Land · Pennsylvania tax sale guide

Erie County tax sales

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Erie splits the ladder across two operators. The Tax Claim Bureau runs the upset sale online on GovEase, then unsold properties are turned over to a law firm for the judicial lien free sale, tentatively scheduled for early January 2027, with all judicial questions directed to MacDonald Illig at 814-870-7770. The repository then returns to the bureau as a first come, first served, in person $250 minimum bid process that halts bidding on a parcel once a bid is accepted for taxing authority review.

Selling office: Erie County Tax Claim Bureau, Erie County Courthouse, 140 West Sixth Street, Room 110, Erie, PA 16501, phone 814-451-6206. Repository bids are made in person at Room 110, 1st floor, Erie County Courthouse

Next event: Judicial Lien Free Tax Sale tentatively scheduled for early January 2027, handled by MacDonald Illig; repository bids are open now in the meantime, and the 2026 upset sale is complete (upset Monday, September 28, 2026). Determined from the official Tax Sales page read Nov 9, 2026, which schedules the 2026 upset sale on September 28, 2026, now past, states that unsold properties will be turned over to a law firm for possible exposure at the next Judicial Lien Free Tax Sale tentatively scheduled for early January 2027, and describes repository bidding as ongoing first come, first served in person bidding.

No official total is published for the repository list on the Tax Sales page read Nov 9, 2026.

Dates and stages

Sources: Tax Sales. 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.

Research Erie County parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcels, the date, and the opening terms. It does not give you the owner, the value, or the rest of the picture: liens, foreclosure status, and parcel history. PropertyRadar is the data platform for that layer. It carries owner records, assessed and market values, foreclosure and tax data, and property history for parcels across Erie County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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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 Erie County

For the upset sale, all bidders must pre-register online via GovEase at least ten days in advance, by 4:00 PM on Thursday, September 17, 2026, with no registrations accepted after that time and no registration on the morning of the sale. The registration fee is $60 per bidder, non-refundable, for a valid bid number. Bidder information is shared with municipalities, who may deny a bidder who fails to meet their qualifications, but may not unreasonably deny a bidder. Judicial registration is handled by MacDonald Illig, not the bureau, per the Tax Sales 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

Repository: the year round list

After the judicial sale is confirmed, unsold properties return to the Tax Claim Bureau as repository properties. The owner may not bid on their own property and there is no right of redemption. A bid is made in person at Room 110, Erie County Courthouse, 140 West Sixth Street, Erie, with both the Repository Letter of Intent and the Affidavit of Bidder (a notarized statement of no delinquent taxes or municipal utilities more than one year outstanding), plus a minimum bid of $250 in money order only, first come, first served. Before bidding, the bureau asks bidders to confirm no current bid exists on the parcel. Once the bureau accepts a bid, bidding on that parcel halts until all three taxing authorities, County, Municipal and School District, approve the bid in writing, a process that can take several months. If a bid is rejected the money order is returned or may be applied to another repository property. Transfer costs of 2 percent plus recording fees are at the new owner expense. No current list size is published on the Tax Sales page.

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.

Every Pennsylvania county in this set

One page per county, each verified against its own bureau, sheriff or platform source. Pennsylvania has 67 counties; this set is the top 30 by documented sale volume and population.

• Philadelphia tax sales
• Allegheny County tax sales
• Montgomery County tax sales
• Bucks County tax sales
• Delaware County tax sales
• Berks County tax sales
• Lehigh County tax sales
• Luzerne County tax sales
• Beaver County tax sales
• Schuylkill County tax sales
• Chester County tax sales
• Lancaster County tax sales
• York County tax sales
• Dauphin County tax sales
• Northampton County tax sales
• Erie County (this page)
• Lackawanna County tax sales
• Washington County tax sales
• Westmoreland County tax sales
• Butler County tax sales
• Cumberland County tax sales
• Monroe County tax sales
• Centre County tax sales
• Franklin County tax sales
• Lebanon County tax sales
• Cambria County tax sales
• Fayette County tax sales
• Blair County tax sales
• Lycoming County tax sales
• Mercer County tax sales

Keep going

Once a deadline puts you in a sale, the Land Investor Due Diligence Toolkit is the checklist and bid worksheet to run on each parcel before you bid. The same desk runs Florida tax deed sales and Texas tax sales, and the proven New York season, with the live membership, sits in the NY tax sale hub.