Lehigh County tax sales

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Lehigh runs the standard bureau system in person, with the judicial sale following the upset sale inside the same year, and a published repository list on the Bureau site.

Selling office: Lehigh County Tax Claim Bureau. Its sales are directed by Elite Revenue Solutions, agent for the Bureau, and the Bureau's own site is run by that agent.

Next event: Repository bids are open now; the 2026 sale cycle is complete (upset September 9, judicial October 21, 2026). Both 2026 dated sales have run. The Bureau posts final judicial results on its site; the live channel today is the repository.

A secondary analysis of the county list put the 2026 upset sale at 481 properties and about $6.74 million in total upset prices; the Bureau publishes no total itself. One tracker currently records 61 upcoming Lehigh parcels. Treat both figures as secondary.

Dates and stages

Next event	Repository bids are open now; the 2026 sale cycle is complete (upset September 9, judicial October 21, 2026)
Upset sale	September, in person, sold subject to existing liens. The 2026 Upset Price Sale ran Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 10:00 AM. The Bureau's notice fixes the owner's right to redeem as expiring on September 9, 2026: there is no right of redemption on the day of or after the auction.
Judicial sale	Follows the upset sale in the same year. The 2026 judicial sale ran Wednesday, October 21, 2026; final results are posted on the Bureau site.
Repository	Published on the Bureau site's Repository List page, with a Repository List Form. Properties unsold at the judicial sale are placed in the repository and may be sold without notice, with bids approved by all taxing districts (county, city, and school district).
Format	In person: In person at Cedar Crest College, Alumnae Hall, 100 College Drive, Allentown, for the upset sale.
Selling office	Lehigh County Tax Claim Bureau. Its sales are directed by Elite Revenue Solutions, agent for the Bureau, and the Bureau's own site is run by that agent.
The list	Lists and notices publish on the Bureau site (lehighcountytaxclaim.com), including the 2026 upset sale notice and the repository list.

Sources: Lehigh County Tax Claim Bureau, 2026 Upset Sale Notice. Lehigh County Tax Claim Bureau, Repository List. 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 Lehigh County

Registration must be completed in person, no less than 10 days before the sale, and there is no registration on the day of sale. For 2026 it opened Monday, August 10, 2026 at 8:00 AM and closed Friday, August 28, 2026 at 4:00 PM. Certification forms are required (not delinquent in Lehigh County real estate taxes or municipal utility bills, and not bidding for someone who is; plus the landlord licence certification). Bring one form of photo ID at registration and on sale day; only the registered bidder may use the bidder number.

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, Lehigh County	Immediately on the close of bidding for each parcel, the winner pays a deposit of $1,000 or the bid amount, whichever is higher, by certified funds, money order or cash to Elite Revenue Solutions, LLC.
Payment, Lehigh County	The balance is due by 4:00 PM on the day of the sale (for 2026, September 9), by certified funds, cash or credit card. Fail to pay and the bid is nullified, the deposit forfeited, the bidder barred from future sales for two consecutive years, and the parcel offered to the second highest bidder.
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

The Lehigh repository list is published on the Bureau site with a bid form. Repository properties may be sold without notice, and every bid must be approved by all taxing districts where the property is located. Because the 2026 judicial sale ran in October, the repository is at its freshest right now: the year's unsold judicial parcels have just landed in it.

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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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.

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