Notice of Foreclosure Sale

Produced by Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
Created July 2013

The bank * must:

  1. publish the date of the foreclosure auction in the newspaper, and
  2. send you a notice in the mail.

Publication of auction in newspaper

The bank must put a notice about the auction in a newspaper of ‘general circulation.’ This may be the local paper published in your town or it could be a larger regional paper.

The notice must be published once a week for 3 weeks in a row.

The first publication must be at least 21 days before the sale.

The notice will be in the ‘legal notice’ section of the paper.

The notice must give the date, time and place where they will hold the auction. It also includes details about the mortgage like when you took out the mortgage, who you borrowed the money from, when you borrowed it and a description of your property. Usually the description is the legal description on your deed , in your mortgage and your address.

Notice by mail

The bank must send you notice of the foreclosure auction in a certified or registered letter. They must send the letter at least 14 days before the foreclosure auction. The letter must state the date, time and location of the sale.

Note

Often the auction does not happen on the date in the notices. The auction is rescheduled. People call this “continuing. ” If the bank needs to reschedule the auction they must send someone to your property on the date and time originally the auction was scheduled. This person must announce out loud the new date for the auction. This is called postponed by ‘proclamation’.

The bank can hold the auction at the new time. They do not have to mail you a notice of the new sale date.

To check to see if your home was sold on the auction date, or if the auction was postponed by proclamation, phone the bank’s attorney.

Endnotes

* When we use the word 'bank' we mean your lender. This could be a mortgage company a trust or even a person.

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