Selling a house in Pennsylvania: the paperwork

Every document a Pennsylvania sale commonly touches, who usually produces it, and the law behind it. In most sales the seller's own share is small, and this page shows you which part that usually is.

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18 documents · 12 questions · about a 9 minute read · free, and we don't ask for your email

5documents are usually the seller's

out of 18 in a Pennsylvania sale

Tell us about your sale

Answer what you know. Skip what you don't. Every answer takes something off your list or explains why it stays on.

The home

Was the home built before 1978?

Older homes carry a federal lead paint disclosure. It's the same in every state.

Is the home in an HOA, condo, or co-op?

The association has to produce a package, and they can take weeks. Worth knowing early.

Is the home on the water, or in a flood zone?

Waterfront and floodplain homes pick up extra disclosures in most states.

Are there solar panels?

Owned panels transfer with a warranty. Leased ones need the lease company's sign-off.

Is it a manufactured or mobile home?

These can still hold a vehicle title, which has to be retired before the land can transfer.

You and the title

Are you married?

Some states need a spouse's signature even when they're not on the title. Many don't.

Is the home owned by a trust, LLC, or company?

An entity needs paperwork showing who's allowed to sign for it.

Did you inherit the home, or is it in probate?

How the home came to you decides which deed you can sign.

Does anyone rent or live in the home besides you?

A lease and its deposit transfer with the sale, and the tenant has to be told.

Do you file U.S. taxes as a citizen or resident?

If you don't, the buyer has to hold back part of the price and send it to the IRS.

Will you be at the closing yourself?

Signing from a distance takes a power of attorney, and it has to be arranged early.

Its history

Are the mineral, oil, or gas rights separate from the land?

In some states these are sold off separately, and the deed has to say so.

Usually the seller's to produce

In most sales nobody else prepares these. Whether each one applies to you depends on your home, your title, and your buyer.

PAR PSAIn the PSA
Seller's Property Disclosure Statement (§ 7301)Pre-contract
Federal lead paint disclosure (pre-1978)Attached to PSAOn your list because was the home built before 1978
Philadelphia Ch. 6-800 lead disclosure + pamphlet (pre-1978 Philly)Attached to PSA
Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537) disclosure (on-lot)In the PSA

Usually drafted for you to sign

These commonly arrive already written. Read them, and ask about anything that looks wrong before you sign.

FIRPTA non-foreign affidavitClosing packet
Coal Notice (coal counties)In the PSA and in the deed

Usually somebody else's to prepare

Commonly handled by a title company, an attorney, a lender, or the county. Listed so none of them is a surprise.

General or special warranty deedClosing packet / Recorded post-close
REV-183 Statement of ValueFiled in duplicate with the deed
Settlement statement (ALTA / CD)Closing packet
Payoff statement(s)Closing packet
Title commitment / policyClosing packet
1099-SFiled post-close
Wire-fraud advisoryClosing packet
Philadelphia Property Sales CertificationMunicipal certificate pre-closing
UPCA / UCA resale certificate (HOA/condo)HOA packageOn your list because is the home in an hoa, condo, or co-op
Mortgage (buyer's loan)Recorded post-close
Mortgage satisfactionRecorded post-close

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How Pennsylvania generally runs a sale

The broad shape of a sale there, as the research found it. Counties and cities add their own rules on top of all of this.

Closing model — HybridTitle-company / escrow closing predominates statewide, but eastern PA (Philadelphia region) sees heavier attorney involvement while western PA (Pittsburgh) is more title-company-driven.

Property regime — Common-lawTenancy by the entirety is available and strong for married couples; property titled in both spouses' names during marriage is presumed held as TBE, shielding it from the individual creditor...

Homestead / spousal joinderNo dower or curtesy (abolished). No spousal joinder for solely-titled property; TBE property requires both signatures because both spouses hold title.

Standard deed typeGeneral warranty, special warranty, or quitclaim.

Disclosure regime — Statutory formReal Estate Seller Disclosure Law, 68 Pa.C.S. § 7301 et seq.; the Seller's Property Disclosure Statement's minimum content is mandated by regulation at 49 Pa.

Transfer tax — LayeredState 1% (72 P.S. § 8102-C) + typically 1% local (municipality and/or school district) = 2% common.

RON status — AuthorizedRevised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, 57 Pa.C.S. Ch. 3; RON effective October 29, 2020.

Recording act — Race-noticeunder 21 P.S. § 351 (a subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee or judgment creditor without actual or constructive notice who records first prevails).

Recording officeRecorder of Deeds in each of 67 counties.

Local overlaysPhiladelphia realty transfer tax; Philadelphia Property Sales Certification; Philadelphia lead-paint ordinance (Ch. 6-800, beyond federal); coal-county deed notices;

Other things Pennsylvania asks about

These come up in Pennsylvania and almost nowhere else. We don't ask them above because we can't answer them for you yet, but they're worth raising with your title company.

Is the property in a bituminous coal county (coal notice required)?
Philadelphia (4.578% tax; Property Sales Certification; Ch. 6-800 lead rights)?
On-lot sewage system (Act 537 disclosure)?
Historic district (Philadelphia / Pittsburgh)?

Before you rely on any of this

This is a compilation of published state requirements, not legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it or your sale. Laws and forms change, counties and cities add their own rules, and whether any of this applies to you depends on facts we don't know. Treat every item as a starting point for a question, not as an answer. Confirm anything you plan to rely on against the official source we link, and run your list past a title company or an attorney licensed in your state.

These counts describe a typical sale, not yours. Which documents you need turns on facts about your home, your title, your buyer, and your county, and one unusual answer can add several or remove them.

Who prepares each document is what usually happens, not a rule. Practice differs between states, between counties, and between one title company and the next, and your contract can move work from one side to the other.

