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Tax Sale Atlas

Montgomery County, PA tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Montgomery County, seat of Norristown: 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
Tax sale scheduled for September 24, 2026.Thursday · 2026
Format
In person
County office
610-278-1216
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 10, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Montgomery 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
Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau, led by Jason E. Salus, listed as Treasurer and Director of Tax Claim, with William F. Caldwell as First Deputy Director. The Bureau runs all four Real Estate Tax Sale Law paths in the county: upset sale, private sale, judicial sale and repository.
Frequency
annual
Next sale
Tax sale scheduled for September 24, 2026.
Sale list
Upset Sale page, with the 2026 Sale List and both bidder registration forms
When it runs
Judicial sale in August, upset sale in September, and both continued sales in December. The Bureau's 2026 Sale Dates block reads: "Judicial Sale: August 20th, 2026; Upset Sale: September 24th, 2026; Continued Judicial Sale: December 10th, 2026; Continued Upset Sale: December 10th, 2026." The upset page states "The next Upset Sale will be September 24th, 2026 at 10 a.m. in Courtroom A." The judicial page states "The 2026 Judicial Sale will be August 20th, 2026 in person in Courtroom B at 10 a.m." The department overview adds that the upset sale "is scheduled each September and December" and that a judicial sale "is held at least once each year in August and December." The continued sale page says that sale "is typically held in December of each year" and that "Both Continued Sales are held one after the other on the same day." Repository offers are accepted year round.
Registration and deposit

In person only, with a $100 non-refundable fee, and it closes two weeks before the upset sale. The upset page states "Bidder Registration closes September 10th, 2026 at 4 p.m." and "Please be sure to submit your registration in person at the Tax Claim Bureau before the deadline. NO MAIL IN REGISTRATIONS WILL BE TAKEN." The bidder packet repeats it: "Prospective bidders must be registered in person no later than 4:00 PM on September 10th, 2026. No registration will be taken after said date" and "Prospective Bidders MUST APPEAR TO REGISTER IN-PERSON. Mailed-in registrations WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AND WILL BE REJECTED AND RETURNED ON THIS BASIS." A bidder returns the signed registration and certification forms, a copy of photo identification, and "a $100 check/certified funds non-refundable fee" payable to the Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau. Separate individual and business forms are posted, and the county notes a business bidder "must be registered to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." Under Act 133 and Act 33, every applicant certifies they owe no delinquent real estate taxes anywhere in Pennsylvania, have no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, are not bidding as agent for a person barred under section 601(d), have no uncorrected housing code violation in the last three years, and have not had a landlord license revoked in any Montgomery County municipality. A false statement is prosecutable as a second degree misdemeanor. Judicial sale registration follows the same $100 in-person process on its own calendar; as of this record the judicial page reads "The Judicial Sale Bidder Registration has closed" for the August 20, 2026 sale.

Sale format and venue
IN-PERSON SALE. Montgomery County runs no online bidding platform for its tax sales. The 2026 upset notice says the Bureau "will expose at a public sale in the Montgomery County Courthouse, at 10:00 A.M. on September 24, 2026," and the judicial notice gives the venue precisely: "the Montgomery County Courthouse, 2 East Airy Street, Courtroom B, Norristown, Pennsylvania." The upset sale sits in Courtroom A at the same courthouse. Money moves fast and in certified form: "Payment of the bid price along with wire fees, transfer taxes and recording costs shall be made in the form of cashier's check or wire transfer no later than 4:00 PM on the day of the sale." The judicial terms add a "$20.00 wire fee in addition to other fees and costs," and if the winner does not pay, "the property will be offered to the next highest bidder at their last bid offer." A bad check bars the bidder from future sales and is referred to the District Attorney. The two tracks divest differently. At the upset sale "the sale of the property is subject to all liens and encumbrances at the time of sale," and the notice warns "Lien holders were not notified of the sale. All properties are being sold subject to any existing liens," so order a title search first. At the judicial sale properties "will be sold Free & Clear of all tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens, charges and estates of whatsoever kind, except ground rents separately taxed," and the Bureau "has the right to set all opening bids and sets Judicial opening bids to cover the cost of collections." There is no redemption after either sale: the notice states "THERE WILL BE NO REDEMPTION PERIOD AFTER THE ACTUAL SALE," and for the 2026 upset sale the owner's right to pay expired September 23, 2026. Bidders get no access to properties before the sale and the winning bidder pays transfer taxes and fees. Parcel lists move up to sale day, so pull the dated list again the week of the auction. CAUTION on third-party sites: Bid4Assets hosts Montgomery County Sheriff real property foreclosure auctions at bid4assets.com/montcopasheriff, a separate mortgage and judgment foreclosure calendar run by the Sheriff's Office with a $10,000 deposit and 12-day settlement. That is not the Tax Claim Bureau's tax sale, and bidding there does not reach upset or judicial sale inventory.
Source: Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau, Upset Sale page with the September 24, 2026 date, Courtroom A venue, sale list and bidder registration links· Verified Aug 10, 2026

Montgomery County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Montgomery 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 Upset Sale page, with the 2026 Sale List and both bidder registration forms 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

