Indiana Foreclosure Laws

Foreclosure Laws in Indiana

Foreclosure law in Indiana requires that all foreclosures are handled through judicial proceedings. The average foreclosure in Indiana takes about nine months to complete.

Under Indiana law, the lender is not required to issue the homeowner a Notice of Default before beginning the process of foreclosure, but some mortgages in the state may require such action. The foreclosure is initiated when the lender files the appropriate documents with the county clerk.

Depending on the date on which the mortgage in question was instated, the pre-foreclosure period varies. For most mortgages it is three months, but for some older mortgages, it can range anywhere from 6 to 12 months. If the property is abandoned, the pre-foreclosure period is waived. During this period, the homeowner has the ability to halt the sale by paying off the default debt owedto the lender.

The homeowner can also agree to waive the pre-foreclosure period altogether and allow the sale to proceed unhindered. However, this disallows the lender from filing any suits against the homeowner for any debt that is not satisfied by the sale of the property in question.

If the pre-foreclosure period expires without incident, the court will rule in favor of the lender and issue an order of sale, so that the sale proceeds of the property in question can be used to satisfy the outstanding debt. The date of the sale is decided upon by the court and county Sheriff.

The original homeowner can halt the foreclosure proceedings at any time prior to the day of the sale by paying off the debt owed and any applicable court or legal costs.

Before a sale can take place, the county Sheriff must arrange to have a Notice of Sale published once a week for three weeks, beginning no more than 30 days before the sale is scheduled to take place. The Sheriff must also have the Notice of Sale displayed in at least three public places, one of which must be the County Courthouse. The homeowner must also receive a copy of the Notice of Sale a certain time before the sale is scheduled to take place.

The foreclosure sale is held as a public auction, and the property is awarded to the highest bidder. The Sheriff then transfers ownership of the property to the winning bidder. If the sale must be postponed, another foreclosure sale request must be filed with the court and the process starts over from the beginning. The original homeowners retains no rights to redemption once a sale has completed.