Colorado Foreclosure Laws

Most Colorado foreclosures are non-judicial or out-of-court foreclosures, although the state does allow judicial or in-court proceedings. A typical non-judicial foreclosure takes roughly six months and is handled by a public trustee. Judicial foreclosures are rarer and usually occur only when there is a dispute or problem requiring court intervention.

Pre-Foreclosure

A property goes into pre-foreclosure and the foreclosure process begins when the lender files a request to sell the property with the public trustee. In each county, the public trustee is either someone who has been elected or has been governor-appointed. A foreclosure auction can be scheduled after the public trustee has officially recorded the action to foreclose.

Once the auction has been scheduled, the lender is responsible for securing a court order that permits the sale. In order for this to happen, the court holds a hearing that includes all affected parties to consider the foreclosure. If there is no contest that the debtor is in default, the court may not require the hearing to permit the sale.

If the debtor wants to stop the foreclosure process, he or she must repay the default and any additional fees. He or she must also file their intention to pay off the debt and stop the foreclosure at least fifteen days before the scheduled auction. Once this intent is filed, the debtor has until the noon of the day before the auction to pay the money and stop the foreclosure.

Notice of Sale

About 110 to 125 days after the public trustee has recorded the foreclosure action, the auction can take place. For twelve weeks before the sale, the notice of sale must be published in a local newspaper. Also, the public trustee must mail the notice to the debtor.

The Auction

Most non-judicial foreclosure sales in Colorado take place in the local courthouse and are conducted by the public trustee. The public trustee reads out loud the lender's written bid. Since the auction is open to the public, anyone can bid on the property. If the winning bidder is not the lender, the bidder must provide the bid amount in the form of a cashier's check or cash to the public trustee. Once this happens, the bidder is provided with a certificate of purchase. There is no period of redemption in this type of out-of-court foreclosure process in Colorado.