    Tax sale scheduled for September 24, 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 Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau, led by Jason E. Salus, listed as Treasurer and Director of Tax Claim, with William F. Caldwell as First Deputy Director. The Bureau runs all four Real Estate Tax Sale Law paths in the county: upset sale, private sale, judicial sale and repository. as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Montgomery County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Upset Sale page, with the 2026 Sale List and both bidder registration forms. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    In person only, with a $100 non-refundable fee, and it closes two weeks before the upset sale. The upset page states "Bidder Registration closes September 10th, 2026 at 4 p.m." and "Please be sure to submit your registration in person at the Tax Claim Bureau before the deadline. NO MAIL IN REGISTRATIONS WILL BE TAKEN." The bidder packet repeats it: "Prospective bidders must be registered in person no later than 4:00 PM on September 10th, 2026. No registration will be taken after said date" and "Prospective Bidders MUST APPEAR TO REGISTER IN-PERSON. Mailed-in registrations WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AND WILL BE REJECTED AND RETURNED ON THIS BASIS." A bidder returns the signed registration and certification forms, a copy of photo identification, and "a $100 check/certified funds non-refundable fee" payable to the Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau. Separate individual and business forms are posted, and the county notes a business bidder "must be registered to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." Under Act 133 and Act 33, every applicant certifies they owe no delinquent real estate taxes anywhere in Pennsylvania, have no municipal utility bill more than one year outstanding, are not bidding as agent for a person barred under section 601(d), have no uncorrected housing code violation in the last three years, and have not had a landlord license revoked in any Montgomery County municipality. A false statement is prosecutable as a second degree misdemeanor. Judicial sale registration follows the same $100 in-person process on its own calendar; as of this record the judicial page reads "The Judicial Sale Bidder Registration has closed" for the August 20, 2026 sale.

  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

Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau

610-278-1216

Mailing: Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau, P.O. Box 190, Norristown, PA 19404. Overnight and in person: One Montgomery Plaza, Suite 600, Norristown, PA 19401. Sales are held at the Montgomery County Courthouse, 2 East Airy Street, Norristown, PA.

Official website

County notes

  • Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email is [email protected] and the fax listed on the Bureau's letterhead is 610-994-2881. The department page also lists 610-994-2881 as a contact number, but the Bureau's own letterhead labels it the fax line, so call 610-278-1216.
  • The Bureau describes four Real Estate Tax Sale Law paths. Upset sale: taxes delinquent two years, buyer takes subject to all liens. Private sale: after a parcel is exposed but unsold at upset, a written bid goes to the Bureau, all taxing districts must approve, the accepted bid is advertised, and anyone objecting has 45 days to petition the court. Judicial sale: only parcels exposed but unsold at upset, sold free and clear. Repository: parcels unsold at judicial sale, with bids starting at $500 and every taxing district reviewing the offer.
  • Repository purchases use the Bureau's Offer to Purchase from Repository form plus its published Repository Sales Bidding Information. Private sale purchases use the Private Sale Agreement plus the Private Sale Procedures. All four are posted as PDFs on their own pages.
  • Advertising differs by track. Upset sale parcels are advertised "in at least two newspapers of general circulation within Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Law Reporter within two months of the sale." Judicial sale parcels are advertised "in one newspaper of general circulation within Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Law Reporter at least 30 days prior to the sale."
  • Both sale lists are dated PDFs the Bureau regenerates as parcels are paid off. The versions read for this record are the 2026 Upset Sale List as of 8/07/2026 and the 2026 Judicial Sale List as of 8/7/2026, and the county warns "property listings shown here may vary up until the day of the sale." The upset list shows an approximate sale price per parcel, grouped by municipality from Ambler and Bridgeport through Norristown and the townships. Work from the sale-type pages rather than a saved PDF link, because the file names carry the regeneration date.
  • The upset notice states delinquent taxes accrue interest at 9 percent per year, three quarters of one percent each month. That interest runs against the owner, not to a purchaser. Pennsylvania sells no tax lien certificates, so there is no interest-bearing instrument to buy in this county.
  • A record owner whose property sells is entitled to surplus proceeds above taxes, interest, penalties, costs and Commonwealth, municipal and government liens. The Bureau publishes an Outstanding Surplus Checks list on the department page.
  • A land bank formed under 68 Pa.C.S.A. 2101 may exercise a right to bid under 68 Pa.C.S.A. 2117(c). If it does, the judicial notice says the property "will not be offered for sale to others" and no other bids are accepted.
  • Delinquent parcel research runs through the county's online Delinquent Property Search and Online Payment application at webapp07.montcopa.org/taxclaim, which is a lookup and owner payment channel, not a bidding platform.
  • Older montcopa.org URLs and numeric montgomerycountypa.gov page IDs for the Tax Claim Bureau still circulate in search results. The current pages live under /departments/tax-claim-bureau.

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 Montgomery 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 Montgomery County hold tax deed sales?

Montgomery County holds its tax deed sale once a year. Judicial sale in August, upset sale in September, and both continued sales in December. 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 Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau, led by Jason E. Salus, listed as Treasurer and Director of Tax Claim, with William F. Caldwell as First Deputy Director. The Bureau runs all four Real Estate Tax Sale Law paths in the county: upset sale, private sale, judicial sale and repository. 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 Montgomery County tax sale list?

Montgomery County posts its tax sale list at montgomerycountypa.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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