Buckingham and Wrightstown share the rural spine of central Bucks County and give sellers opposite instructions. Buckingham’s own FAQ says no inspections and no new permits for a resale. Wrightstown wants a $300 occupancy permit with fire and building inspections, two weeks of notice, a post-closing deed registration, and, in a detail that says everything about small-township thoroughness, proof that your for-sale sign has this year’s permit.
Two townships, two answers
The municipal line between them runs through fields, not neighborhoods, so most sellers know which township they are in. What they often do not know is how different the paperwork is. The pattern rewards the same habit everywhere in Bucks County: confirm the rulebook from the township’s own documents the week you decide to sell.
The Buckingham side
The township’s building and zoning FAQ answers directly: no inspections or new U&O permits for existing homes being resold. Permits attach to construction work under the state code. The practical checklist for a Buckingham seller is therefore condition and records: well and septic documentation, permit history on additions and pools, and the property disclosure done carefully, because the buyer’s inspector is the only inspector.
The Wrightstown permit
- 01File the occupancy permit application with the $300 residential fee, payable to Wrightstown Township. The application covers both the fire and building inspections.
- 02Give two weeks notice. Code enforcement requires at least two weeks before the inspection date, and appointments are only scheduled after payment clears, so the fee and the calendar move together.
- 03Register the deed after closing. The registration takes the completed form, a copy of the full deed, $10, and a copy of the U&O certificate, with family transfers exempt from the certificate requirement.
The Pennsylvania money
Both townships sit at the standard 2% total realty transfer tax, customarily split, so the seller’s half on a $750,000 sale is $7,500. Pennsylvania withholds nothing at settlement, and long-tenured owners on these lots routinely clear the federal exclusion thresholds, $250,000 single, $500,000 married, which makes decades of improvement records genuinely valuable. The home-sale tax guide and the cost-to-sell guide carry the detail.
Getting started
The order here: a free valuation that prices land and outbuildings correctly, the Wrightstown application and fee in two weeks plus a buffer before settlement where it applies, and well, septic, and permit records assembled either way. The neighboring Doylestown guide covers the county seat, the Bucks County downsizing guide maps where sellers here land, and the sequencing guide settles the order of operations.