Northampton County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Northampton County, seat of Easton: 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 - September 24, 2026 at 1:00pm in Courtroom #1.Thursday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Registration is required before every sale under Act 33 of 2021.
- County office
- 610-829-6186
On this page
How Northampton County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Tax Claim Unit, Fiscal Affairs, County of Northampton
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Upset Sale - September 24, 2026 at 1:00pm in Courtroom #1.
- Registration
- Registration is required before every sale under Act 33 of 2021.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Registration is required before every sale under Act 33 of 2021. The county notice states that a person who intends to bid "must appear and register at the Bureau not less than 10 days before the scheduled upset sale or judicial sale", and set the 2026 judicial window as "REGISTRATION BEGINS MAY 4, 2026 THRU MAY 18, 2026. NO EXCEPTIONS". The county page adds: "REGISTRATION TO BID IS ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COURTHOUSE GOVERNMENT CENTER LOCATION AND NOT THE HUMAN SERVICES BLDG ON EMRICK BLVD." The application needs a bid registration form plus a bidder affidavit swearing the applicant owes no delinquent Pennsylvania real estate taxes, has no municipal utility bills more than a year outstanding, is not acting as agent for a barred bidder, and has no uncorrected housing code violation in the prior three years. Entities must list all officers, and limited liability companies must list every member, manager and other person with an ownership interest. Upset sale registration dates are published once the sale date is confirmed with the Court of Common Pleas.
Sale format and venue
Northampton County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Northampton 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 Judicial and upset sale lists plus bidder forms for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Upset Sale - September 24, 2026 at 1:00pm in Courtroom #1. 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 Tax Claim Unit, Fiscal Affairs, County of Northampton as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Northampton County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Judicial and upset sale lists plus bidder forms. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Registration is required before every sale under Act 33 of 2021. The county notice states that a person who intends to bid "must appear and register at the Bureau not less than 10 days before the scheduled upset sale or judicial sale", and set the 2026 judicial window as "REGISTRATION BEGINS MAY 4, 2026 THRU MAY 18, 2026. NO EXCEPTIONS". The county page adds: "REGISTRATION TO BID IS ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COURTHOUSE GOVERNMENT CENTER LOCATION AND NOT THE HUMAN SERVICES BLDG ON EMRICK BLVD." The application needs a bid registration form plus a bidder affidavit swearing the applicant owes no delinquent Pennsylvania real estate taxes, has no municipal utility bills more than a year outstanding, is not acting as agent for a barred bidder, and has no uncorrected housing code violation in the prior three years. Entities must list all officers, and limited liability companies must list every member, manager and other person with an ownership interest. Upset sale registration dates are published once the sale date is confirmed with the Court of Common Pleas.
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
County notes
- The judicial sale conditions sheet is headed "JUDICIAL SALE OF PROPERTIES BY THE TAX CLAIM UNIT, FISCAL AFFAIRS OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA", so the operating unit is the Tax Claim Unit inside Fiscal Affairs rather than a standalone bureau.
- The Fiscal Affairs contact list names Anthony Morris, Revenue Manager, at (610) 829-6186, Heather Yoder, Deputy Revenue Manager, at (610) 829-6199, and Bernadette Knecht, Tax Claim Specialist, at (610) 829-6188.
- The sale page lists Courtroom #1 for both sales while the judicial conditions sheet is headed "COUNTY COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT 1PM". Confirm the room with the office before travelling.
- The judicial sale list for May 27, 2026 shows parcels by municipality with an approximate judicial price, ranging from under $1,000 for vacant land in Forks Township to roughly $36,000 for Bangor Borough row properties.
- Owners are barred from bidding on their own property at judicial sale under section 618 of Act 542, and the bar extends to any partnership, corporation, trust or other entity that includes a person with an ownership interest in the parcel.
- Upset sale bidder forms and the upset list are posted closer to the September date. At the time of research only the judicial documents were linked, and the prior upset list was labelled as final as of 9/18/25.
- Third-party auction websites publish notice pages for Northampton County tax sales. The county itself names no online bidding platform, so treat any such listing as a notice rather than a place to bid, and register and bid at the courthouse.
- Sales are advertised in the Nazareth Key, the Morning Call and the Northampton County Reporter, with an extra advertisement at least 30 days before the judicial sale as section 612 requires.
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 Northampton County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Northampton County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Northampton 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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