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Pennsylvania foreclosure is primarily:

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Question & Answer

Review the question and all answer choices

A

Non-judicial

Non-judicial foreclosure (also called foreclosure by advertisement or trustee's sale) is used in states like California, Texas, and Georgia where deeds of trust contain a 'power of sale' clause β€” Pennsylvania does not use deeds of trust as its primary security instrument and does not permit non-judicial foreclosure for residential mortgages.

B

Judicial

Correct Answer
C

Strict foreclosure

Strict foreclosure is a historical remedy, still used in a small number of states like Connecticut and Vermont, where the court simply transfers title directly to the lender without a public sale if the borrower fails to pay the debt within a court-set deadline β€” Pennsylvania does not use strict foreclosure.

D

Power of sale

Power of sale is the mechanism that enables non-judicial foreclosure and is typically found as a clause in a deed of trust β€” since Pennsylvania uses mortgages (not deeds of trust) as its primary security instrument, power of sale foreclosure is not the standard process.

Why is this correct?

Pennsylvania requires judicial foreclosure under Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure 1141–1150, which mandate that a lender initiate foreclosure by filing a complaint in the Court of Common Pleas, obtaining a judgment of foreclosure, and then proceeding to a sheriff's sale. This court-supervised process protects borrowers by requiring proper notice, allowing them to raise defenses, and ensuring that the sale is conducted under judicial oversight. The entire process in Pennsylvania typically takes 9 to 18 months from the first missed payment to the sheriff's sale.

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