Northumberland County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Northumberland County, seat of Sunbury: 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 25, 2026.Friday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- Pre-registration in person is mandatory for every sale.
- County office
- 570-988-4116
On this page
How Northumberland County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Northumberland County Tax Claim Bureau
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- Pre-registration in person is mandatory for every sale.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Pre-registration in person is mandatory for every sale. The Bureau states bidders are "REQUIRED to PRE-REGISTER IN PERSON with the Tax Claim Bureau at 399 Stadium Drive, 3rd floor, Sunbury, PA. Registration deadline is 4:00 pm ten days prior to the scheduled sale date. A non-refundable registration fee of $50.00 per bidder will be charged for each sale registration." The 2025 upset notice set the cutoff at 4:30 pm on Monday, September 8, 2025, and the 2026 calendar puts the upset registration deadline at September 15, 2026; the judicial registration deadline was June 9, 2026, "No exceptions." Valid photo identification is required, and "Anyone owing delinquent property taxes may not bid." No deed will be made into any corporation, partnership or LLC without proof of state filing and state certification, and a company must list all officers, members and managers at registration. Bidder Registration, Affidavit of Bidder and Conditions of Sale forms are posted on the upset, judicial and repository sale pages.
Sale format and venue
Northumberland County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Northumberland 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 sale notice, bidder registration forms and sold/unsold property lists for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Upset sale scheduled for September 25, 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 Northumberland County Tax Claim Bureau as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Northumberland County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Upset sale notice, bidder registration forms and sold/unsold property lists. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Pre-registration in person is mandatory for every sale. The Bureau states bidders are "REQUIRED to PRE-REGISTER IN PERSON with the Tax Claim Bureau at 399 Stadium Drive, 3rd floor, Sunbury, PA. Registration deadline is 4:00 pm ten days prior to the scheduled sale date. A non-refundable registration fee of $50.00 per bidder will be charged for each sale registration." The 2025 upset notice set the cutoff at 4:30 pm on Monday, September 8, 2025, and the 2026 calendar puts the upset registration deadline at September 15, 2026; the judicial registration deadline was June 9, 2026, "No exceptions." Valid photo identification is required, and "Anyone owing delinquent property taxes may not bid." No deed will be made into any corporation, partnership or LLC without proof of state filing and state certification, and a company must list all officers, members and managers at registration. Bidder Registration, Affidavit of Bidder and Conditions of Sale forms are posted on the upset, judicial and repository sale pages.
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
County notes
- Office hours are Monday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The fax number is 570-988-4268. Janel Barwick is the Tax Claim Bureau Director and Vincent V. Rovito, Jr., Esquire is the Tax Claim Solicitor.
- Checked August 9, 2026: the Upset Sale page still carried the September 18, 2025 sale notice while the county's 2026 Calendar of Events already listed the upset sale for September 25, 2026 and the registration deadline for September 15, 2026. Confirm the current date and the posted notice with the Bureau before travelling.
- Upset sale properties are advertised at least 30 days before the sale in the News Item, the Daily Item, the Milton Standard (shown as the Standard Journal on the county calendar) and the Northumberland County Legal Journal. The 2026 calendar sets upset sale publication for August 22, 2026 and judicial sale publication for May 16, 2026.
- Property exposed but not sold at the upset sale can also be bought by private sale. A written bid goes to the Tax Claim Bureau and then to the County Commissioners, bids are reviewed quarterly, and the Bureau estimates 3 to 6 months to complete. Private sale properties are sold subject to all liens and encumbrances.
- The county cites its statutory basis in its own notice: the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, Act of July 7, 1947, P.L. 1368, No. 542 (72 P.S. 5860-101 et seq.). The Bureau also quotes section 616, the mandatory judicial sale rule, on its sales page.
- Delinquent real estate taxes can be paid through the county's online tax claim portal linked from every Tax Claim Bureau page at tax.norrycopa.net/taxclaim/.
- Fee ladder from the 2026 calendar: a $25.00 bureau cost in January, a $10.00 mailing fee at the April 1 certified return and claim notice, a $75.00 preparation fee plus a $20.00 restricted certified mailing fee per deeded owner on June 1, a $51.00 posting cost on July 17, and a $125.00 advertising cost in August.
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 Northumberland County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Northumberland County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Northumberland 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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