Sabbeth v. Tax Claim Bureau of Fulton County

In Sabbeth v. Tax Claim Bureau of Fulton County, 714 A.2d 514, 517-518 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998), a tax sale notice was sent by certified mail to the owner, and it was received by the owner more than 30 days before the sale. However, the letter sat unopened on the owner's desk for fifty-three days until the day of the sale. The Court held that the property owner had actual notice of the tax sale because, inter alia, she regularly visited her office where the unopened letter sat on her desk and she worked directly across the street from the property where notices of the impending tax sale were posted. Id. In Sabbeth the Court held that strict compliance with the statutory notice requirements is not required where the property owner has actual notice of the tax sale, which encompasses both express actual notice and implied actual notice. Stated otherwise, actual notice is "such notice as is positively proved to have been given to a party directly and personally, or such as he is presumed to have received personally because the evidence within his knowledge was sufficient to put him upon inquiry." Id. at 517.