and property list ordering details
When it runs
Two sales a year. The bureau states: "We conduct two sales each year in accordance with the PA Real Estate Tax Sale Law: one in April (Judicial Sale also known as the Free and Clear sale) and one in September (Upset Sale)." For the current cycle the bureau states: "The next Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau Tax Sale will be the 2026 Upset Sale. It will be held as an online auction on Thursday September 24, 2026 beginning at 10 AM." Properties are advertised roughly 30 days ahead: "The properties to be auctioned off are published 30 days before each sale in the New Castle News and Ellwood City Ledger."
Registration and deposit

Pre-registration is required and closes well before the sale. For the 2026 upset sale the bureau states: "All bidders must pre-register online between September 7 - 11." The county's own published upset sale notice from an earlier year set a $500 pre-registration fee, ran registration Monday through Friday the week before the sale from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Tax Claim Bureau, and warned "There will be no registrations done the day of the sale." That notice also required the purchase price "to be paid in cash or certified check as soon as the property is struck down." Because the sale is moving online, confirm the current fee, the deposit rule and the registration link with the bureau at (724) 656-2125 or [email protected] before the registration window opens.

Sale format and venue
The bureau does not publish the sale list as a free download. It states the list "will be published in two newspapers (New Castle News and Ellwood City Ledger) on Friday August 21, 2026" and "in the Lawrence Law Journal on Monday August 24, 2026," and will be "on public display and available for purchase on or after August 24, 2026 at the Tax Claim office at 430 Court Street in New Castle, PA." Cost is "$10 cash in person or by mail by sending a $10 money order payable to 'Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau'" for an emailed copy, or $15 for a paper copy mailed to you. No auction platform is confirmed for this county. The bureau says the upset sale will run as an online auction with online pre-registration, but its website names no vendor and links no bidding site, so verify the platform with the office before the registration window. Historically these sales were held in person: the county's published upset sale notice placed the auction in "Courtroom No. 1, Lawrence County Government Center, 430 Court Street, New Castle, Pennsylvania" at 10:00 a.m., and the county calendar entry for the prior upset sale is still marked as an in-person event at the Government Center. Caution on third-party listings: Bid4Assets carries entries titled "NOTICE OF SALE: Lawrence County, Pennsylvania - Live Tax Deed Sale" that state "Bid4Assets is providing this notice of sale strictly as a courtesy to our users. Bid4Assets is not conducting this public auction, nor are we affiliated in any way with this sale." Those pages are not the auction site and also misname the selling office as the Treasurer. Payment: the bureau states "We DO NOT accept personal or business checks. All payments must be made with cash or cashier's check/money order made payable to Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau," with credit and debit cards accepted subject to a 2.45% convenience fee. Scope note for buyers researching liens: delinquent taxes for the City of New Castle and the Ellwood, Laurel, Mohawk, Shenango and Wilmington School Districts are filed with Portnoff Law Associates rather than the Tax Claim Bureau, so those claims sit outside the bureau's collection file. One dead link to be aware of: the More Info link under the bureau's sale notice points to a prior year sale PDF that no longer resolves.

Lawrence County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Lawrence 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 and property list ordering details for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.
  2. Register to bid

    Pre-registration is required and closes well before the sale. Full requirements are in the sale card above.
  3. Sale day

    Upset sale scheduled for September 24, 2026. The county names GovEase in a growing number of counties; some counties still sell in person at the courthouse, and some judicial sales are handled through a county solicitor or on Bid4Assets as its auction platform but has not published a direct bidding link. Confirm the date and window with the county.
  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Lawrence County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax Claim Bureau sale notice and property list ordering details. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.
  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Pre-registration is required and closes well before the sale. For the 2026 upset sale the bureau states: "All bidders must pre-register online between September 7 - 11." The county's own published upset sale notice from an earlier year set a $500 pre-registration fee, ran registration Monday through Friday the week before the sale from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Tax Claim Bureau, and warned "There will be no registrations done the day of the sale." That notice also required the purchase price "to be paid in cash or certified check as soon as the property is struck down." Because the sale is moving online, confirm the current fee, the deposit rule and the registration link with the bureau at (724) 656-2125 or [email protected] before the registration window opens.

  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.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax sale office

Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau

(724) 656-2125

Lawrence County Government Center, Tax Claim Office, 430 Court Street, New Castle, PA 16101

Official website

County notes

  • The Tax Claim Bureau is directed by Brian Burick and is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. except holidays. Email is [email protected] and the fax is (724) 202-7200.
  • The bureau collects delinquent property taxes for the county plus twenty-three municipalities and three school districts in Lawrence County.
  • The April judicial sale is the county's free and clear sale; the September upset sale is the first exposure and carries the higher upset price. The bureau confirms both on its department page but publishes detailed terms only in the newspaper notice for each sale.
  • Delinquent tax payment portal for prior year taxes: https://tax.gss-pa.com/lawrence/cc
  • Countywide property record search used for parcel diligence: https://lawrence.pa.publicsearch.us/ and county mapping at https://lawcopa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d57d06f987304d3e9af0a71dc911e78e

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 Lawrence 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 Lawrence County hold tax deed sales?

Lawrence County holds its tax deed sale once a year. Two sales a year. 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 Lawrence County Tax Claim Bureau 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 Lawrence County tax sale list?

Lawrence County posts its tax sale list at lawrencecountypa.gov. 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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