As-Is Home Buyer - Philadelphia County

The Office of Property Assessment determines what every piece of property within Philadelphia is worth, and the assessed dollar value is used to calculate the property's real estate tax due. OPA directs owners to property.phila.gov to search for an address or an OPA account number.

The City's Property Search site accepts an address, a city block, or an OPA/BRT account number, and shows assessed value, building description, square footage and sales history. Note that Property Search no longer allows searches by owner name, due to privacy concerns, so search by address instead.

The City directs owners to its Atlas tool or the L&I Property History lookup to search by address. Atlas gets the history of permits, licenses and inspections at any address and covers zoning boundaries and demolition and building permits. L&I record information is available online at no cost, although building plans are released only to the owner, an authorized agent, or someone with written permission.

Pennsylvania state law requires a Property Sales Certification to sell real estate in Philadelphia. It provides the property's zoning classification, the last established use in the zoning record, and disclosure of uncorrected violations of the housing, building, safety and fire ordinances. It applies to anyone selling any property in the city, commercial or residential, and processing takes five business days.

Payments are due and payable on March 31, and the Department of Revenue usually mails bills in December. Unpaid taxes accrue additions including interest at 1.5% per month from April 1. If they remain unpaid on January 1, a 15% maximum addition is added, the taxes are registered delinquent, liens are filed for the total delinquency, and the City can begin the process of selling the home at a sheriff sale.

The City states that title companies often need to resolve outstanding water liens or judgments before a property can be sold or refinanced, and that these pre-settlement requests are sometimes called water payoff requests. Completed forms should be emailed to [email protected] at least 30 days before settlement. A water settlement request does not replace a lien search by a title company.