How tax sales, foreclosures and probate work in Chester County, PA

Overview

Not legal advice: check with a local real-estate attorney before you buy at a tax sale or sheriff sale.

The county is a patchwork. In the east, around Malvern, Paoli, Berwyn, Exton and West Chester, you find upscale suburbs, stone colonials, newer large homes and busy commercial corridors. In the middle, Phoenixville and Downingtown are river-and-rail towns that have been renewed, with older rowhouses and twin homes mixed with new townhouses. Coatesville, in the west, is a former steel city with much lower prices, older housing and more distress. Kennett Square, in the south, is mushroom country, with farms and a large working population. The south-west corner near Oxford and Parkesburg has farmland, small boroughs and a large Amish and Mennonite community. Much of the county in between is open land, horse farms, preserved farmland and large-lot estates.

Four things set Chester apart.

• Wealth, with pockets of strain. Most owners have large equity. Coatesville, parts of Phoenixville and some borough rowhouses have owners who are stretched.
• A lot of preserved and agricultural land. Conservation easements, Clean and Green assessments and township zoning shape what a parcel can become. A big parcel with a low assessment may carry "rollback" taxes if its use changes.
• Many local tax collectors. Each municipality and school district has its own collector. No one sees a whole balance in one place.
• Old assessments. Chester's last countywide reassessment is decades old. The assessed value tells you little about today's price. Ask the Assessment Office for the base year and the factor it uses to convert.

The law behind all of this is in the Pennsylvania state rules. This guide covers what is different in Chester.

LeadCounty does not cover Chester County yet. You can request it.

Reading the records: what you will see and what it means

Because LeadCounty does not cover this county yet, this section describes what Chester County's public offices publish and how to read it. It follows the same data points we show in other counties.

How a Chester tax bill works

Tax owed: who publishes what

Delinquent and years behind

Tax liens: school, municipal and Bureau

The upset sale and the judicial sale

Mortgage foreclosure signs

Pennsylvania requires an Act 91 notice before a lender can file (PHFA HEMAP). The lender then files a complaint with the Prothonotary in the Court of Common Pleas. After a judgment and a writ of execution, the Sheriff sells the property, usually monthly. See the state rules. Dates are postponed often.

Deeds, sale prices and ownership history

Value and equity

The assessed value is on an old base year. In Chester, a house valued at a few hundred thousand dollars in the assessment may sell for well over a million in the east. Use recent sales on the same street, and not the assessed value.

Owner type: person, LLC, trust, estate

Chester has family trusts, LLCs on rentals and on development parcels, and farm families holding land for generations. "Estate of" or "Heirs of" marks a death and a title that needs cleaning up.

Mailing address: absentee and out-of-state owners

A bill going elsewhere may mean a landlord, an heir or a second-home owner. Coatesville and Phoenixville have local small landlords. The rural south and west have heirs who live far away and own family land.

Code cases and vacant property

Code records are kept by each municipality and searched by address. Coatesville and Phoenixville have active programs. Rural townships publish little. Zoning and land development rules matter more here than elsewhere.

Useful combinations

• Delinquent + out-of-state mailing + older building: a landlord or heir who has stopped paying. Best chance of a flexible seller.
• Delinquent + homestead + owner for 30 years: a long-time resident in trouble. Most equity, most emotion. Tell them about payment agreements.
• Delinquent for two years + on the upset list: time is short.
• Large farm parcel + Clean and Green + estate: heirs who may need to sell. Check rollback taxes and easements.
• "Estate of" + a balance: the owner has died. Look for a case at the Register of Wills.
• Tax lien + school lien + low value (Coatesville): the debt may be near the value.
• Foreclosure complaint + long hold + high value: equity is probably large. A quick sale can leave cash.

Step by step: the tax timeline

1. School bill in summer. Most districts bill in July or August with an early discount, a face period and a penalty. Dates vary.
2. County and municipal bills early in the year. Same pattern.
3. Local collector. The elected collector keeps trying until the end of the year.
4. Returned to the Bureau. At the start of the next year, unpaid taxes pass to the Tax Claim Bureau, with interest and costs. Notices go by certified mail and the property is posted.
5. Payment agreement. Owners can often set one up and stop the sale. It ends if they miss a payment.
6. Upset sale. A property about two years behind can be sold, usually in the fall.
7. Judicial sale and repository. Unsold properties return for a judicial sale, which clears more liens, and then a repository.

Foreclosures and auctions

Pennsylvania is a judicial foreclosure state. The steps are in the Pennsylvania state rules: Act 91 notice, complaint, judgment, writ of execution and a Sheriff's sale.

• Sheriff's sales are usually monthly. The Sheriff posts a list. Dates are postponed often.
• Tax Claim sales. Check the Bureau's page for the current date and format.
• Free and clear? Neither sale clears everything the same way. A title company must check liens, ground rents and mortgages.
• Occupants. If someone is living there, the buyer goes through a court process.
• High-value sales. Large deposits and professional bidders are the norm in the east. The lender often bids.
• Coatesville and the boroughs. More rowhouses and twin homes, with tenants and deferred repairs.

Inherited homes and probate

When a Chester owner dies, the home goes through the Chester County Register of Wills in West Chester. The Register issues letters testamentary or letters of administration to the person who settles the estate. Only that person can sign. Disputes go to Orphans' Court.

• Family farms and old stone houses pass between generations, sometimes with unclear boundaries or old easements.
• Pennsylvania's inheritance tax is 0% for a spouse, 4.5% for children and grandchildren, 12% for siblings and 15% for others (see the state rules). On high-value homes, that is a lot of money, and it pushes heirs to sell.
• Medical Assistance claims can attach to the home of someone who received long-term care.
• Heirs often live out of state.
• Preserved land may be subject to an easement that limits what an heir can do.

Who publishes what (with links)

How to use this as an investor or wholesaler

• Early in the year. Taxes have just passed to the Bureau. Owners are most likely to listen.
• Summer. Before the fall upset sale, listed parcels need a plan.
• After a Sheriff's sale date is set. About a month remains.
• After an owner dies. Wait a respectful time.

1. Pull a short list with two or three signals.
2. Open the Bureau account and read the real balance.
3. Look at recent sales on the same street, not the assessed value.
4. Write a plain message: who you are, that you buy as-is. Mail first, then call.
5. Offer something real. With high equity, that may be a fair price and a quick close, or the information about a payment agreement.

Watch out for

• Not the City of Chester. That is Delaware County.
• Old assessments. Assessed value says little about today's price.
• Rollback taxes. Changing the use of Clean and Green land can trigger back taxes.
• Easements and zoning. Preserved land and township rules can block building.
• Liens that survive. Neither sale clears everything the same way. Use a title company.
• Dates move. A Sheriff's sale or upset list can change up to the last day.
• Wells and septic. Rural homes often have them, and repairs are costly.
• Old stone houses. Beautiful, but expensive to repair.
• Occupied homes. Removing occupants needs a court process.

Key dates