avoidforeclosure.co

Foreclosure in South Dakota

A South Dakota lender can foreclose by advertisement or in court, and you can insist on court. After the sale, there's usually a year to redeem the home. Here's each step, from the state's own laws.

Type: Judicial or non-judicial

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

Type
Judicial or non-judicial. A mortgage with a power of sale can be foreclosed by advertisement, without a lawsuit, but you can require the lender to foreclose in court instead.
FHA time frame
HUD's time frame for FHA loans: 14 months from the first legal action to clear title and possession for a mortgage, and 9 months for a deed of trust.
Sale notice
Published once a week for four weeks in a county legal newspaper, and served on you at least 21 days before the sale.
Redemption
One year from the sale, or 180 days under a short-redemption mortgage.

How a South Dakota foreclosure works, step by step

  1. Generally, the legal foreclosure process can't start until you're at least 120 days behind.
  2. In a foreclosure by advertisement, the notice of sale runs at least once a week for four weeks in a row in a legal newspaper in the county where the home is. Among other things, it must give the time and place of the sale, describe the default, and tell you that you can apply for foreclosure by court action.
  3. At least 21 days before the sale, the lender must serve a written copy of the sale notice on you and on anyone else with a lien that the foreclosure would affect.
  4. If you want a judge involved, you can apply to the court to make the lender foreclose by court action, and you don't have to give a reason. In a court foreclosure, the sale is advertised the same way as a sale on execution: once a week for four weeks in a row in a legal newspaper in the county.
  5. A sale by advertisement is a public auction run by the county sheriff or a deputy, to the highest bidder, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., in the county where the home is.
  6. The certificate of sale must be recorded with the register of deeds within ten days of the sale.
  7. You then have one year from the sale date to redeem, unless your loan is a 180-day redemption mortgage.
  8. If the home isn't redeemed, the officer who made the sale completes it by giving the buyer a deed. If you stay after the redemption time has run out and the deed has been delivered, you can face an eviction case.

A lender doesn't need a lawsuit when the mortgage has a power of sale and you're in default. It can foreclose by advertisement. But you, a later owner, or anyone with a recorded lien on the home can make the lender switch to a court case.

In a court foreclosure, the buyer at the sale can't be given possession of the home until the redemption period is over. Redemption after a court sale works the same way as after a sale by advertisement.

In my view, that choice is worth talking over with a lawyer or a housing counselor before the sale date.

Catching up, or handing the home back

In a court foreclosure, if you pay into court the principal and interest that are due, plus costs, any time before the sale, the case is put on hold until a new default. South Dakota Housing warns that the longer you wait to tell your lender you're having trouble, the fewer options you'll have.

If you send your servicer a complete application for help more than 37 days before a sale, it must evaluate it.

South Dakota also has a voluntary foreclosure, which you and your lender can agree to in writing. You deed the home to the lender, and the lender gives up any right to a deficiency. The required notice warns that you'd be giving up your right to redeem. You can cancel within five business days, without penalty.

The sheriff's sale

After a court judgment, the sale uses the same notice and procedure as a sale on execution. Court-ordered sales can be held on any day but Sunday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., at the front door of the courthouse in the county where the home is.

A sale by advertisement is run by the sheriff as a public auction, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

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 South Dakota, that's 14 months for a mortgage, where the first legal action is a court complaint, and 9 months for a deed of trust, where it's publishing the notice of sale.

Without a lawsuit, the sale notice runs for four weeks, and you must be served at least 21 days before the sale. After the sale, there's a one-year redemption period, or 180 days for a short-redemption mortgage.

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

After the sale: redemption, shortfalls and extra money

Redemption

Everyone with a right to redeem gets one year from the sale date, except under a 180-day redemption mortgage. That kind of mortgage must carry the title "MORTGAGE--ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY DAY REDEMPTION" in capital letters. Under it, the redemption time is 180 days from the recording of the certificate of sale, or 60 days if the home is abandoned.

Check the top of your mortgage. The title tells you which clock you're on.

Deficiency

A court foreclosure normally wipes out the whole mortgage debt. The exception: a lender that won't bid the full debt must prove the home's fair value at trial, and the court sets it in the decree. Even then, the lender can collect a shortfall only by applying to the court.

