Colorado Foreclosure Laws

Expected Timeline: Two to five months
Security Instrument: Mortgage or Deed of Trust. Deeds of trust are much more common.
Type of Process: Nonjudicial most common in Colorado. Judicial will be used if a mortgage is used instead of a deed of trust.
Protections for Servicemembers: None.
Time to Respond: Public trustee will mail notice within twenty days of recording notice of sale and 45-60 days before scheduled sale date. Notice of sale must be published for four weeks before sale. Notices mailed to homeowners must include information on reinstatement rights.
Reinstatement Period: Allowed until noon on date of sheriff sale. Notice must be given to lender of intent to reinstate no later than fifteen days before sale.
Protections for High-Cost Mortgages: None.
Redemption Period: None.
Eviction Process: Former owner served with court proceeding and has 3-5 days to respond. After response is filed, a hearing will be held before the court within two weeks. If former owners lose, eviction can be scheduled within days.
Deficiency Judgments: Allowed if suit is filed within 75 days of sheriff sale. If house was sold for less than market value, deficiency suit may be defeated.
Limits on Deficiency Judgments: Deficiency is allowed, but homeowners may claim the house sold for less than the fair market value as a defense against this.
Cash Exempted in Bankruptcy: None.
State Statutes: Colo Rev. Stat. § 38-38-100.3 to 38-38-114

The Judicial Foreclosure process is used in Colorado when there is no power of sale clause in the original loan documents. The lender must sue the borrower to obtain a court order to foreclose on the property.

The Non-Judicial Foreclosure process is used when there is a power of sale clause in the original loan documents. The Governor of Colorado appoints a Public Trustee for each county. This Public Trustee acts as a disinterested third party to handle the foreclosure process.

The lender's attorney files documents with the Public Trustee, who records a notice of election and demand. This is filed with the county clerk, and the Public Trustee then publishes the notice of election and demand in a newspaper in the county for five (5) consecutive weeks.

A copy of the notice of election and demand is mailed to the borrower within ten (10) days of the publication. A notice of sale is also mailed to the borrower. At least twenty-one (21) days before the sale, the Public Trustee must mail the borrower a notice containing instructions on how to redeem the property.

The sale may be stopped by the borrower by filing a notice of intent to cure. This must be filed with the Public Trustee at least fifteen (15) days before the sale. The borrower has until noon of the day before the sale to bring the loan current.

Within forty-five (45) to sixty (60) days of the notice of election and demand being filed, the sale must be conducted. The sale takes place at any entrance to the county courthouse, unless the deed of trust specifies otherwise.

The borrower has seventy-five (75) days to redeem the property. The amount the property sold for at the auction, plus interest, is the redemption amount.

If the property does not sell for the loan balance plus costs, the lender has the right to sue the borrower for a deficiency judgment.

State Website: www.state.co.us