Blair County tax sales

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Blair publishes its whole season on one schedule, judicial in June and upset in September, and its conditions run strict: pre-registration weeks ahead, check-in closed before the sale starts, and every dollar paid by 3:00 p.m. on sale day or the bid is forfeited as liquidated damages. The Bureau also flags a local wrinkle, the Altoona Redevelopment Authority's land bank purchase right when no bid beats the upset price.

Selling office: Blair County Tax Claim Bureau, 423 Allegheny Street, Suite 143, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648, phone 814-317-2361

Next event: No dated sale is published; the 2026 schedule is complete and no 2027 dates are posted. The Bureau's published 2026 schedule ran a judicial sale on June 17, 2026 and the upset sale on September 16, 2026. Both are past, and the Bureau posts no 2027 dates.

The Bureau links a monthly Claim Notice Schedule and Fees document from its main page; no current parcel-level sale list is posted there.

Dates and stages

Next event	No dated sale is published; the 2026 schedule is complete and no 2027 dates are posted
Upset sale	Annual, for properties two or more years delinquent. The 2026 upset sale ran September 16, 2026; pre-registration ended September 4, 2026 and bidders had to be through security and checked in by 8:50 a.m. The winning bidder is also responsible for mortgages, judgments, non-tax liens, bureau costs and municipal liens, per the Bureau's FAQ.
Judicial sale	Properties not sold at upset become eligible. The Bureau runs a title search and notifies lienholders, and the property is sold divested of mortgages, judgments and liens by court order, with ground rents surviving. The 2026 judicial sale ran June 17, 2026; pre-registration ended June 5, 2026.
Repository	Properties not sold at judicial sale are placed in the repository, which the Bureau describes as a bank of unsold properties. The Bureau may take bids on repository parcels or negotiate a private sale from the list.
Format	In person. The Bureau's most recent published conditions (the 2025 Upset Sale Conditions) put the sale in the courthouse basement, with check-in from 8:00 to 8:55 a.m. and photo ID required.
Selling office	Blair County Tax Claim Bureau, 423 Allegheny Street, Suite 143, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648, phone 814-317-2361
The list	The Bureau's main page links a monthly Claim Notice Schedule and Fees. No current parcel-level sale list is posted on the Bureau pages, so none is linked here.

Sources: Blair County Tax Claim Bureau. Tax Claim Bureau FAQ. 2025 Upset Sale Conditions. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and owners can pay and stop a sale at any point before it starts.

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The three stages, and what title you get at each

Delinquent taxes go to the Tax Claim Bureau. When real estate taxes stay unpaid, the claims are returned to the county Tax Claim Bureau, which collects for the county, the municipality and the school district and runs the sales (Real Estate Tax Sale Law, 72 P.S. Section 5860.101 and following). Two counties in this set are outside the system by law: Philadelphia (a county of the first class) and Allegheny (second class). Their delinquent tax sales run through their sheriffs instead, and their pages say how.
Stage one: the upset sale. The bureau must schedule the upset sale no earlier than the second Monday of September and before October 1, and may continue it within the calendar year (Section 5860.601). The opening price is the upset price (Section 5860.605): the tax claims and interest, any other tax claims and judgments, all accrued taxes including the current year, municipal claims, and the record costs and costs of sale. No bid below the upset price can be accepted. An upset buyer takes the property subject to mortgages, liens and ground rents that were not part of the upset price (Section 5860.609): the taxes are paid, the liens may not be.
Stage two: the judicial sale. What does not sell at upset can be exposed again at a judicial sale, which the bureau petitions the Court of Common Pleas to order (Sections 5860.610 and 5860.612). This is the prize of the system: a judicial sale conveys the property freed and cleared of all tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens, charges and estates, except separately taxed ground rents. Judicial lists draw the serious buyers precisely because the court order clears the title.
Stage three: the repository. What does not sell at judicial sale is placed in the repository for unsold properties, and the bureau must keep the list available to the public (Section 5860.626). At any time of year, the bureau may accept an offer of any price for a repository parcel, with the written consent of every taxing district where the property sits and without court approval (Section 5860.627). Repository deeds convey the same cleared title as judicial deeds, except separately taxed ground rents. Counties set their own minimum bids, forms and fees; each county page carries its own.
The owner's rights end at the sale. An owner can pay the claim and stop the process at any point before the sale, including by an installment agreement with the bureau. After an upset or judicial sale there is no redemption: the owner's remaining route is objections to the bureau's return in court, on the confirmation timetable in the terms table below. Philadelphia is the exception in this set: an owner-occupier there can redeem within nine months after the sheriff's deed is acknowledged (see the Philadelphia page).

