Idaho Foreclosure Laws

The majority of Idaho foreclosures are judicial trustee foreclosure proceedings. Most non-judicial foreclosures take about five months to complete.

Pre-Foreclosure

A lender begins foreclosure proceedings by sending a notice of default to the debtor. In addition, the lender is required to send the notice to any person who has asked to receive notice of default (often junior lien holders). The debtor then has a minimum of 115 days to pay the full amount due as well as any additional costs incurred by the lender. If the debtor does this, he or she stops the foreclosure proceedings. If he or she does not pay the amount required, the lender schedules an auction. The debtor generally has until the auction date to stop foreclosure, although this may vary depending on the specific clauses outlined in a mortgage or deed of trust.

Once the lender has sent a notice of default to the debtor, he or she also files the notice with the county recorder. Once this is done, the lender is allowed to proceed with organizing the foreclosure auction.

Notice of Auction

Before a foreclosure auction can take place in Idaho, the lender must publish a notice of sale. This notice includes information such as the names of the borrower and lender, the name of the trustee, a description of the real estate, the amount outstanding on the loan, default details, and the location and time of the foreclosure auction. This notice of auction must be delivered to the debtor at least 120 days before the day of the public auction. In addition, the lender must publish the notice in a local newspaper for four weeks, once a week. The final notice must be published at least 30 days before the day of the auction. If the sale must be postponed, a public announcement of the postponement must be made. If the sale must be rescheduled for 30 days or more after the original day, another notice of sale must be published and sent out anew.

The foreclosure sale is overseen by the trustee's attorney. Most sales are held between 9:00am and 4:00pm and are open to the public. Once the winning bidder has paid, the ownership of the property is transferred to the bidder. Ten days after the auction, the winning bidder can take possession of the property. Non-judicial foreclosures in Idaho do not offer redemption rights for the debtor once the trustee sale has taken place.