When the lender buys the home at its own foreclosure sale, it must prove the home sold for at least its true market value before it can get a deficiency judgment. If the sale price was below market value, the court subtracts the gap from what you still owe.

Surplus

After a court sale, any money left over goes to the court for you or whoever else is entitled to it. After a sale by advertisement, the surplus goes to the clerk of the circuit court, and the sheriff must mail you and any junior lienholders a notice that it's been deposited.

Protections when you sell, lease or get offers

  • If you're married and you and your spouse both live in South Dakota, the law says a sale or mortgage of your homestead is valid if both of you sign it.
  • Under the state's real estate license law, anyone who buys, sells or otherwise deals in options to buy real property counts as a broker, and acting as a broker takes an active license unless the law exempts you.
  • If someone defaults on a contract to buy real estate, a case can be brought in circuit court to foreclose their rights under it. The judgment must give the side in default at least ten days to comply with the contract.
  • The CFPB says companies that offer mortgage or foreclosure help can't collect fees up front.
  • Warning signs of a foreclosure relief scam include being told to stop paying your mortgage, or being pushed to sign over title to your home in a so-called rent-to-buy scheme.
  • South Dakota's Attorney General enforces the state's Deceptive Trade Practices and Consumer Protection law.

Three of these touch how I buy. The homestead signing rule applies to any deal where the deed changes hands: a cash offer, taking over payments, seller financing, and the final sale in a novation. The option rule touches a lease option. The contract rule touches seller financing if we set it up as a contract. And don't stop talking to your lender while you weigh any offer, including mine.

Free help in South Dakota

Sources

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

  1. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-1 (sdlegislature.gov)
  2. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-9 (sdlegislature.gov)
  3. HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (PDF) (hud.gov)
  4. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-6 (sdlegislature.gov)
  5. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-6.1 (sdlegislature.gov)
  6. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-52-11 (sdlegislature.gov)
  7. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-49-38 (sdlegislature.gov)
  8. 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)
  9. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-47-14 (sdlegislature.gov)
  10. South Dakota Codified Laws § 15-19-8 (sdlegislature.gov)
  11. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-10 (sdlegislature.gov)
  12. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-19 (sdlegislature.gov)
  13. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-21 (sdlegislature.gov)
  14. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-16-1 (sdlegislature.gov)
  15. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-47-13 (sdlegislature.gov)
  16. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-47-23 (sdlegislature.gov)
  17. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-47-10 (sdlegislature.gov)
  18. South Dakota Housing: homebuyer counseling (sdhousing.org)
  19. CFPB, Regulation X: § 1024.41 Loss mitigation procedures (consumerfinance.gov)
  20. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48A-1 (sdlegislature.gov)
  21. South Dakota Codified Laws § 15-19-10 (sdlegislature.gov)
  22. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-49-12 (sdlegislature.gov)
  23. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-47-17 (sdlegislature.gov)
  24. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-47-16 (sdlegislature.gov)
  25. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-14 (sdlegislature.gov)
  26. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-47-18 (sdlegislature.gov)
  27. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-48-16 (sdlegislature.gov)
  28. South Dakota Codified Laws § 43-31-17 (sdlegislature.gov)
  29. South Dakota Codified Laws § 36-21A-6 (sdlegislature.gov)
  30. South Dakota Codified Laws § 36-21A-28 (sdlegislature.gov)
  31. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-50-1 (sdlegislature.gov)
  32. South Dakota Codified Laws § 21-50-3 (sdlegislature.gov)
  33. CFPB: How to spot and avoid foreclosure relief scams (consumerfinance.gov)
  34. South Dakota Attorney General, Consumer Protection: laws (consumer.sd.gov)
  35. South Dakota Housing: save my home (sdhousing.org)
  36. South Dakota Unified Judicial System: get legal help (ujs.sd.gov)

Want me to look at your situation?

Tell me about the house and where things stand. I'll look at the ways I could buy it, and we can talk through how they compare with your other options. I never charge homeowners anything.

Ask about my house