What foreclosure is
Foreclosure is the legal process a lender uses to sell a house to recover a mortgage the owner has stopped paying. In Pennsylvania, a mortgage foreclosure is a court case, and “the procedure in the action shall be in accordance with the rules relating to civil action” (Pa.R.C.P. 1141). The lender cannot sell the house until a court enters a judgment.
The case is about the house itself. The same rule says a foreclosure action “shall not include an action to enforce a personal liability,” so collecting any balance left after the sale is a separate step with its own deadline (Step 6).
Step 1: Missed payments and the 120-day rule
Federal rules give homeowners time before a foreclosure can start. A mortgage servicer generally “shall not make the first notice or filing required by applicable law” until the loan is “more than 120 days delinquent” (12 CFR 1024.41).
The same rule protects owners who apply for help. If the servicer receives a complete loss mitigation application, for example for a loan modification, “more than 37 days before a foreclosure sale,” it may not move for judgment or hold the sale until it has decided the application and the owner has had a chance to respond. The rule has exceptions, and small servicers follow a narrower version of it, so ask your servicer in writing how it applies to your loan.
Step 2: The Act 91 or Act 6 notice
Before suing, the lender must send a written warning.
The Act 91 notice covers most loans on an owner-occupied one- or two-family home that is the owner’s principal residence (Act 91, Article IV-C). It goes out once the owner is at least 60 days behind and at least 30 days before the lender demands the full balance or sues. It must:
- tell the owner they may qualify for the Homeowner’s Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP);
- list a local consumer credit counseling agency, with its phone number and address;
- itemize the past-due amount; and
- give the owner “thirty (30) days, plus three (3) days for mailing, to have a face-to-face meeting with a consumer credit counseling agency.”
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency puts the deadline as “within 33 days from the date of your Act 91 Notice.” HEMAP “is a loan program to prevent foreclosure. It is not a grant.” It can help with up to $60,000, and FHA-insured loans are not eligible (PHFA). While an application filed on time is pending, no foreclosure may begin.
The Act 6 notice covers residential mortgages on property with two or fewer units, made to a person rather than a company, with an original principal at or below a base figure the state sets each year: $329,411 in 2026 (Department of Banking and Securities). It must be sent by registered or certified mail “at least thirty days in advance” of the lawsuit (41 P.S. § 403).
When a loan falls under both laws, the Act 91 notice includes the Act 6 information and replaces the separate notice. A loan covered only by Act 6, such as an FHA loan, gets its own Act 6 notice.
Step 3: The foreclosure complaint
The lender files a complaint in mortgage foreclosure in the Court of Common Pleas. It names the borrower and the current owner, states the default specifically, and itemizes the amount due (Pa.R.C.P. 1147). In Allegheny County, it is filed in the Civil Division and gets an “MG” docket number.
The complaint comes with a notice to defend: “you must take action within twenty (20) days after this complaint and notice are served” (Pa.R.C.P. 1018.1).
Conciliation in Allegheny County. The Court of Common Pleas runs a mortgage foreclosure conciliation program, also called the Save Your Home Program, started by court order in 2009 (Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas). It is for owner-occupied homes with four or fewer units. The sheriff serves the complaint with an “Urgent Notice”; the homeowner calls the Save Your Home Hotline at 1-866-298-8020 and meets with a housing counseling agency; then a court order schedules a conciliation conference and “places a hold on the foreclosure proceedings.” The Sheriff’s Office describes it as “a 90-day stay of Sheriff Sale proceedings” (Allegheny County Sheriff).
Step 4: The judgment
The case ends in a judgment in one of two common ways:
- By default, if the owner does not respond. The lender must first send written notice “at least ten days prior” to asking for a default judgment (Pa.R.C.P. 237.1).
- By summary judgment, when the owner responds but “there is no genuine issue of any material fact” (Pa.R.C.P. 1035.2).
Step 5: The sheriff sale
“Judgment shall be enforced by a writ of execution” (Pa.R.C.P. 3180), which directs the sheriff to sell the house. Before the sale (Pa.R.C.P. 3129.2):
- handbills go up at the sheriff’s office and “upon the property at least thirty days before the sale”;
- written notice is served on the owner at least 30 days before the sale; and
- the sale is advertised “once a week for three successive weeks,” with the first notice at least 21 days before the sale.
