We buy houses in Fayette County, PA

You pay past-due property tax at the Tax Claim Bureau, 2 West Main Street in Uniontown, 724-430-1208.

The Bureau runs three kinds of sale, all online through Bid4Assets:

• the upset sale each September, for homes at least two years behind
• the judicial or free and clear sale, held in June
• the repository list, for homes that still did not sell.

At the upset sale, mortgages, liens and judgments stay with the house. The opening bid covers back taxes, current taxes, town liens and costs.

Before any tax sale, state law says the Bureau must (72 P.S. 5860.602):

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

If no one bids the upset price, the Bureau can ask the court for a judicial sale (72 P.S. 5860.610).

The Bureau says owners who qualify can set up a payment plan before the sale. If your home is on the list, it asks you to call as soon as you can.

The 2026 county rate is 8.46448 mills in every town. A mill is $1 for each $1,000 of assessed value.

With town and 2025-26 school rates added, totals run from 24.69 mills in Springhill Township to 40.22 mills in Uniontown. By our math, $10,000 of assessed value in Uniontown costs about $402 a year.

When a deed is recorded, the Recorder collects realty transfer tax. It is 1% for the state and 1% local, so 2% in all (our math).

If the house is your main home, the homestead exclusion lowers your school tax. You must apply by March 1 for the next tax year.

For the 2025-26 school year, the county lists estimated relief from $180.20 in the Brownsville Area district to $396.98 in Southmoreland.

Fayette County's 2011 hazard plan calls sinking ground over old mines a big problem here. It says most of the county west of Chestnut Ridge sits over limestone, mines or both.

The plan warns that ground can sink more than 100 years after mining stops.

DEP's Mine Subsidence Insurance covers damage when old coal or clay mines collapse. DEP lists $150,000 of home coverage at $41.25 a year.

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

The same plan maps major floodplains along the Monongahela, Youghiogheny and Cheat Rivers and Redstone Creek.

Some farm and forest land is taxed on its use under Clean and Green. It takes at least 10 acres. If you take land out of the program, you may owe seven years of back taxes plus interest.

Pennsylvania DEP does not regulate private wells. We found no state rule that forces a water test before you sell.

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

• the system went in under the 10-acre permit exemption
• the lot uses a holding tank
• no public sewer is available to the lot.

Some homes are titled mobile or manufactured homes, hooked up to utilities and lived in. To sell one, PennDOT says you need a tax status certification from the county Tax Claim Bureau.

Any back taxes on the home must be paid in full before the title can change hands.