Washington Foreclosure Law
Overview:
- Judicial Foreclosure: Available
- Non-Judicial Foreclosure: Available
- Security Instruments: Deed of Trust, Mortgage
- Timeline: Typically 120 days
- Right of Redemption: Rare, only in Judicial Foreclosure.
- Deficiency Judgments: Allowed
Lenders may use a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure procedure to foreclose deeds of trusts or mortgages in default.
Judicial Foreclosure (not common): Judicial foreclosure is used when no power of sale exists in the security instruments. Petitioners must file a lawsuit in order to obtain a court order to foreclose. It has been a general practice that when the court declares a foreclosure, the property will be auctioned off and will subsequently be awarded to the highest bidder.
Non-Judicial Foreclosure: Non-judicial foreclosure is used when a power of sale clause is expressed in the security instruments. “Power of Sale” is the process wherein the borrower agrees to sell the property in dispute to settle the remaining balance from a loan in case of default. Its most obvious difference from the judicial foreclosure is that it doesn’t need any court order to auction off the property as it is already stated in the security instruments. The lender or their duly designated representative, commonly referred to as the “trustee,” may execute the “power of sale”.
Power of Sale Guidelines:
- The notice of sale must be transmitted both by regular mail and by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the borrower at their last known address, and by regular mail to the attorney of record for the borrower, if any, not less than thirty (30) days prior to the day of sale.
A notice of the sale once a week, consecutively, for four (4) weeks, in any daily or weekly legal newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the property is located. Additionally, the notice must be posted in two public places, one of which must be the courthouse door, in the county where the sale is to take place for a period of not less than four weeks prior to the day of sale.
Said notice must contain the time and place of the foreclosure sale, the names of the parties to the deed, the date of the deed, recording information, a property description, the terms of the sale, and the borrowers rights (or lack of) redemption.
- The borrower has up to eleven (11) days before the sale stop the foreclosure process by paying the past due payments, plus expenses, including trustee and attorney fees.
- The sale must be made by auction between 9:00 am in the morning and 4:00 am in the afternoon at the courthouse door on Friday unless Friday is a legal holiday and then the sale must be held on the next following regular business day. The sale may not be conducted less than 190 days from the date of default and the highest bidder will receive a certificate of sale.
The sale may be postponed (not exceeding one (1) week next after the day appointed) by giving notice and by posting written notices of the adjournment under the notices of sale originally posted.
If the non-judicial foreclosure process is used by the lender, then it cannot sue for a deficiency judgment. On judicial foreclosure sales, the borrower can be sued for a deficiency, unless the property is found to be abandoned for six (6) months before the decree of foreclosure.
WASHINGTON FORECLOSURE LAW
The Washington State Foreclosure Law dictates that lenders may avail of the Judicial and Non-Judicial Foreclosure processes to foreclose deeds of trusts or mortgages in default, although the Judicial Foreclosure process is uncommon in the state. The typical time of process last about 120 days and the deeds of trust and mortgages are the security instruments used. Deficiency Judgments are allowed in Washington and the Right of Redemption can only be used in Judicial Foreclosure, but still happens very rarely.
Judicial foreclosure is used when no power of sale exists in the security instruments. Petitioners must file a lawsuit in order to obtain a court order to foreclose. It has been a general practice that when the court declares a foreclosure, the property will be auctioned off and will subsequently be awarded to the highest bidder. On the other hand, Non-Judicial Foreclosure is used when a power of sale clause is expressed in the security instruments. “Power of Sale” is the process wherein the borrower agrees to sell the property in dispute to settle the remaining balance from a loan in case of default. Its most obvious difference from the judicial foreclosure is that it doesn’t need any court order to auction off the property as it is already stated in the security instruments. The lender or their duly designated representative, commonly referred to as the “trustee,” may execute the “power of sale”.
Washington Foreclosure Law : Power of Sale Guidelines
- The notice of sale must be transmitted both by regular mail and by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the borrower at their last known address, and by regular mail to the attorney of record for the borrower, if any, not less than thirty (30) days prior to the day of sale. .
A notice of the sale once a week, consecutively, for four (4) weeks, in any daily or weekly legal newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the property is located. Additionally, the notice must be posted in two public places, one of which must be the courthouse door, in the county where the sale is to take place for a period of not less than four weeks prior to the day of sale.
Said notice must contain the time and place of the foreclosure sale, the names of the parties to the deed, the date of the deed, recording information, a property description, the terms of the sale, and the borrowers rights (or lack of) redemption.
- The borrower has up to eleven (11) days before the sale stop the foreclosure process by paying the past due payments, plus expenses, including trustee and attorney fees.
- The sale must be made by auction between 9:00 am in the morning and 4:00 am in the afternoon at the courthouse door on Friday unless Friday is a legal holiday and then the sale must be held on the next following regular business day. The sale may not be conducted less than 190 days from the date of default and the highest bidder will receive a certificate of sale.
The sale may be postponed (not exceeding one (1) week next after the day appointed) by giving notice and by posting written notices of the adjournment under the notices of sale originally posted.
If the non-judicial foreclosure process is used by the lender, then it cannot sue for a deficiency judgment. On judicial foreclosure sales, the borrower can be sued for a deficiency, unless the property is found to be abandoned for six (6) months before the decree of foreclosure.
Washington Local HUD
Seattle Regional Office
Seattle Federal Office Building
909 First Avenue, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98104-1000
Phone: (206) 220-5101
Toll-free: (877) 741-3281
Fax: (206) 220-5108
TTY: (206) 220-5254
Jurisdiction: Western Washington
Spokane Field Office
Thomas Foley U.S. Courthouse Building
920 West Riverside, Suite 588
Spokane, WA. 99201 Phone: (509) 368-3200
Fax: (509) 368-3209
TTY: (509) 368-3220
Jurisdiction: Eastern Washington
Washington Foreclosure Help
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