Tioga County, PA tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Tioga County, seat of Wellsboro: 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 18, 2026.Friday · 2026
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- September 8, 2026, by 4:30 p.m.
- County office
- 570-724-9219
On this page
How Tioga County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Tioga County Tax Claim Bureau
- Frequency
- annual
- Registration
- September 8, 2026, by 4:30 p.m.
- Sale list
- 2026 Upset Sale List
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Pre-registration is mandatory and closes 10 days before the sale under Act 33 of 2021. For 2026 the Bureau states the deadline is "September 8, 2026, by 4:30 p.m." and that registration opened July 27, 2026. Separate individual and corporation application forms are posted, and the applicant must sign an affidavit certifying no delinquent Pennsylvania real estate taxes, no municipal utility bills more than one year outstanding, and no uncorrected housing code violations in the prior three years. A limited liability company must list every member with name, address and phone number. The Bureau states "NO BIDDER REGISTRATION APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON THE DAY OF THE SALE". At the sale, a bid of $500 or less is paid in full when the property is struck down; for a bid above $500 a $500 deposit is due at strike down with the balance due by 3:30 p.m. the same day. Payment must be cash, cashier's check, certified check or money order payable to the Tioga County Tax Claim Bureau, and failure to pay the balance by 3:30 p.m. forfeits the $500 deposit.
Sale format and venue
Tioga County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Tioga 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 2026 Upset Sale List for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Upset sale scheduled for September 18, 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 Tioga County Tax Claim Bureau as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Tioga County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from 2026 Upset Sale List. 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 closes 10 days before the sale under Act 33 of 2021. For 2026 the Bureau states the deadline is "September 8, 2026, by 4:30 p.m." and that registration opened July 27, 2026. Separate individual and corporation application forms are posted, and the applicant must sign an affidavit certifying no delinquent Pennsylvania real estate taxes, no municipal utility bills more than one year outstanding, and no uncorrected housing code violations in the prior three years. A limited liability company must list every member with name, address and phone number. The Bureau states "NO BIDDER REGISTRATION APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON THE DAY OF THE SALE". At the sale, a bid of $500 or less is paid in full when the property is struck down; for a bid above $500 a $500 deposit is due at strike down with the balance due by 3:30 p.m. the same day. Payment must be cash, cashier's check, certified check or money order payable to the Tioga County Tax Claim Bureau, and failure to pay the balance by 3:30 p.m. forfeits the $500 deposit.
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
- Both the upset sale and the judicial sale are held on the same day, September 18, 2026, in the Main Courtroom on the second floor of the Tioga County Courthouse at 118 Main Street, Wellsboro. The judicial sale begins immediately after the upset sale closes.
- One registration covers both sales. The application asks the bidder to circle Upset Sale, Judicial Sale, or both, and the 2026 cutoff is September 8, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. with no walk-in registration on sale day.
- Bring settlement funds to the courtroom. A winning bid of $500 or less is due in full at strike down, and anything above $500 requires a $500 deposit at strike down with the balance by 3:30 p.m. that same day in cash, cashier's check, certified check or money order.
- The Bureau posts separate upset, judicial and repository lists plus a repository bid sheet, so unsold inventory stays available between annual sales.
- Office hours are 9 am to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Since September 1, 2013 the Bureau does not give tax information by phone unless the caller is the property owner, and written requests or a $5.00 certified amount are required instead.
- Tioga County, New York also holds tax foreclosure auctions through a private auctioneer. Those listings are a different county and should not be confused with the Pennsylvania sale.
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 Tioga County, Pennsylvania sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Tioga County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Tioga 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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