Pennsylvania Foreclosure Laws

Pennsylvania Foreclosure Laws are judicial in nature, while no non-judicial foreclosures are accepted by the law. They are governed under PA. R.C.P. 1141-1164 (Actions to Foreclose a Mortgage), 3180-3183 (Judgments in Mortgage Foreclosure), and 8103 et seq (Deficiency Judgments). PA- Act 6 (Loan Interest & Protection Law) and PA Act 91 (Homeowners Emergency Assistance Act) are a few other statutory references in the Pennsylvania Foreclosure Law. It is generally noticed that the whole process of foreclosure, starting from the filing of the writ to the sale takes about two to four months time but can sometimes be longer.

According to the Pennsylvania Foreclosure Law, the lender should first send a statutory notice letter before filing for the foreclosure. A notice of intent can be issued by the lender to the defendant (borrower) if the borrower is at least sixty days behind in mortgage payments. The letter of intent also explains to the borrowers that unless the default has been covered up by the borrower within thirty days, the lender will proceed to court for the foreclosure proceedings. Prior to the filing of the complaint, the lenders are also required to undergo the process of title search, which takes around ten to twenty days.

Once the complaint is filed, the sheriff needs to serve it within thirty days of filing. The sheriff asks the defendants to file their response within twenty days of issuing of the notice. If there comes no response, the plaintiffs then, send a notice of ten days to the defendants explaining that if there is no response from the defendants, the judgment will go against them. Now the judgment to the complaint can be delayed if the defendant files for reasons or objection or both or even if he files for bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the judgment cannot be delayed for more than 90 days.

In case, however, if the defendants do not respond to the complaint or the ten-day notice, the judgment may be given for the proceeding of the foreclosure and sale of the property in question. To initiate the same, a Writ of Execution is passed and the date for the Sheriff sale is set. Now the defendants and the lien holders are issued a notice intimating them about the Sheriff sale and the date. This notice should be issued at least thirty days prior to the set date of the sheriff sale. The defendants can now take action and delay or reschedule the sale date by 100 days. However, for any further delay, the court must issue an order.

Before thirty days of the sale, the sheriff serves and puts up a notice in local newspapers regarding the upcoming sale. This notice appears for three weeks in the newspapers. On the due date, a public auction takes place overlooked by the sheriff himself. The defendant can stop the auction up to one hour before the bidding begins. If no action on behalf of the defendant is taken, the property is sold to the highest bidder. The sheriff takes over the responsibility of establishing the necessary documents for the sale including the transfer of ownership. Once the sale takes place, the borrowers have no right for redemption.