Oregon Foreclosure Laws

Expected Timeline: About five months
Security Instrument: Mortgage and Deed of Trust. Deed of trust most common.
Type of Process: Judicial and nonjudicial. Nonjudicial foreclosure most commonly used.
Protections for Servicemembers: Or. Rev. Stat. § 105.111
Time to Respond: Notice of default must be served by mail. Notice of sale must be sent at least 120 days before sheriff sale. If judicial foreclosure is used, homeowners have twenty to thirty days to respond to complaint.
Reinstatement Period: Homeowners may reinstate loan up to five days before sale.
Protections for High-Cost Mortgages: None.
Redemption Period: None.
Eviction Process: New owner may take possession ten days after sheriff sale. Former owners can be evicted with no notice.
Deficiency Judgments: Not allowed under Oregon foreclosure law.
Limits on Deficiency Judgments: Deficiency judgments not allowed on judicial foreclosure proceedings involving residential mortgages, or in nonjudicial foreclosures.
Cash Exempted in Bankruptcy: $7,500 for single person, $15,000 for married couple.
State Statutes: Or. Rev. Stat. § 86.735 to 86.795, 88.080-88.100

Oregon foreclosure law allows the lender to pursue either a Non-Judicial or Judicial Foreclosure process. If the original loan documents contain a power of sale clause, then the Judicial Foreclosure procedures are used. The lender must sue the borrower in court to obtain a declaration of foreclosure. The borrower has a one-hundred and eighty (180) right of redemption after the property is sold at auction. A notice of intent to redeem must be filed by the borrower with the county sheriff between two (2) and thirty (30) days after the sale date. The redemption amount due by the borrower is the purchase price, interest, foreclosure costs, and the buyer's costs of operating and maintaining the property during the time between the sale and redemption.

The Non-Judicial Foreclosure process requires a power of sale clause to be present in the original loan documents. This clause gives the lender authorization to sell the property if the borrower goes into default. If the clause specifies the time, place, and terms of the sale, then those procedures must be adhered to.

A notice of default is recorded in the recorder's office in the county in which the property is located. The borrower is served with a copy of the notice of default no less than one-hundred and twenty (120) days before the scheduled sale date. Also, the notice of default must be published in a newspaper of general circulation for at least four (4) weeks. The final publication can not be less than twenty (20) days before the sale date.

The borrower may cure the default any time before the scheduled sale date. The sale takes place at a public auction between the hours of 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM at the place specified in the notice of default that has been recorded. The high bidder at the auction must present cash or cash equivalents to the trustee at the time of the sale.

The sale may be postponed if written notice is made to all recipients of the original notice of default. This must be done at least twenty (20) days before the scheduled sale date; and the sale may be postponed for as much as one-hundred and eighty (180) days.

With Non-Judicial Foreclosure, the borrower is not entitled to any redemption period after the sale, and the lender may not sue the borrower for a deficiency judgment.

State Website: www.leg.state.or.us