Somerset County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Somerset County, seat of Somerset: 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 15, 2026.Tuesday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- The cut-off is Friday August 28, 2026, and the notice states: "NO registrations will be accepted after the cut-off date.
- County office
- (814) 445-1550
On this page
How Somerset County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Somerset County Tax Claim Bureau
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- The cut-off is Friday August 28, 2026, and the notice states: "NO registrations will be accepted after the cut-off date.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Pre-registration is mandatory and must be done in person at the Tax Claim Bureau. The 2026 notice states: "ALL Prospective Bidders will be required to pre-register between August 7-28, 2026, with the Tax Claim Bureau." The registration form requires the individual's name, address and phone number; a business bidder must also list all officers, business addresses and phone numbers plus all members, managers and any other person with an ownership interest in the entity. A $50.00 non-refundable registration fee is payable by money order, cashier's or treasurer's check, or credit or debit card. The cut-off is Friday August 28, 2026, and the notice states: "NO registrations will be accepted after the cut-off date. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!"
Sale format and venue
Somerset County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Somerset 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 Tax Sale Property Listings, 2026 upset sale parcels with upset prices by township (PDF) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Tax 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 Somerset County Tax Claim Bureau as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Somerset County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Tax Sale Property Listings, 2026 upset sale parcels with upset prices by township (PDF). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Pre-registration is mandatory and must be done in person at the Tax Claim Bureau. The 2026 notice states: "ALL Prospective Bidders will be required to pre-register between August 7-28, 2026, with the Tax Claim Bureau." The registration form requires the individual's name, address and phone number; a business bidder must also list all officers, business addresses and phone numbers plus all members, managers and any other person with an ownership interest in the entity. A $50.00 non-refundable registration fee is payable by money order, cashier's or treasurer's check, or credit or debit card. The cut-off is Friday August 28, 2026, and the notice states: "NO registrations will be accepted after the cut-off date. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!"
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
County notes
- The Bureau publishes a dated fee ladder for the year: notices mail in June and add $25 per parcel, with taxes due by July 13 to avoid posting and advertising; posting begins in July and adds $40 per parcel; advertisement runs August 7 in the Daily American, Tribune Democrat, Somerset Legal Journal and on the Tax Claim webpage, adding $30 per parcel. The 2026 sale clears unpaid 2024 delinquent real estate taxes.
- The upset sale is not a free and clear sale. The notice reads: "ALL SALES ARE FINAL. There shall be NO REDEMPTION OF ANY PROPERTY after the sale thereof. LET THE BUYER BEWARE." Buyers should run their own title work before bidding, because recorded mortgages and other liens survive the sale.
- The Bureau may stay a sale if the owner or a lien creditor enters an installment agreement with the Bureau before the sale, so the advertised list shrinks up to sale day.
- A repository list of parcels that went unsold at prior sales is published separately and is not auctioned. The Bureau asks buyers to contact the office to place an offer, and states that "Appointments are required for a bidder to come into the office and complete an Affidavit of Bidder form, submit the bid and transfer tax/recording fee money in the form of Certified Funds." At the time of review the list carried eight parcels in Quemahoning, Addison, Jenner, Meyersdale and Windber, with minimum bids from $905.27 to $2,368.87.
- The Bureau's current public materials schedule only the upset sale. Pennsylvania's Real Estate Tax Sale Law also allows a judicial sale for parcels unsold at upset, and Somerset has run judicial sales in past years, but no judicial sale date is posted for 2026. Contact the Bureau at (814) 445-1550 to ask whether one is being scheduled.
- Third party auction listing sites still carry archived pages advertising a Somerset County upset or judicial sale on an online bidding platform from earlier years. The Bureau's own 2026 notice sets the sale in person at the courthouse, so treat those listings as out of date and confirm the format with the office before making travel or bidding plans.
- Office hours are 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. The Bureau does not accept cash for delinquent taxes and takes credit or debit cards, certified funds, money orders and, with approval, personal checks. Lien certifications cost $10.00 per parcel, and the Bureau states it gives no information verbally by telephone, so send written requests. The Bureau also warns that fees and dates are subject to change without notice and that interest is applied on the first of every month.
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 Somerset County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Somerset County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Somerset 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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