How to avoid foreclosure in New Hampshire

How foreclosure works in New Hampshire, step by step

1. Missed payments and an acceleration letter

   Under a federal rule, most servicers cannot start foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind. The New Hampshire Banking Department says you will usually get an acceleration letter telling you to pay the past-due amount by a deadline. This is the best time to call your servicer and a free HUD-approved housing counselor.

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f)

2. Notice of foreclosure sale is mailed or served

   For a mortgage on a home with 1 to 4 units, the lender must serve the notice on you, or send it by registered or certified mail to your last known address, at least 45 days before the sale. It must give the date, time and place of the sale, the state foreclosure hotline statement, and the required statement that you can ask the superior court to stop the sale.

   RSA 479:25, II

3. Notice is published in the newspaper

   The notice of sale must run once a week for 3 weeks in a row in a newspaper that circulates in your town or county. The first notice must appear at least 20 days before the sale.

   RSA 479:25, I

4. Last chances before the sale

   Before the auction you can petition the superior court in your county to enjoin (stop) the sale, and you must also serve the lender before the sale. The Banking Department says you can reinstate by paying all past-due payments plus costs, fees and penalties up to the sale. Ask legal aid right away, because claims you do not bring before the sale are usually lost.

   RSA 479:25, II(c); RSA 479:18

5. Foreclosure auction

   The sale is held on the property unless your mortgage names another place. The lender may bid and buy the home itself. You do not have to move out on the sale day, and you do not have to let anyone into your home.

   RSA 479:25, III; RSA 479:27

6. Foreclosure deed is recorded

   The person who ran the sale must record the foreclosure deed, a copy of the notice and a sworn affidavit at the county registry of deeds within 60 days after the sale. Title passes to the buyer when the deed is recorded. There is no right to buy the home back after the sale.

   RSA 479:26

7. Eviction through the court

   The new owner must give you a written notice to quit and then file a possessory (eviction) case in the circuit court. Only a sheriff with a writ of possession from the court can remove you. 603 Legal Aid says this often takes about 45 to 60 days after the foreclosure at the earliest.

   RSA 540:12, 540:13

New Hampshire foreclosure deadlines to know

These are the periods written into the law. Your own dates are on the notices you received. If a notice and this page disagree, trust the notice and ask a counselor or lawyer.

Your rights as a homeowner in New Hampshire

Other New Hampshire protections

• 45 days' notice and a free hotline

  For a mortgage on a home with 1 to 4 units, the notice of sale must reach you at least 45 days before the sale. If you live in the home, the notice must also name the lender's agent for legal papers and give the Banking Department's free foreclosure hotline number.

  RSA 479:25, II(a), (b)

• Right to ask the superior court to stop the sale

  Every notice of sale must tell you that you can petition the superior court in your county to enjoin the sale, with service on the lender and any bond the court requires. If you do not file and serve that petition before the sale, you generally lose any later claim that the foreclosure was invalid. The New Hampshire Supreme Court applied that rule even to a homeowner who raised it later in the eviction case.

  RSA 479:25, II(c); Bank of New York Mellon v. Dowgiert, No. 2015-0485 (N.H. 2016)

• Lender must try to get a fair price

  New Hampshire courts treat a lender selling under a power of sale as owing you a duty of good faith and due diligence. It must make every reasonable effort to get a fair and reasonable price under the circumstances.

  Murphy v. Financial Development Corp., 126 N.H. 536 (1985); Bascom Constr. v. City Bank & Trust, 137 N.H. 472 (1993)

• No lockout without a court order

  A buyer at a foreclosure sale must give you written notice and then use the court eviction process to get possession. 603 Legal Aid says you cannot legally be put out on the day of the foreclosure, and only a sheriff can carry out a writ of possession.

  RSA 540:12

New Hampshire mortgage assistance programs

If the home is sold for more than you owe

We did not find a New Hampshire statute that sets out who gets money left over after a power of sale foreclosure or how to claim it. If your home sold for more than you owed, write to the lender or the attorney who ran the sale (named in your notice of sale) and ask for an accounting of the sale and any surplus, and keep your mailing address current with them. Other lienholders may also have claims. Be careful with anyone who offers to recover surplus money for a percentage, and talk to 603 Legal Aid first.

Ways to avoid foreclosure

Most of your options come from federal rules and from whoever owns or insures your loan, so they work the same way in New Hampshire as anywhere else. What changes by state is how much time you have to use them.

• Repayment plan
• Forbearance
• Payment deferral or partial claim
• Loan modification
• Reinstatement
• Short sale
• Deed in lieu of foreclosure
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy