Transaction Coordinator in Philadelphia County, PA.

What we handle on a Philadelphia County file

Philadelphia is a city and a county at the same time, so one recorder, one transfer tax authority, and one code department govern the entire file. The transfer tax is the highest of any municipality in the five-county Philadelphia region, and the city publishes contradictory rates on its own website. There is no resale occupancy inspection here, but there is a certification the seller must buy that takes five business days, and that sets the floor on how fast a Philadelphia file can move. Once your deal is ratified, PLS builds and manages the file in KW Command, tracks every deadline and contingency, routes documents for signature, and coordinates with lender, title, attorneys, and the co-op agent. See the full transaction coordination service for the complete scope, and the Pennsylvania overview for statewide notes.

Realty transfer tax in Philadelphia County: 4.578%

Philadelphia charges 3.578 percent and the Commonwealth charges 1 percent, applied to the actual consideration. The tax is due when the deed is presented for recording, and payment is required within 30 days after the Department of Records receives it. Custom splits the tax evenly between buyer and seller, but that is custom and not law: the City may collect the entire amount from either party. The tax also reaches long-term leases of 30 years or more, easements, life estates, and entity transfers, and penalties run as high as 50 percent of the tax due. Property that is willed is exempt; property purchased from an estate is not.

Recording a deed in Philadelphia County

The Philadelphia Department of Records sits at City Hall, Room 111, 1400 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 215-686-2290. The current recording fee is $278.75 for a deed, from the fee schedule published March 27, 2025. Other common lines are a deed for a deceased spouse or partner at $43.75, a miscellaneous deed at $263.75, a mortgage at $248.75, a release or satisfaction at $231.75, and an environmental search at $80. E-recording is open to businesses only, through Simplifile, CSC eRecording, and ePN, and the Department publishes no turnaround commitment. Recording in person hands the original back at the counter, but three or more documents must be dropped off for later pickup. Counter hours are 8:00 to 3:30.

Philadelphia has no elected Recorder of Deeds: the Department of Records performs recording, and recording in person requires an appointment. Fees and taxes must be on separate checks, with the state tax payable to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the city tax plus recording fees payable to City of Philadelphia. No personal checks are accepted and cards carry a 3.5 percent convenience fee. Formatting is enforced: white 8.5 by 11 paper, 10 point black type, single sided, a 3 inch top margin on page one and 1 inch elsewhere, metes and bounds plus street address, a certified grantee address, and the city transfer tax certificate in duplicate.

What actually holds up a closing here

Philadelphia has no resale use and occupancy, it has a Property Sales Certification

The city states plainly that a Certificate of Occupancy is not required for existing one or two family homes, and not required where the owner, tenant, or residents have changed but the building use stays the same. A certificate of occupancy is only triggered by new construction, additions, alterations affecting exits or fire ratings, and change of use. What Philadelphia does require at sale is the Property Sales Certification, which applies to anyone selling any property in the city, commercial or residential. It costs $139, takes five business days to process, and discloses the zoning classification, the last established use in the zoning record, and any uncorrected violations of housing, building, safety, and fire ordinances. The seller gives it to the buyer at sale, so order it the day the agreement is executed rather than the week of settlement.

Two Philadelphia transfer tax rates circulate, and one has been dead since 2018

The correct figure is 3.578 percent to the City plus 1 percent to the Commonwealth, for 4.578 percent total, and the city states the multiplier as actual consideration times .04578. The same city page contradicts itself: under its pay-by-mail instructions it still says to send the City 3.278 percent of the sale price, which is the pre-2018 rate and was never updated. That single stale line is the source of most of the wrong Philadelphia numbers online. If a settlement statement, a competitor page, or a spreadsheet shows 3.278 percent or a total below 4.578 percent, it is running on a rate that has not been current for years.

Lead certification and rental suitability are landlord rules, not sale triggers

Philadelphia's lead certification requirement is written for landlords. The triggers are executing a new or renewed lease and getting or renewing a rental licence, not conveying title, so an ordinary owner-occupied sale does not require a city lead certification. The federal pre-1978 lead disclosure under TSCA Section 1018 still applies to the sale, but that is a federal rule and should not be described as a Philadelphia ordinance. The Certificate of Rental Suitability is likewise a rental document: it goes to the tenant before move-in, costs nothing, and cannot be issued while violation notices are outstanding. Conflating these three items with a sale requirement is one of the most common errors on Philadelphia closing checklists.

Pricing

Transaction coordination in Pennsylvania is billed per file, not as a monthly retainer. Contract to close is $400 per transaction, and the full rate card including dual agency, transaction licensee, FSBO, and listing management is published on our pricing page. No fixed overhead, no minimum volume.

Where these figures come from

The county-level figures on this page come from the official sources listed below. Municipal fees and deadlines come from each municipality's own published schedules and ordinances, which are revised more often than they are archived. We publish what we could verify and leave out what we could not. Fees and ordinances change; if you are relying on a figure here for a live file, confirm it with the issuing office, and tell us if you find a discrepancy so we can correct the page.

• City of Philadelphia, Realty Transfer Tax
• Philadelphia Department of Records, recording and service fees
• City of Philadelphia, record a deed or other document
• City of Philadelphia, get a Certificate of Occupancy
• City of Philadelphia, get a Property Sales Certification
• PA Department of Revenue, Realty Transfer Tax