Maine Foreclosure Law
- Judicial Foreclosure Available: Yes
- Non-Judicial Foreclosure Available:No
- Primary Security Instruments: Mortgage
- Timeline: Usually 90 days
- Right of Redemption1: Yes
- Deficiency Judgments2 Allowed: Yes
Lenders in the state of Maine may foreclose on a mortgage in default using a judicial foreclosure process.
Judicial Foreclosure
Before the lender can file the appropriate documents with the court to begin foreclosure, they must deliver a default notice to the borrower requesting that the full amount in default plus interest and fees be paid within thirty (30) days. The borrower is also notified that failure to pay will begin foreclosure action. If the borrower fails to pay, court proceedings are initiated. No hearing is held if the borrower does not oppose the court action; however, if they do, the case will proceed to trial.
If the court grants the lender the right to foreclose, the borrower has ninety (90) days to stop the foreclosure from proceeding if they pay all monies due. If they do not, the lender publishes a notice of sale for three (3) consecutive weeks in a local newspaper in the county where the property is located. The sale is scheduled thirty (30) to forty-five (45) days after the date of the first publication of sale.
At the sale, the lender may bid on the property. The property is sold to the highest bidder who generally is required to pay a specific deposit amount stipulated in the notice of sale on the sale date. The remainder can be paid within thirty (30) days. After the sale and final payment is received from purchaser, the lender transfers property ownership.
The sale may be postponed for no more than seven (7) days at a time with the postponement being announced at the originally scheduled sale date.
1 A borrower’s right to reacquire property lost due to a foreclosure.
2 A personal judgment against the borrower for the remaining balance on the loan after a foreclosure sale.
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