We buy houses in Butler County, PA

The Tax Claim Bureau collects past-due real estate taxes for the county, towns and school districts.

On the second Monday of each September, the Bureau holds an upset sale of properties two years behind. The 2026 upset sale opened September 14 at 6 p.m. in the Government Center Annex.

Its notice says owners may not buy the property back after 10 a.m. on the sale date, or at all after the sale.

Before the sale, the Bureau must do three things (72 P.S. 5860.602):

• advertise at least 30 days ahead
• send certified mail to each owner at least 30 days before
• post the property at least 10 days before

Sometimes no one bids the upset price. Then the Bureau can ask the Court of Common Pleas for a judicial sale, free of mortgages and liens (72 P.S. 5860.610).

Whatever is still unsold goes on the Bureau's repository list.

For 2026 Butler County charges 27.626 mills:

• 21.775 for general purposes
• 2.916 for debt service
• 2.935 for Butler County Community College

A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value. So in Cranberry Township, every $10,000 of assessment costs about $1,872 a year at its combined 187.226 mills (our math).

Some bills are collected directly by the county treasurer. For those, paying March 1 to April 30 earns a 2% discount. Paying after June 30 adds a 10% penalty.

Pennsylvania charges a 1% realty transfer tax on the value of the property. The Recorder of Deeds collects it, along with any local transfer tax.

The City of Butler's own law sets a 1% local rate. It is cut in half whenever another body, such as a school district, taxes the same sale. Ask the Recorder for the combined rate where your house sits.

If the house is your main home, the homestead exclusion lowers your school tax. State gaming money pays for it.

Pennsylvania sets March 1 as the deadline to apply for the next tax year. You file the form with the county Assessment Office.

Butler County collected $2,553,247.91 in state impact fees on unconventional gas wells for the 2025 reporting year. The Butler Eagle's reading of PUC figures says that was the seventh-highest county total in Pennsylvania.

Your land may be under a gas lease, or the gas rights may have been split off from the surface years ago. Either way, a real estate attorney can confirm what passes with your deed.

Coal is part of the story too. A 1985 state geological report mapped the known strip and deep mining in Butler County. DEP has finished old mine cleanup projects here, including Kohlmeyer Corner West in Venango Township.

Sometimes the coal, or the right to support the surface, was split off. Then the deed and the sales agreement must carry a clear notice saying so (52 P.S. 1551).

DEP's Mine Subsidence Insurance program lets you check an address by ZIP code and town. A $150,000 policy costs $41.25 a year.

Pennsylvania DEP does not regulate private household wells. So no state rule forces a water test before you sell.

Septic is different. A sales contract must say so in any of these cases (25 Pa. Code 72.32):

• no community sewage system is available to the lot
• the lot is served by a holding tank
• the system went in under the 10-acre permit exemption

If a contract is missing those statements, the seller cannot enforce it.

You may be selling a titled mobile or manufactured home that is anchored for utility hookups and was lived in. If so, PennDOT requires a tax status certification from the county Tax Claim Bureau.

Any past-due real estate taxes on the home must be paid in full before the title transfer can be completed.