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A00379
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
264
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY HEFFLEY, WHEELAND, STRUZZI AND CIRESI,
JANUARY 26, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, JANUARY 26, 2021
AN ACT
Amending the act of July 7, 1947 (P.L.1368, No.542), entitled
"An act amending, revising and consolidating the laws
relating to delinquent county, city, except of the first and
second class and second class A, borough, town, township,
school district, except of the first class and school
districts within cities of the second class A, and
institution district taxes, providing when, how and upon what
property, and to what extent liens shall be allowed for such
taxes, the return and entering of claims therefor; the
collection and adjudication of such claims, sales of real
property, including seated and unseated lands, subject to the
lien of such tax claims; the disposition of the proceeds
thereof, including State taxes and municipal claims recovered
and the redemption of property; providing for the discharge
and divestiture by certain tax sales of all estates in
property and of mortgages and liens on such property, and the
proceedings therefor; creating a Tax Claim Bureau in each
county, except counties of the first and second class, to act
as agent for taxing districts; defining its powers and
duties, including sales of property, the management of
property taken in sequestration, and the management, sale and
disposition of property heretofore sold to the county
commissioners, taxing districts and trustees at tax sales;
providing a method for the service of process and notices;
imposing duties on taxing districts and their officers and on
tax collectors, and certain expenses on counties and for
their reimbursement by taxing districts; and repealing
existing laws," adding provisions relating to bidder
registration before sale; and, in sale of property, further
providing for date of sale, for repurchase by owner, for
restrictions on purchases and for sale of property in
repository.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of July 7, 1947 (P.L.1368, No.542), known
as the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, is amended by adding an article
to read:
ARTICLE V-A
BIDDER REGISTRATION BEFORE SALE
Section 501-A. Duty to register.
(a) General rule.--A person that intends to bid at a
scheduled upset sale or judicial sale must appear and register
at the bureau not less than fourteen (14) ten (10) days before
the scheduled upset sale or judicial sale.
(b) Bids on multiple properties.--Except if a person intends
to bid on more than one property at scheduled sales conducted on
the same day in the same county, each time that a person intends
to bid at a scheduled sale, the person must comply with
subsection (a).
(c) Fee.--A county may establish a fee for filing an
application to register under this article.
Section 502-A. Application.
In order to register for a scheduled upset sale or judicial
sale, the person must submit an application that includes the
following information:
(1) If the applicant is an individual, the individual's
name, residential address and phone number.
(2) If the applicant is not an individual, the
applicant's name, including the name of all officers,
business address and phone number.
(3) If the applicant is a limited liability company, the
names, business addresses and phone numbers of all members,
managers and any other persons with any ownership interest or
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right in the limited liability company.
(4) An affidavit stating that the applicant:
(i) is not delinquent in paying real estate taxes to
any taxing district in this Commonwealth and that the
applicant has no municipal utility bills, as defined in
section 619.1(b), that are not more than one (1) year
outstanding anywhere in this Commonwealth;
(ii) is not bidding for or acting as an agent for a
person who is barred from participating in the sale under
section 601(d);
(iii) has not, within the three (3) years preceding
the filing of the application, engaged in a course of
conduct or permitted an uncorrected housing code
violation, as defined in section 619(e), to continue
unabated after being convicted of an uncorrected housing
code violation, as defined in section 619(e), and has not
either:
(A) failed to maintain property owned by the
applicant in a reasonable manner such that the
property posed a threat to health, safety or
property; or
(B) permitted the use of property in an unsafe,
illegal or unsanitary manner such that the property
posed a threat to health, safety or property ; and
(iv) understands that an applicant who signs a
bidder registration application knowing that it contains
a false statement and who causes it to be filed with the
bureau shall be subject to prosecution for the commission
of a misdemeanor of the second degree in violation of 18
Pa.C.S. § 4904(a) (relating to unsworn falsification to
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authorities).
(5) If the applicant is not an individual, the applicant
must include documentation that the signer has the authority
to act on behalf of the applicant, and the individual
appearing in person to register, as required under section
501-A(a), is the signer of the application or otherwise
authorized to act on behalf of the applicant.
Section 503-A. List of registered bidders.
A bureau shall provide a list of completed applications
received under section 502-A to all municipalities by mail,
email or facsimile within the county at least seven (7) five (5)
days prior to the upset sale or judicial sale. The list shall
provide the name, address and phone number of the applicant. For
registered bidders that are not individuals, the bureau shall
provide to all municipalities the names, business addresses and
phone numbers of all officers, members, managers and any other
persons with an ownership interest or right in the applicant as
disclosed in the application.
Section 2. Sections 601(d), 618 heading, (a) and (c), 619(b)
and 627(a) of the act are amended to read:
Section 601. Date of Sale.--* * *
(d) No individual whose landlord license has been revoked in
a municipality pursuant to its ordinance may purchase property
in the county in which the local municipality is located at a
tax sale under this act. [Every person bidding for property to
be sold at a tax sale under this act must certify that they are
not bidding for or acting as an agent for a person who is barred
from participating in a sale under this subsection.] Pursuant to
this subsection, a municipality shall furnish to the county in
which such municipality is located, within forty-eight (48)
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hours in advance of a tax sale, documentation relating to
landlord license revocations pursuant to municipal ordinance.
* * *
Section 618. Repurchase by Owner and Immediate Family
Members.--(a) The owner and immediate family members of the
owner shall have no right to purchase [his own] the owner's
property at a judicial sale, a private sale or from the bureau's
repository for unsold property under the provisions of this act.
* * *
(c) For the purpose of this section ["owner"]:
"Owner" means any individual, partner, shareholder, trust,
partnership, limited partnership, corporation or any other
business association or any trust, partnership, limited
partnership, corporation or any other business association that
has any individual as part of the business association who had
any ownership interest or rights in the property.
Section 619. Restrictions on Purchases.--* * *
(b) A municipality may, within fifteen (15) days [of] before
or after any sale held under subarticle (b) of Article VI,
petition the court of common pleas to prohibit the transfer of
any deed for any property exposed for any sale under subarticle
(b) of Article VI which is located in that municipality to any
purchaser who is proven to meet any of the criteria set forth in
the municipality's petition.
* * *
Section 627. Sale of Property in Repository.--(a) The
bureau may, with the written consent of all the taxing districts
where the property is located, establish a minimum purchase
price and accept an offer of any price equal to or greater than
the minimum purchase price for property placed in the
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"repository for unsold properties" without court approval and
published notice of sale. The bureau shall require, as a
condition of sale, that the purchaser provide an affidavit that
includes the information specified under section 502-A . Any
taxing district may not unreasonably withhold its consent to the
sale of the property[.] and, if no consent is provided within
sixty (60) days of the date notice was received by the taxing
district , it shall be deemed that the taxing district consents
to the sale of the property. As a condition of its consent, a
taxing district may require that the purchaser:
(1) appear in person before the governing body of the
taxing district charged with reviewing repository bids; and
(2) provide all of the information required under
section 502-A.
* * *
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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