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Foreclosure in California

In California, most foreclosures skip the courtroom: a notice of default, a 90-day wait, a notice of sale and a trustee's auction. Here's each step and the rules that protect you along the way.

Type: Mostly non-judicial

Last checked October 26, 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom of this page.

Type
Mostly non-judicial. Lenders can foreclose with or without going to court, and without court is the most common. Most mortgages have a power of sale clause, which lets the lender skip court.
FHA time frame
HUD's time frame for FHA loans: 12 months from the first legal action to clear title and possession.
Catch-up window
You can pay what's past due, plus fees, until 5 days before the scheduled sale.
After the sale
After a sale without a court case, you don't have a right to buy the home back.

How a California foreclosure works, step by step

  1. Generally, foreclosure can't legally start until you're at least 120 days behind.
  2. Your servicer must try to reach you at least 30 days before it starts foreclosure, to go over your finances and your options. It must also tell you that you can ask for another meeting. If you ask, that meeting must be set within 14 days.
  3. If you haven't worked out a plan 30 days after that contact, the lender can record a notice of default in your county. That starts the formal, public part of the foreclosure. You get a copy by certified mail within 10 business days of the recording. Within 5 days of recording it, your servicer generally must also send you information about ways to avoid foreclosure.
  4. You then have 90 days from the recording to cure the default, usually by paying what's owed.
  5. After those 90 days, if you haven't paid, the lender can record a notice of sale. It says the trustee will sell your home at auction in 21 days. It must be mailed to you by certified mail, printed weekly in a local newspaper for 3 weeks in a row before the sale, and posted on your property and in a public place, usually the courthouse.
  6. At least 21 days after the notice of sale is recorded, the home can be sold at a public auction. The winning bidder gets a trustee's deed once the sale is complete.
  7. Even after the auction, some eligible bidders, such as current tenants, can still make a matching or higher bid. They must bid, or send a notice that they intend to bid, within 15 days. If they send a notice, the bid itself must come within 45 days.
  8. The new owner can't just change the locks. They must give you a 3-day written notice to move out, and if you stay, they must go through an eviction case in court.

Your rights before the notice of default: the Homeowner Bill of Rights

California's Homeowner Bill of Rights generally covers first-lien mortgages on owner-occupied homes with up to four units. Its main protections generally apply if your servicer foreclosed on more than 175 homes in the last year.

  • If you ask for a loan modification or another way to avoid foreclosure, your servicer must give you a specific person or team to work with.
  • You can't be charged a fee to apply for a loan modification.
  • While your servicer decides on your complete modification application, and until you've had time to appeal a denial, it generally must pause the foreclosure.
  • Federal rules add a deadline: if your servicer gets your complete application more than 37 days before a sale, it must review it.

If you can, apply early. A complete application on file well before the sale gives you the most room to work with.

Catching up or paying off before the sale

You can reinstate the loan by paying all past-due amounts plus fees, up until 5 days before the scheduled sale. If the sale is postponed, that window runs until five days before the new date.

After that, you, or a bank or other institution with an interest in the home, can still pay off the whole loan plus fees, up to the day of the sale.

The trustee's auction and the bids that can follow it

In a foreclosure without a court case, a trustee runs a public auction and sells the home to the highest bidder to pay off the mortgage debt. The notice of sale must list the date, time and place of the auction. The winning bidder must pay the full bid right away, in cash or with a cashier's check. The lender usually bids the balance due plus foreclosure costs. If no one else bids, the home goes to the lender.

In a judicial foreclosure, the court schedules the sale, and a court-appointed official runs it.

The bidders who can step in after the auction include current tenants, certain nonprofits, community land trusts, limited-equity housing cooperatives, state and local agencies, and people who plan to live in the home. If no bid or notice of intent to bid comes in on time, the auction's winning bid is final.

In September 2026, the Governor signed AB 1957, a bill on mortgages and foreclosure, that narrows this after-auction bidding process. Ask a lawyer how the change applies to your sale date.

How long it takes

Foreclosure generally can't legally start until you're at least 120 days behind. Once it starts, how long you have until the sale depends on your state.

