When Banks Change The Locks On Your House Before Foreclosure Sheriff Sale

Especially for multi-property owners, your mortgage company may have changed the locks on a foreclosed home. This can be very disturbing to homeowners who are still trying to find a viable solution to foreclosure, because it indicates that the bank is asserting control over the property before the homeowners sell it at county auction. But banks can change the locks on a house even if they are not the legal owners of the property.

Of course, they can’t really just take the property away before the foreclosure takes place and the house has been sold at a sheriff’s sale. Without a reason to request that the home be insured, the bank cannot do anything with the property itself until after the foreclosure auction. However, they can ask the court to secure the property temporarily, which could mean changing the locks on an apparently abandoned house.

Especially if the homeowners have not responded to any of the bank’s motions in court or filed an answer to the foreclosure complaint or appeared (at their own expense or through an attorney) at the scheduled foreclosure hearing, the bank you can simply assume that they have decided to move away from the house. Even if they know the house is a vacation or investment property, they don’t want to see it empty and a potential target for vandalism or damage.

Government courts and sheriff’s departments will generally do what banks tell them to do, which helps explain why a house may be locked up before the foreclosure auction. The mortgage company can usually show that the owners have not responded to the lawsuit and that the house has not been occupied for a certain number of weeks or months, and that it must be insured to prevent damage. The courts will generally accept this argument and order the sheriff to change the locks.

But once this happens, it can be extremely difficult for homeowners to regain access to their home. That’s why they should keep in touch with the lender throughout the foreclosure process so they can explain why the house will be vacant. But stopping the county government from changing the locks will always be much easier than cutting all the red tape later to get back into the house. After the government changes the locks, even if the owners try to break into their own home, they can be held liable for any damages.

Once the locks have been changed and homeowners cannot enter the home, but before the foreclosure auction takes place, they can attempt to regain access to the home by calling the local sheriff’s department or the courts. They will most likely have to inform the court that they are still in possession of the house even though it is not their primary residence and it may be empty at times. Even this simple act of explanation can require filing court documents and having the government remove the locks that were changed or allowing the legal owners access to their property.

But the house remains the private property of the owners until it is sold at the county foreclosure auction. The mortgage company can and usually will insure the home if it appears that the owners have abandoned a foreclosed property. However, they may not otherwise interfere with the property interest of foreclosure victims until that interest is transferred by applicable law. The government can act as the right arm of the banks to secure the property and keep the owners out for as long as possible, so preventing the government from taking over the house, even temporarily, should be a high priority for homeowners who are trying to stop foreclosure on their homes.