Section 7106 - Municipal claims first lien; cities of first or second class, counties of second class or municipalities therein; docketing; judgment; execution(a)(1) All municipal claims, municipal liens, taxes, tax claims and tax liens which may hereafter be lawfully imposed or assessed on any property in this Commonwealth, and all such claims heretofore lawfully imposed or assessed within six months before the passage of this act and not yet liened, in the manner and to the extent hereinafter set forth, shall be and they are hereby declared to be a lien on said property, together with all charges, expenses, and fees incurred in the collection of any delinquent account, including reasonable attorney fees under subsection (a.1), added thereto for failure to pay promptly; and municipal claims and municipal liens shall arise when lawfully imposed and assessed and shall have priority to and be fully paid and satisfied out of the proceeds of any judicial sale of said property, before any other obligation, judgment, claim, lien, or estate with which the said property may become charged, or for which it may become liable, save and except only the costs of the sale and of the writ upon which it is made, and the taxes, tax claims and tax liens imposed or assessed upon said property.(2) A claim for property taxes that has been reduced to judgment shall be enforceable as a lien against real property in the same manner and to the same extent as a judgment for money under the generally applicable laws of this Commonwealth. For purposes of this clause, "reduced to judgment" means a claim rendered absolute under section 311 of the act of July 7, 1947 (P.L. 1368, No. 542), known as the "Real Estate Tax Sale Law," and those given the effect of a judgment in accordance with this act.(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when a judgment or lien under this section is reduced or satisfied by payment or a sale of the property, the judgment creditor shall notify the tax claim bureau or prothonotary where the original tax claim is docketed and shall enter the satisfaction in the office of the clerk of the court in the county where the judgment is outstanding. No tax claim shall be subject to additional interest as a result of enforcement as a judgment lien under clause (2).(4) A judgment lien under this subsection shall exist separate and apart from the tax lien.(5) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as affecting other remedies available to a municipality for collection of a tax or the priority or amount of a tax lien.(a.1) It is not the intent of this section to require owners to pay, or municipalities to sanction, inappropriate or unreasonable attorney fees, charges or expenses for routine functions. Attorney fees incurred in the collection of any delinquent account, including municipal claims, municipal liens, taxes, tax claims and tax liens, shall be in an amount sufficient to compensate attorneys undertaking collection and representation of a municipality or its assignee in any actions in law or equity involving claims arising under this act. A municipality by ordinance, or by resolution if the municipality is of a class which does not have the power to enact an ordinance, shall adopt the schedule of attorney fees. Where attorney fees are sought to be collected in connection with the collection of a delinquent account, including municipal claims, municipal liens, taxes, tax claims and tax liens, the owner may petition the court of common pleas in the county where the property subject to the municipal claim and lien, tax claim and lien or taxes is located to adjudicate the reasonableness of the attorney fees imposed. In the event that there is a challenge to the reasonableness of the attorney fees imposed in accordance with this section, the court shall consider, but not be limited to, the following: (1) The time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved and the skill requisite to properly undertake collection and representation of a municipality.(2) The customary charges of the members of the bar for similar services.(3) The amount of the delinquent account collected and the benefit to the municipality from the services.(4) The contingency or the certainty of the compensation.(a.2) Any time attorney fees are awarded pursuant to any provision of law, the municipality shall not be entitled to duplicate recovery of attorney fees under this section.(a.3)(1) At least thirty days prior to assessing or imposing attorney fees in connection with the collection of a delinquent account, including municipal claims, municipal liens, taxes, tax claims and tax liens, a municipality shall, by United States certified mail, return receipt requested, postage prepaid, mail to the owner the notice required by this subsection.(2) If within thirty days of mailing the notice in accordance with clause (1) the certified mail is refused or unclaimed or the return receipt is not received, then at least ten days prior to assessing or imposing attorney fees in connection with the collection of a delinquent account, a municipality shall, by United States first class mail, mail to the owner the notice required by this subsection.(3) The notice required by this subsection shall be mailed to the owner's last known post office address by virtue of the knowledge and information possessed by the municipality and by the county office responsible for assessments and revisions of taxes. It shall be the duty of the municipality to determine the owner's last post office address known to said collector and county assessment office.(4) The notice to the owner shall include the following:(i) A statement of the municipality's intent to impose or assess attorney fees within thirty days of mailing the notice pursuant to clause (1) or within ten days of the mailing of the notice pursuant to clause (2).(ii) The manner in which the imposition or assessment of attorney fees may be avoided by payment of the delinquent account.(b) With the exception of those claims which have been assigned, any municipal claim, municipal lien, tax, tax claim or tax lien, including interest, penalty and costs, imposed by a city of the first or second class or by a county of the second class or by a municipality therein, shall be a judgment only against the said property when the lien has been docketed by the prothonotary. The docketing of the lien shall be given the effect of a judgment against the said property only with respect to which the claim is filed as a lien. The prothonotary shall maintain an in rem index, the form and location of which shall be within the prothonotary's discretion. All tax claims, water rents or rates, lighting rates, power rates and sewer rates heretofore filed are hereby ratified, confirmed and made valid subsisting liens as of the date of their original filing.(c) A writ of execution may issue directly without prosecution to judgment of a writ of scire facias. Any property sold in execution shall be sold in compliance with the provisions of section 31.2.(d) Attorney fees may be imposed and collected in accordance with this section upon all taxes, tax claims, tax liens, municipal claims, municipal liens, writs of scire facias, judgments or executions filed on or after December 19, 1990.1923, May 16, P.L. 207, § 3. Amended 1963, Aug. 1, P.L. 439, § 1; 1990, Dec. 19, P.L. 1092, No. 199, § 1, imd. effective; 1996, Feb. 7, P.L. 1, No. 1, § 1, effective in 60 days; 2003, Aug. 14, P.L. 83, No. 20, § 2, retroactive effective Jan. 1, 1996; 2013, Nov. 27, P.L. 1075, No. 93, § 1, effective in 60 days [Jan. 27, 2014]; 2023, July 5, P.L. 22, No. 4, § 1, effective in 60 days [Sept. 5, 2023].