Cambria County tax sales

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Cambria runs the broadest program in this set: the standard upset and judicial sales, a repository, and a standing Private Tax Sale that a bidder can trigger by putting a property on the list for $750. Every property sold at any of the four sale types carries the same flat $250 fee under Ordinance #5 of 2024, and both the private and judicial pipelines for 2027 close their request windows on December 18, 2026.

Selling office: Cambria County Tax Claim Bureau, 200 South Center Street, Ebensburg, PA 15931, phone 814-472-1445

Next event: March 2027 Private Sale (no exact day published; the deadline to bid properties into it is December 18, 2026). The Bureau also plans a Fall 2027 judicial sale, with the same December 18, 2026 deadline to request properties for it. The most recent dated sale was the judicial sale on Monday, October 12, 2026 in Courtroom #1, with bidder registration closed October 2, 2026.

The repository list is available in the Bureau office and on the Bureau website.

Dates and stages

Next event	March 2027 Private Sale (no exact day published; the deadline to bid properties into it is December 18, 2026)
Upset sale	Held each September on the first Monday after Labor Day. A property whose taxes are unpaid for two years sells for the amount due, to the highest bidder; an upset sale does not divest liens, mortgages or judgments. The purchase price plus costs is paid the day of sale by check or money order only. A continuance sale follows within 30 days, then confirmation nisi, a 30 day objection window, confirmation absolute, and the deed.
Judicial sale	The most recent judicial sale ran October 12, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom #1. A Fall 2027 judicial sale is planned; properties are requested into it by December 18, 2026, capped at 50 properties.
Repository	Properties offered at judicial sale that did not sell are placed in repository, at a starting price equal to the judicial starting price. The Bureau may convey on a bid without court approval or published notice; the municipality and school district then have 45 days to petition the Court of Common Pleas if they disapprove, and the deed records after the 45 days.
Format	In person. Bidder registration is in person as well, by the published deadline for each sale type, with no sale-day applications.
Selling office	Cambria County Tax Claim Bureau, 200 South Center Street, Ebensburg, PA 15931, phone 814-472-1445
The list	The repository list is available in the Bureau office and on the Bureau website; the judicial sale list was posted on the Bureau's main page with its sale notice. Upset sales are advertised in the Tribune Democrat, the Cambria County Legal Journal and the Mainline Newspaper.

Sources: Cambria County Tax Claim Bureau. Upset Sale Procedures. Repository Sale Procedures. Bidder Registration Information. 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 Cambria County parcels before you bid

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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 Cambria County

Every bidder completes an application and a notarized affidavit before each sale, submitted in person by the deadline, with a $20 non-refundable fee per application; photo ID is required on sale day to receive a bidder number. Windows: upset registration runs during August; judicial registration is a two week window ending at least 10 days before the sale; private sale registration runs with the original bid; repository registration is at the time of bid. No applications are taken after 4:00 p.m. on the last day or on sale day.

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, Cambria County	No bidder deposit is published. The money that gates Cambria's channels is the $20 registration fee, the $750 a bidder pays to place a property into a Private Sale, and the $250 per-property sale fee (Ordinance #5 of 2024) added to the costs of every property sold at an upset, judicial, private or repository sale.
Payment, Cambria County	Upset sale: the purchase price plus costs (realty transfer, recording, acknowledgment, deed preparation and demolition fund charges) is paid on the day of sale, by check or money order only. Detailed judicial and private sale payment terms are not published in the Bureau's fetched procedures, so none is stated here.
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

Cambria's repository starts where its judicial sale stopped: the starting price is the judicial starting price, and the Bureau may convey free and clear of the tax and municipal claims listed in the judicial petition, without court approval or published notice. Liens the petition missed, or recorded later, are not removed. The taxing districts are notified and hold a 45 day window to petition the court against the sale; the deed records once it passes. A bidder application and affidavit are required at the time of bid.

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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