A sale can be postponed to a date within 130 days without new notice (Pa.R.C.P. 3129.3). Our guide to sheriff sales in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County covers how the sale itself works.
Step 6: After the sale
- Staying in the house. The Allegheny County Sheriff’s notice tells owners: “You have the right to remain in the property until the full amount due is paid to the Sheriff and the Sheriff gives a deed to the buyer.” After that, a buyer who wants the occupants out must use legal proceedings (Allegheny County Sheriff).
- Challenging the sale. A petition to set the sale aside must be filed before the sheriff’s deed is delivered (Pa.R.C.P. 3132).
- The sheriff’s deed. The deed is signed no sooner than 20 days and no later than 40 days after the sheriff files the schedule of distribution, and “confirmation of the sale by the court shall not be required” (Pa.R.C.P. 3135).
- No buying it back. Once the house is sold at a mortgage foreclosure sheriff sale, the former owner generally cannot redeem it. As the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office puts it, “The Right of Redemption does not apply to any property sold at the Mortgage Foreclosure Sheriff Sale” (Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office).
- Any remaining debt. If the lender buys the house at the sale and wants to collect the rest of the debt, it must petition the court to fix the house’s fair market value, and the owner gets credit for that value (42 Pa.C.S. § 8103). The petition is due within six months “following execution and delivery of the sheriff’s deed” (42 Pa.C.S. § 5522). If the lender misses the deadline, the owner can ask the court to mark the judgment satisfied.
How long foreclosure takes in Pennsylvania
No Pennsylvania court publishes an average length for foreclosure cases. The rules above set the minimums: more than 120 days of missed payments before the first filing, at least 30 days after the warning notice, 20 days to answer the complaint, and at least 30 days of notice before the sale. Conciliation, a pending loss mitigation application, and postponements of up to 130 days at a time each add more. Nationally, homes foreclosed in the second quarter of 2026 had been in the process an average of 563 days, according to the property data firm ATTOM; it does not report a Pennsylvania figure. Our guide to how long foreclosure takes in Pennsylvania breaks the timeline down stage by stage.
Ways to stop or avoid a foreclosure
Our guide on how to stop foreclosure in Pennsylvania covers each of these in detail.
- Catch up on the loan. For loans covered by Act 6, the owner can cure the default by paying what is past due, plus reasonable fees, costs, and late charges, “at any time at least one hour prior to the commencement of bidding at a sheriff sale,” and “not more than three times in any calendar year.” A cure restores the owner “to the same position as if the default had not occurred” (41 P.S. § 404).
- Apply for loss mitigation with your servicer, as early as you can: the 37-day rule in Step 1 only protects applications that are complete in time.
- Apply for HEMAP within 33 days of the Act 91 notice, if your loan qualifies.
- Use conciliation in Allegheny County, if the house is your home.
- Bankruptcy. Filing a bankruptcy case “operates as a stay” of actions to enforce liens, which halts a foreclosure sale (11 U.S.C. § 362), and in a Chapter 13 case the owner may cure the default until the home “is sold at a foreclosure sale” (11 U.S.C. § 1322). The stay is limited for people with a recent dismissed case. Talk with a bankruptcy attorney before relying on it.
- Sell the house before the sale. Until the sheriff sale, you still own the house. The Federal Trade Commission notes that “selling your home may get you the money you need to pay off your whole mortgage” (FTC). A sale that pays off what is owed ends the foreclosure, and if the house is worth more than the debt, you keep the difference. See selling a house in foreclosure, or, if you owe more than the house is worth, short sales in Pennsylvania.
Free help in Allegheny County
- Save Your Home Hotline (the court’s conciliation program): 1-866-298-8020.
- Allegheny County Sheriff’s Mortgage Foreclosure Hotline: 412-350-4704, weekdays 9 to 11 am and 1 to 3 pm.
- HUD-approved housing counselors: search the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s counselor list.
- HEMAP at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency: 1-800-342-2397.
- Neighborhood Legal Services, free civil legal aid for eligible residents of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, and Lawrence counties: request help or call 1-866-761-6572.
- Allegheny County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service: 412-261-5555, at getapittsburghlawyer.com.
Watch for scams. The Federal Trade Commission warns that companies charging an upfront fee for mortgage relief are breaking the law, and that you should never sign your deed over to anyone who promises to save your home: “If you transfer the deed, you’re not likely to get it back” (FTC).