Luzerne County tax sales

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Luzerne runs the bureau system in person and at volume: it held two upset exposures in 2026 (April and September) and a judicial sale in August, and it publishes a full repository sales policy, the most detailed in this set alongside Montgomery.

Selling office: Luzerne County Tax Claim Bureau, acting through Elite Revenue Solutions, LLC, as its agent. The Bureau sits at 20 North Pennsylvania Avenue, 3rd Floor, Wilkes-Barre.

Next event: Repository bids are open now; the 2026 sale cycle is complete (upset April 23 and September 24, judicial August 6, 2026). All three 2026 dated sales have run. The repository list on the Bureau site is headed October 1, 2026.

No published total for the 2026 lists was stated in the documents read. For scale from the matrix scan: Elite Revenue Solutions reported Luzerne's September 2026 upset sale took in $4.68 million from 143 properties, a county record, with 274 unsold parcels advancing toward a judicial sale in August 2027.

Dates and stages

Next event	Repository bids are open now; the 2026 sale cycle is complete (upset April 23 and September 24, judicial August 6, 2026)
Upset sale	September is the main upset sale; Luzerne also held an upset sale in April 2026 for unpaid 2023 and prior taxes. The 2026 upset sales ran Thursday, April 23 and Thursday, September 24, 2026, both at 10:00 AM.
Judicial sale	The 2026 judicial sale ran Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 10:00 AM, for parcels exposed at the 2025, 2024 and earlier upset sales.
Repository	Published: a Repository Sales Policy and a repository list on the Bureau site (list headed October 1, 2026). Minimum bids: $500 for unimproved parcels, $1,000 for parcels improved with a structure.
Format	In person: In person. The 2026 sale venue was King's College, Scandlon Physical Education Center, 150 North Main Street, Wilkes-Barre.
Selling office	Luzerne County Tax Claim Bureau, acting through Elite Revenue Solutions, LLC, as its agent. The Bureau sits at 20 North Pennsylvania Avenue, 3rd Floor, Wilkes-Barre.
The list	Notices, lists and the repository policy publish on the Bureau site (luzernecountytaxclaim.com). The September 2026 upset list is a parcel by parcel document in the 26-0001 sale number series.

Sources: Luzerne County Tax Claim Bureau, Repository Sales Policy (as of September 3, 2026). Luzerne County Tax Claim Bureau, Upset Sale Notice, April 23, 2026. 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 Luzerne 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 Luzerne 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 Luzerne County

Register in person, no less than 10 days before each sale, with the certification forms. For the September 24, 2026 upset sale, registration ran Monday, August 24, 2026 at 9:00 AM to Friday, September 11, 2026 at 4:00 PM, with a $50 non-refundable registration fee; only registered bidders may attend. For the August 6, 2026 judicial sale, registration and the $50 fee were due by Friday, July 24, 2026 at 4:00 PM.

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, Luzerne County	No pre-sale bidder deposit is stated in the 2026 notices; the $50 registration fee is the upfront money.
Payment, Luzerne County	Payment in full is due the day of sale: by 4:30 PM for the September upset sale, in cash, certified check or money order payable to Elite Revenue Solutions, LLC; the April upset notice set 4:00 PM. Judicial terms add transfer taxes and recording costs, due as soon as the sale is completed, in the same forms. Fail to tender full payment and the bid is nullified and the bidder is barred from future Luzerne tax sale bidding.
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

Luzerne's repository policy (current as of September 3, 2026) is a complete worked system. Bids are entertained beginning 5 days after the judicial sale. The bidder files a repository bid form and deposits a $100 non-refundable administrative processing fee, a $100 County Demo Rehab fee, and the full bid amount, by money order, cashier's check or other bank certified funds payable to Elite Revenue Solutions as agent (cash is also acceptable). The minimum bid is $500 for an unimproved parcel and $1,000 for a parcel with a structure. For 3 months after the judicial sale, bids may not be less than the judicial sale price; after that, the minimums apply. Every repository sale needs approval by the municipality, the school district, Luzerne County Council, and the Director of the Tax Claim Bureau, and the county states the process runs approximately 9 to 12 months from bid. Price that wait into any repository 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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