What a sheriff sale is
A sheriff sale is a public auction of real estate, held by the county sheriff to satisfy a court judgment. In Allegheny County, the Sheriff’s Office sells property in two kinds of cases: mortgage foreclosures, and claims for unpaid taxes, where it is “required to expose property to Sheriff Sale for non-payment of Allegheny County, Local Municipality and School District taxes” (Allegheny County Sheriff). The monthly sale lists label the tax cases “Sci Fa Sur Tax Lien.”
Every Pennsylvania county’s sheriff runs its own sales. If your house is in Westmoreland, Washington, Beaver, Butler, or Fayette County, check that county sheriff’s office for its schedule; the state court rules below apply everywhere.
When and where Allegheny County sales happen
- The schedule. Sales are held on the first Monday of each month, except September, when the sale is on the second Monday. When the Monday is a holiday, the sale moves to the next day (Allegheny County local rules, Rule 3129.2).
- Online. A court order in June 2020 directed that the August 3, 2020 sale “and all such monthly public sales thereafter shall be conducted virtually” (Court order AD 140 of 2020). Today the sale runs on Microsoft Teams for the lenders and registered bidders, and is live-streamed for the public. Bidders must register ahead of each sale (Virtual sheriff’s sale).
- The lists. The Sheriff’s Office posts each sale list on its website, with each property’s status: active, stayed, or postponed. Its lists, bid lists, postponements, and results are “generally updated bi-weekly” (Sheriff’s sales).
- The ads. Sale ads run in the Pittsburgh Legal Journal, which the court’s local rules make “the newspaper of this Court for the publication of legal notices,” and the Sheriff’s Office also links its ads in the New Pittsburgh Courier.
The notices before a sale
Pennsylvania’s court rules require several steps before a house can be sold:
- An affidavit. The lender or other plaintiff files an affidavit listing the owner, the other lienholders, and everyone else with an interest in the property (Pa.R.C.P. 3129.1).
- Handbills and written notice. Handbills go up at the sheriff’s office and “upon the property at least thirty days before the sale,” and written notice is served on the owner at least 30 days before the sale (Pa.R.C.P. 3129.2).
- Advertising. The sale is advertised “once a week for three successive weeks,” with the first ad “not less than twenty-one days before the date of sale.”
Postponements. A sale can be moved to a date within 130 days without new notice, if the new date is announced to the bidders. The plaintiff must file a notice of the continued sale at least 15 days before the new date, and if the plaintiff is not present at the sale, the property “shall not be sold” (Pa.R.C.P. 3129.3). A postponement beyond 130 days needs new notice.
What happens after the sale
- You can stay until the deed. The Sheriff’s notice tells owners: “You have the right to remain in the property until the full amount due is paid to the Sheriff and the Sheriff gives a deed to the buyer” (Sheriff sale notice packet). After that, a buyer must remove occupants “by legal processes” (Information for bidders).
- The schedule of distribution. Within 30 days of the sale, the sheriff files a schedule of how the money will be paid out. It is followed “unless written exceptions are filed… not later than ten (10) days after” it is filed (Pa.R.C.P. 3136).
- The sheriff’s deed. The sheriff signs the deed “at the expiration of twenty days but no later than 40 days after” the schedule is filed, and no court confirmation is needed (Pa.R.C.P. 3135).
- Challenging the sale. A petition to set the sale aside must be filed before the deed is delivered (Pa.R.C.P. 3132).
- Who gets the money. The sale money goes to the debts on the property in the order the schedule sets. The Sheriff’s notice tells owners, “You may be entitled to a share of the proceeds” if money is left over. Money nobody claims is held by the County Treasurer and may be turned over to the State Treasury (Unclaimed monies).
- Any remaining mortgage debt. If the lender buys the house and wants to collect the rest of the debt, it must petition the court to fix the house’s fair market value, and the owner gets credit for that value (42 Pa.C.S. § 8103). The petition is due within six months “following execution and delivery of the sheriff’s deed” (42 Pa.C.S. § 5522).
- No buying it back after a mortgage sale. The former owner generally cannot redeem a house sold at a mortgage foreclosure sheriff sale. As the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office puts it, “The Right of Redemption does not apply to any property sold at the Mortgage Foreclosure Sheriff Sale” (Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office). Tax sales are different.
Tax sales in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh
Most Pennsylvania counties sell tax-delinquent property under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, but that law excludes “counties of the first and second class” and the municipalities and school districts in them (Real Estate Tax Sale Law). Allegheny is Pennsylvania’s only second-class county (Unified Judicial System), so its tax claims go to sheriff sale as the “Sci Fa Sur Tax Lien” cases on the monthly lists.
Redemption after a tax sale. In a second-class county or city, the owner of a home they live in may redeem it “within three months from the date of the acknowledgment of the sheriff’s deed,” a period that Act 4 of 2023 shortened from nine months for sales held after it took effect. There is no redemption for vacant property, meaning a home the same person or family has not lived in for at least 90 days before the sale (Act 4 of 2023).
City of Pittsburgh Treasurer’s sales are separate from sheriff sales. The Sheriff’s Office refers questions about them to the City Treasurer at 412-255-2300. Under the city’s rules, the former owner may redeem within 90 days from the date of the sale, with an added payment to the buyer (City of Pittsburgh).
How an owner can stop or avoid a sheriff sale
- Catch up on the loan. For a residential mortgage covered by Act 6, which in 2026 means an original loan of $329,411 or less on a property with two or fewer units, the owner can cure the default “at any time at least one hour prior to the commencement of bidding,” but “not more than three times in any calendar year” (41 P.S. § 404; Department of Banking and Securities). The Sheriff’s notice says the sale “will be cancelled if you pay to the mortgagee the Back payments, late charges, costs and reasonable attorneys Fees due.”
- Apply for loss mitigation. If your servicer receives a complete application “more than 37 days before a foreclosure sale,” it may not hold the sale while the application is pending, with some exceptions (12 CFR 1024.41).
- Use the court’s conciliation program. For owner-occupied homes with four or fewer units, the Save Your Home Program “provides a 90-day stay of Sheriff Sale proceedings” for owners who attend counseling and conciliation (Allegheny County Sheriff; Court of Common Pleas). Call 1-866-298-8020.
- Bankruptcy. A bankruptcy filing “operates as a stay” of actions to enforce liens, including a sheriff sale (11 U.S.C. § 362). The stay is limited for people with a recent dismissed case; talk with a bankruptcy attorney first.
- A petition to the court. The Sheriff’s notice lists petitions to open or strike the judgment or to stay the sale. These are filed with the court, usually by an attorney.
- Sell the house first. The Federal Trade Commission notes that “selling your home may get you the money you need to pay off your whole mortgage” (FTC). Ask the lender’s attorney for a payoff figure early, because a closing takes time to arrange. Our guide to selling a house in foreclosure walks through it.
Our guide to the foreclosure process in Pennsylvania covers the steps that come before a sale date, and how to stop foreclosure in Pennsylvania covers each option in detail.
Free help in Allegheny County
- Save Your Home Hotline, for the court’s conciliation program: 1-866-298-8020.
- The Sheriff’s Mortgage Foreclosure Hotline: 412-350-4704. Its operators do not give legal advice.
- HUD-approved housing counselors, “often at little or no cost”: search the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s list.
- HEMAP, the state’s foreclosure-prevention loan, through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency: 1-800-342-2397.
- Neighborhood Legal Services, 928 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh: 412-255-6700 or 1-866-761-6572.
- Allegheny County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service: 412-261-5555.