In Pennsylvania, a lender must file a complaint in mortgage foreclosure in court and obtain a judgment against a borrower prior to selling the borrower’s home at a sheriff’s sale. A foreclosure complaint would served upon the borrower and the borrower would be given twenty (20) days to respond. A complaint is typically served personally by sheriff and if the home is vacant, the lender can obtain the court’s permission to post notice of the foreclosure on the premises. If a foreclosure action is uncontested, a default judgment would be obtained. By contesting a foreclosure, the case would proceed to litigation.
Once a lender obtains a judgment, the lender would then file a Writ of Execution, which permits the lender to list the home for sale at a sheriff’s sale in order to satisfy the judgment. If the home is sold at a sheriff’s sale and the borrower remains on the property, the lender must then file an Action in Ejectment, also commonly referred to as an eviction. An Action if Ejectment is a completely separate action from the foreclosure action.
After the complaint in ejectment is served, the borrower has twenty (20) days to respond to the complaint. If the complaint for ejectment is uncontested, the lender would receive a default judgment and would contact the sheriff to schedule to actual date the ejectment would occur. The ejectment is typically scheduled within 30-90 days. However, if the ejectment action is contested by having the borrower or their attorney file an answer to the ejectment, a judicial hearing would be required.
An ejectment action is appropriate when a party purchases the property at a sheriff’s sale and becomes the real owner of the property. In order to support an action in ejectment, the lender must prove that they are the real owner of the property by establishing that they have recorded the deed giving them title to the property.
After the lender obtains a judgment on the ejectment, if the borrower remains on the property on the date of the ejectment, a moving company would seize the borrower’s personal property and place it in storage and a locksmith would change the locks to the property.
If you are facing ejectment after a foreclosure action has been filed, please feel free to contact us to see if you have any defenses available to you. We are foreclosure defense attorneys located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We primarily serve Lehigh, Northampton, and Monroe County. Call us at (610) 417-6345 for a free consultation.
Zachary Zawarski, Esq.