How registration works in Blair County

Pre-registration is required before any Blair tax sale under Act 33 of 2021, and no late bidder is admitted after a sale starts. For the 2026 sales the windows closed June 5, 2026 (judicial) and September 4, 2026 (upset). Registration forms, individual and corporate versions, are linked from the Bureau page.

Registration closes early everywhere that matters. In the bureau counties, Pennsylvania law requires registration at least 10 days before the sale, and several counties in this set close weeks ahead or cap the room. Philadelphia's deposit deadline runs about a week ahead of its sale dates.
You certify you are clean. A bureau bidder certifies they owe no delinquent real estate taxes or municipal utility bills and are not bidding for someone who does. Philadelphia requires tax compliance proof at settlement instead.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Blair County	No deposit is stated in the Bureau's most recent published conditions (the 2025 Upset Sale Conditions, the newest conditions document the Bureau posts). The 2026 conditions were not published in the fetched documents, so no deposit is stated here.
Payment, Blair County	Per the Bureau's 2025 Upset Sale Conditions, the most recent it publishes: the winning bid plus fees is paid by money order or certified check only, one instrument per property, with everything paid before 3:00 p.m. on the day of sale; a bidder who fails loses the property and the bid is treated as liquidated damages. Charges on top: $25 deed preparation, $86.75 recording, and 2 percent realty transfer tax. The court confirms within 60 days and the deed follows in about four months.
What the upset price is	The upset price is the sum of the Commonwealth tax liens, the tax claim and interest on it, any other tax claim or tax judgment due with interest, all accrued taxes including taxes levied for the current year, municipal claims against the property, and the record costs and costs of sale (72 P.S. Section 5860.605). The bureau cannot accept a bid below it.
Title at an upset sale	An upset sale conveys title subject to every recorded obligation, claim, lien, estate, mortgage, ground rent and Commonwealth tax lien that was not included in the upset price (Section 5860.609). Paying the taxes does not clear the mortgage.
Title at judicial and repository sales	A judicial sale, ordered by the Court of Common Pleas, sells the property freed and cleared of all tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens, charges and estates, except separately taxed ground rents (Section 5860.612). A repository sale conveys the same cleared title (Section 5860.627).
Bidder registration (state law)	Act 33 of 2021 (Section 5860.501a) requires a bidder at an upset or judicial sale to appear in person and register with the bureau at least 10 days before the sale, and to certify they are not delinquent on real estate taxes or municipal utility bills and are not bidding for someone who is. Counties add their own fees, forms and earlier deadlines; the county version is in the registration section above. Philadelphia and Allegheny run sheriff sales instead and set their own bidder rules.
After the sale	In the bureau counties there is no redemption after the sale. The bureau files its consolidated return with the court within 60 days of the sale; the court confirms the sale nisi, and owners and lien creditors then have 30 days to file objections, limited to the regularity of the bureau's proceedings (Section 5860.607). Absolute confirmation follows if no objections are filed.

Repository: the year round list

Blair's repository is the Bureau's bank of properties that survived both the upset and judicial sales. The Bureau may take bids on them or negotiate a private sale, which makes the repository a standing channel rather than a dated event; the Bureau publishes no repository minimum bid or list in its fetched documents, so the terms of a repository bid start with the Bureau office.

Before you bid

Know which stage you are buying at. An upset price pays the taxes and leaves mortgages and liens standing; a judicial or repository deed clears them, except separately taxed ground rents. The cheapest parcel at the wrong stage is the expensive one.
Check the list again in sale week. Owners can pay and stop the process at any point before the sale, and lists shrink hard between posting and sale day.
Read the post sale rules before you bid, not after. In the bureau counties your protection is the court confirmation process; in Philadelphia it is the nine month owner-occupier redemption the buyer has to price in.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your resale or hold value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown.

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