Forclosure and Judicial Tax Sale Question in PA

[Zach D.]

Hello All I Have an Interesting Question,

I was at a judicial tax sale today in PA. There was a property put up which was owned by a deceased person with no heirs or family and at time of death held a mortgage on the property. In addition I looked at the docket files for the property and the bank which held the mortgage had no trace of mailing being sent for notification of the tax sale. There was a copy of a letter that should have been sent but absolutelly no proof of mailing, no return slip, no unable to deliver return envelope, ECT. I asked the lady is there was anything else regarding this mailing and she said that is all there was and that the bank may have not have recieved it and I said well there is no proof of mailing to which she hesitently agreed and recommended I talk to my attornery.

My question is 2 fold:

1. Since there was no proof of the tax sale notification actually being sent to the bank would this essentially keep the mortgage live since there was no proof of notification.

2. The other thing I found strange regarding this matter is the property was not forclosed upon. The owner passed away in 2016 and the mortgage was taken out in 2009 and matured and 2029 and there was no satisfaction papers at the recorder of deeds. I assume since the owner had no heirs that noone paid the mortgage. Also an inspection of the priperty revealed that noone has lived there in some time the gas meter was gone and the weeds were high. Is a bank required to recieve signed certified letters or serve a person before they can forclose which in this case since there was no heirs would not be possible ?

I consulted my attorney about question #1 and she believed their issues may arise due to no actual proof of notification attempts with the bank.

Needless to say we did not buy the property because of the grey area’s but would like some clerification incase we run across something like this again.

Thanks Everyone!