Kansas Foreclosure Laws

Kansas foreclosure laws allow for in-court, or judicial, foreclosures only. All property foreclosures work their way through the court system. A property in foreclosure can be scheduled from auction in only sixty days. Redemption periods of three months to a year after the sale are possible, however.

Pre-Foreclosure

Before a lender begins the foreclosure process, he or she usually checks the title on a property, since any liens that are senior to that of the lender can affect a lender's claims. Also, any junior lien holders need to be listed as defendants when the lender files a foreclosure suit.

Once the lender has checked the title, he or she will start the foreclosure process by filing a Petition for Mortgage Foreclosure in court. This petition is then served on the defendants and the debtor. If process service is not possible because the debtor or defendants cannot be found, the petition can be published and this can count as service. Once defendants have been served, the debtor has twenty days to answer the petition in court. If the debtor or defendants choose not to answer, a Journal Entry of Judgment will be entered. If the defendants contest the foreclosure, the case will work its way through the court system and possibly to trial. Once a court has decided against the debtor, the debtor can still stop the foreclosure process by paying the amount that is due within ten days of the judgment.

Foreclosure Sale

If ten days after the judgment, the debtor has not paid the amount due, the Notice of Sheriff's Sale is created and published. Under Kansas foreclosure law, this notice must be published in a local newspaper for three weeks before the auction, once per week. The final notice must be published no more than fourteen days and no less than seven days before the auction.

At the Sheriff's sale, the lender sets the opening bid. This bid is usually the total amount that is owed to the lender on the property. The winning bidder at the sale is given a Certificate of Purchase. There is a redemption date after the auction, but this varies in Kansas. If the winning bid pays for over one third of the lender's principal balance, the redemption period if one year. If less than one third of the principal balance of the loan has been paid, the redemption period is three months. To redeem the property, the debtor must pay the winning bid amount as well as interest and additional costs the lender has incurred. If the property is not redeemed during the redemption period, the ownership of the property is granted to the winning bidder.