Keighbor is not a real estate brokerage and does not represent you. Nobody here is your agent. We don't negotiate, set your price, recommend a course of action, or take a commission. We provide software that helps you organize your side of the sale.

The full Pennsylvania reference

The rest of the research, with every citation kept. This is the same material our own product is built on, and nothing is held back for paying customers. It describes the law as the research found it, not as it applies to your sale.

ALWAYS-required documents (every transaction)

PSA. Pennsylvania Association of Realtors (PAR) form (member) or attorney-drafted.
Deed. General or special warranty; grantor's signature notarized; recorded.
Seller's Property Disclosure Statement (68 Pa.C.S. § 7301 et seq.; content per 49 Pa. Code § 35.335a).
REV-183 Statement of Value (filed in duplicate with the deed; last revised February 2026).
Federal lead paint disclosure (pre-1978).
FIRPTA affidavit; 1099-S; wire-fraud advisory; payoff statements; ALTA settlement statement.

SOMETIMES-required documents (trigger-gated)

Spousal signature. TBE property requires both signatures; no separate dower or curtesy to release.
Property held in trust. Trustee's deed + certification of trust.
LLC / corp. Authorizing resolution / operating agreement.
POA. Recorded with the deed.
Foreign seller. No dedicated PA state nonresident real-estate withholding, but a nonresident may owe PA personal income tax (3.07% flat) on gain; Philadelphia may pursue school-income / high-value matters separately.
Inherited / probate. Fiduciary deed; letters testamentary; PA Inheritance Tax return (Rev-1500).
HOA / condo. Uniform Planned Community Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 5101 et seq., and Uniform Condominium Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 3101 et seq. — each requires a resale certificate.
Coal Notice (coal counties). Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act, 52 P.S. § 1406.1 et seq. See § 6 for mandatory language.
On-lot sewage. Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537) sales-contract disclosure, 35 P.S. § 750.7 / 25 Pa. Code Ch. 72 — a contract for a lot without available community sewage that omits the notice is unenforceable by the seller against the buyer (25 Pa. Code § 72.31(g)).
Mineral / oil-gas (major). Marcellus and Utica severed interests; Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act, 58 P.S. § 33.1 et seq.
Manufactured / mobile home. Affidavit of affixation.
Waterfront (Delaware / Susquehanna) / historic district / tenant-occupied / solar. Riders as applicable.

Prescribed-language items (substance-over-form)

Seller's Property Disclosure Statement — mandated minimum content, 49 Pa. Code § 35.335a (verbatim material-defect definition and section prompts).
Coal Notice, 52 P.S. § 1406.14. The grantor must certify whether structures are entitled to support from the underlying coal; if the grantor does not so certify, the grantee signs a NOTICE statement printed in a contrasting color, in no less than 12-point type, preceded by the word "Notice" in no less than 24-point type. Related coal/mineral-severance notice for severed-coal situations at 52 P.S. § 1551; title insurance/underwriting requires a search back to 1835 to confirm no severance.
Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537) notice language for lots without community sewage — e.g., "Sewage facilities are not available to serve this lot …" (35 P.S. § 750.7(b)(4.1)).
Federal lead paint verbatim Lead Warning Statement.

Local / municipal overlays

Philadelphia realty transfer tax: 3.578% city + 1% Commonwealth = 4.578% (effective July 1, 2025). At closing, expect separate checks to the City (3.578%) and Commonwealth (1%), plus recording fees; REV-183 filed in duplicate.
Philadelphia Property Sales Certification — required by Pennsylvania state law to sell any Philadelphia property (commercial or residential); it discloses the property's zoning classification, last established use, and uncorrected housing/building/safety/fire violations. A new Certificate of Occupancy is not required for an existing 1–2 family home when use is unchanged; the Certificate of Rental Suitability is a landlord-to-tenant document and doesn't apply to owner-occupied sales.
Philadelphia lead-paint ordinance (Philadelphia Code Ch. 6-800). For pre-1978 residential sales, the contract must give the buyer a 10-day period to obtain a comprehensive lead inspection or risk assessment (buyer's expense) and a right to terminate within 5 days of an adverse report with a full deposit refund; the seller must also provide the Philadelphia lead-hazard pamphlet.
Pittsburgh / Allegheny County distinct settlement practices.
Coal-county deed notices as above.

Notable examples only; not exhaustive.

Post-closing obligations

Recording. Deed with the county Recorder of Deeds.
Transfer tax. File REV-183 and pay transfer tax within 30 days of acquisition (Recorder may refuse to record without a proper SOV).
1099-S. Filed by closing agent.
Mortgage satisfaction. Recorded.
Capital gains / PA income tax. PA taxes gain as personal income at the 3.07% flat rate; nonresidents owe PA tax on PA-situs gain.
PA Inheritance Tax (if applicable) — separate filing.

Federal overlays (cross-reference)

Cross-reference master methodology § 8 (FIRPTA; 1099-S; federal lead paint; wire-fraud advisory; FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule and its 2026 vacatur — see § 10).

Recent changes flagged (2023–2026)

Philadelphia transfer tax increased July 1, 2025 — city portion 3.278% → 3.578%; total 4.278% → 4.578% (H.O.M.E. Plan funding).
RON established October 29, 2020 (stable).
Confirm the current REV-183 version (last updated February 2026) and county common-level-ratio (CLR) factors (updated annually each July 1).
FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule (31 CFR § 1031.320). Effective March 1, 2026; vacated nationwide March 19, 2026 in Flowers Title Companies, LLC v. Bessent, No. 6:25-cv-127-JDK (E.D. Tex.); reports not currently required pending appeal. DOJ is appealing; conflicting M.D. Fla. ruling — unsettled.

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