Tax Claim Bureau

About & Responsibilities

The Tax Claim Bureau provides for the efficient collection of delinquent real estate taxes. The Bureau receives approximately 5,000 liens each year.

We are responsible for the collections of delinquent real estates taxes, maintaining records of collections; distributions of money received to the taxing bodies, and conduct tax sales.

Yearly Timetable

Year One:

• January 15th the Tax Claim Bureau receives returns from the tax collectors of all delinquent accounts.
• The Bureau sends out a "Notice of Claim" which notifies each property owner with delinquent taxes that a claim has been entered against the property. These notices are generally mailed in the spring of the year after the tax was due. The tax claim becomes "absolute" if it is not paid by December 31 of the year it was turned over to the Tax Claim Bureau.

Year Two:

• In June, the property owner will receive a "Notice of Sale" that the property will be advertised, posted, and sold. The sale will be held on the 2nd Monday of September (known as an Upset Sale). Properties sold at this sale include tax liens, tax liens of the Commonwealth, municipal claims, costs of the sale and costs of recording the deed. Any mortgages, liens and judgments are the responsibility of the buyer. A successful bidder shall be required to provide certification to the Bureau that within the municipal jurisdiction such person is not delinquent in paying real estate taxes or municipal liens owed to taxing bodies within Venango County.
• Properties not sold at the Upset Sale will then be offered at a Judicial Sale, which is freed and cleared of all tax and municipal claims, mortgages, liens and charges, and estates of whatever kind, except ground rents separately taxed. These sales transfer non-taxpaying properties back into the current tax rolls.
• After conducting and exposing a property to a Judicial Sale any property remaining unsold shall be placed in a Repository of Unsold Properties.