Mercer County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Mercer County, seat of Mercer: 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 15, 2026.Tuesday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- County office
- 724-662-3800 ext. 2228, 2229, 2232 or 2233
On this page
How Mercer County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Mercer County Tax Claim Bureau
- Frequency
- annual
- Sale list
- Upset tax sale property list (PDF)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
No person or entity may bid unless they register with the Tax Claim Bureau, file the county application with all required paperwork, and pay a $25.00 non-refundable registration fee in cash or certified or bank check, under the Act of June 30, 2021, P.L. No. 33. For the October 21, 2025 upset sale the Bureau closed registration at 4:00 p.m. on October 10, 2025, about eleven days before the sale, so confirm the 2026 cutoff with the office. Purchase price, recording fees and realty transfer taxes are due in cash, certified check or money order before the close of business on the sale date, and no personal or business checks are accepted.
Sale format and venue
Mercer County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Mercer 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 Upset tax sale property list (PDF) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
Upset sale scheduled for September 15, 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.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Mercer County Tax Claim Bureau as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Mercer County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Upset tax sale property list (PDF). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
No person or entity may bid unless they register with the Tax Claim Bureau, file the county application with all required paperwork, and pay a $25.00 non-refundable registration fee in cash or certified or bank check, under the Act of June 30, 2021, P.L. No. 33. For the October 21, 2025 upset sale the Bureau closed registration at 4:00 p.m. on October 10, 2025, about eleven days before the sale, so confirm the 2026 cutoff with the office. Purchase price, recording fees and realty transfer taxes are due in cash, certified check or money order before the close of business on the sale date, and no personal or business checks are accepted.
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
Tax sale office
Mercer County Tax Claim Bureau
724-662-3800 ext. 2228, 2229, 2232 or 2233
125 S. Diamond Street, Suite 3, Mercer, PA 16137
Official websiteCounty notes
- Cathy S. Herriott is the director. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. except holidays, and the listed email is [email protected].
- The upset sale advertisement was scheduled for the Mercer County Law Journal on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 and for the Herald and the Record Argus on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, for parcels whose 2024 taxes were unpaid as of July 2, 2026.
- The posted upset sale list is a PDF the Bureau replaces as parcels pay off, and it says the file is updated weekly. The copy fetched on August 9, 2026 was still the advertising list generated on October 20, 2025 for the October 21, 2025 sale, so the 2026 parcels appear once the Bureau posts the new file alongside the August 2026 newspaper advertisement.
- A judicial sale reaches only parcels already exposed at an upset sale without selling. A buyer starts one by filing a written judicial sale bid form that guarantees a minimum bid of $1,250.00 and names the property address plus a map or parcel number or control number. The Bureau publishes a monthly list of parcels available for judicial sale request; the copy fetched on August 9, 2026 was generated on August 3, 2026. As of that date the Bureau page said there are no judicial sales scheduled at this time.
- The Bureau's notice for its June 24, 2026 judicial sale required registration with a $25.00 non-refundable fee and a completed county application by 4:00 p.m. on June 12, 2026, plus a $1,000.00 cash or certified check deposit on the day of the sale, applied to the winning bid or returned. Expect the same pattern for the next judicial sale.
- Parcels that fail to sell at judicial sale move to the repository and can be bought at any time on an approved bid of at least $1,200.00, with no court approval, publication or further owner notice. The county, municipality and school district each receive the bid amount and must sign off, and the buyer is notified in writing. Under Section 628 of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law the purchase price becomes the new assessed fair market value until a countywide reassessment, a resale or an improvement. The repository list fetched on August 9, 2026 was generated on July 10, 2026.
- Pennsylvania sells the deed rather than a lien certificate, so Mercer holds no certificate auction. The Bureau does issue a tax lien certification for $10.00 per parcel, which reports what a parcel owes and is a title research document, not a purchasable lien. Unpaid taxes reach the Bureau by January 15, carry a $15.00 filing fee per claim, and accrue interest at 9% a year starting in February.
- The Bureau collects delinquent real estate taxes for 11 school districts and the 48 cities, townships and boroughs in Mercer County. It does not collect current year taxes, which go to the local tax collector.
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 Mercer County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Mercer County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Mercer 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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