From an address to an owner
This direction is simple. Search the address or parcel ID, open the property, and the owner of record is at the top with the mailing address the county has on file.
It works the same on the county's Real Estate Portal, where the owner is on the General Information tab. Parcel Finder reads that page at the moment you open a property, so the two always agree.
The mailing address is worth a look. When it differs from the property's address, the owner probably lives somewhere else, which usually means a rental, a second home or an estate.
When the owner is a company
Many properties are held by an LLC or a trust, and the county record stops at that name. To find the people behind a Pennsylvania company, search for it in the Pennsylvania Department of State's business records, which list a registered office and sometimes the officers.
From a name to properties
You can't type a name into the county's free site and get a list of what that person owns. County Council passed an ordinance in November 2007 "eliminating the ability to access property assessment data by owner name." The county's open data follows the same rule and leaves owner names out.
Parcel Finder doesn't offer a name search either. There are two legitimate ways to do one.
The deed index, free
Deeds are public records kept by the county's Division of Real Estate, the office long known as the Recorder of Deeds. Its online index can be searched by name at no charge.
- Search the person or company as the buyer, called the grantee, to find what they acquired.
- Each result shows the deed's date, the municipality and its book and page, written like
DE/16544/152. - Paste that book and page into Parcel Finder to jump to the property.
The owner button on the map takes a name and opens the deed index with the search already run. If you do this often, the Map buttons add-on puts a link beside every deed in the results.
One caution. The index tells you what someone bought. It doesn't tell you whether they still own it, so open the property to check the current owner.
The county's subscription site, paid
The county sells access to a version of its real estate site that includes owner name search. The posted prices are a one-time registration fee of $100, then $50 a month plus hourly usage: $6 an hour on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and $1 an hour at other times. It is priced for people who search records for a living.
Use this fairly
Ownership records are public so that people can check who they are dealing with, settle boundary questions and research a purchase. Using them to harass or stalk someone is against this site's terms and may be against the law.
Sources
- Allegheny County Council: file 3478-07, the 2007 ordinance on owner name search
- Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center: property assessments, which notes that owner names are excluded
- Allegheny County: Subscription Real Estate Website, for prices
- Allegheny County deed search
Look up a property
More guides
- How to use the Allegheny County Real Estate Portal
- What a parcel ID is and how to find yours
- Assessed value versus market value in Allegheny County
- How to appeal your property assessment
- How Allegheny County property taxes work
- The homestead exclusion and senior tax relief
- How to look up a deed in Allegheny County