Maryland Foreclosure Laws

Maryland offers judicial foreclosures, or in-court foreclosures, as they are sometimes known. In Maryland, most foreclosure processes take 46 days.

Pre-Foreclosure

A lender starts the foreclosure period - and a home enters the pre-foreclosure period - when the lender files a complaint against the debtor in court. The lender must also get a decree of sale from the court. The court will then decide whether a default has taken place. If the court rules that a default has taken place, the court will set the total amount of the debt, the interests, and additional costs due and will set a deadline for the debtor to pay this amount. The court may decide that if the debtor does not pay the debt in time, the lender can sell the property in order to recoup the default amount.

Notice of Auction

Unlike many states, Maryland does not require the lender to alert the debtor of pending foreclosure. However, a notice of sale (also known as a notice of auction is still required). This notice must be published for three successive weeks in a local newspaper before the auction takes place. At least ten days before the auction is to take place, the trustee also needs to send the notice to lien holders and to the debtor.

In Maryland, foreclosure sales are overseen by auctioneer and usually take place outside a courthouse. A notice of sale must be published after a winning bidder has won the auction. The notice of sale must appear in a local newspaper and must give anyone the ability to contest the sale within thirty days of the published notice. The sale is confirmed by a court if there are no objections raised. At this point, the winning bidder is given ownership of the property. The court system sometimes set a redemption period in some cases, but there is no official redemption period under Maryland foreclosure laws. Where a redemption period is established, it is the court that decides how long the redemption period will last. For this reason, redemption periods in Maryland - where they occur at all - vary widely.