For FHA loans, HUD's time frame runs from the first legal action until the lender has clear title to the home and possession of it. In California, that's 12 months, and the first legal action is recording the notice of default.

Without a court case, the state's steps set the pace: at least 30 days after the servicer's contact before a notice of default, 90 days before a notice of sale, then at least 21 days to the auction. The courts' guide says a foreclosure without a court case usually takes about 4 to 6 months.

These are official markers, not a forecast. Your case can move faster or slower, so don't count on extra time.

What's left after: deficiency, surplus and buying back

In most cases, after a sale without a court case, the lender can't go to court to collect what the sale didn't cover. There are a few exceptions, such as fraud, cash-out refinance loans and second liens. A deficiency judgment also isn't allowed when your loan is a purchase money loan, made when you bought the home and agreed to live in it.

In a judicial foreclosure, the lender can ask the court to order you to pay what you still owe. That's called a deficiency judgment.

If the home sells for more than you owed, you're entitled to the extra, called surplus funds. Give the trustee named on the notice of sale your new address when you move. If the trustee isn't sure who should get the money, it must deposit it with the local Superior Court and give notice of where it is.

After a sale without a court case, you don't have a right to buy the home back. After a judicial foreclosure sale, you have 3 months to buy it back if the sale paid off all you owed, or 1 year if it didn't. If your HOA foreclosed, you get more time: 90 days after the sale to pay what's owed and get the home back.

Selling while you're in foreclosure: equity purchaser and consultant rules

  • California has special rules for equity purchasers: investors who buy an owner-occupied home to rent or resell while it has an active notice of default. The law sets standards for what the contract between you and that buyer must contain.
  • You can cancel until midnight of the fifth business day after you sign, or until 8 a.m. on the sale day, whichever comes first. Until that time runs out, the deal can't close and the buyer can't put a loan on your home.
  • An equity purchaser can't make untrue or misleading statements about your home's market value or how much money you'll likely get from the sale.
  • Some buyers ask you to sign over the title, stay on as a tenant and keep an option to buy the home back later. The law presumes that kind of deal is a loan, not a sale, unless the buyer can prove otherwise.
  • The Department of Real Estate recommends talking to a lawyer before you sign a 'contract of sale,' where the title stays in your name and the deed goes to the buyer later.
  • Foreclosure consultants who offer to halt a foreclosure or help you get a modification must register with the Attorney General and post a $100,000 bond. No one, including lawyers, foreclosure consultants and real estate agents, can demand payment up front for loan modification help in California.
  • The Attorney General warns that offers to let you stay as a renter and buy your home back later can be a scam. Only your lender or servicer can decide to halt a foreclosure and grant a loan modification.

The equity purchaser rules touch every way I'd buy a home in foreclosure: a cash offer, taking over payments, seller financing and a lease option. The buy-back rule above touches a lease option too. The consultant rules may matter for a novation, so have a lawyer look at that setup. And don't stop talking to your lender while you weigh any offer, including mine.

Free help in California

Sources

Last checked October 26, 2026. Every fact on this page comes from one of these official sources.

  1. California Courts Self-Help Guide: Guide to foreclosures (selfhelp.courts.ca.gov)
  2. HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (PDF) (hud.gov)
  3. California Courts Self-Help Guide: Your rights in a nonjudicial foreclosure (selfhelp.courts.ca.gov)
  4. California Department of Real Estate: A Homeowner's Guide to Foreclosure in California (PDF) (dre.ca.gov)
  5. CFPB: How long will it take before I’ll face foreclosure if I can’t make my mortgage payments? What is the foreclosure timeline? (consumerfinance.gov)
  6. California Attorney General: California Homeowner Bill of Rights (oag.ca.gov)
  7. California Senate Judiciary Committee: AB 1957 bill analysis (PDF) (sjud.senate.ca.gov)
  8. CFPB, Regulation X: § 1024.41 Loss mitigation procedures (consumerfinance.gov)
  9. Governor of California: Legislative update, September 18, 2026 (gov.ca.gov)
  10. California Attorney General: Homeowner issues (oag.ca.gov)

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