What Are Your Rights When You Are Being Foreclosed On?

If your house is being foreclosed on, you may be panicking and wondering what your options are. Fortunately, as a homeowner, you have a number of rights available to you that may be able to protect you from the worst possible outcomes in your foreclosure case. Here are some of the most important rights you have when you are being foreclosed on:

1. Right to stay in your home
   • While you are being foreclosed on, you have the right to remain in your house until the foreclosure process is completed. While this goes along with a duty to maintain the property while you live in it, this at least means you will not face homelessness simply because you fell behind on your mortgage. This also gives you an opportunity to pursue your options while the foreclosure process is ongoing.
2. Right to adequate notice
   • There are strict procedural requirements that go into a foreclosure, including a requirement to give adequate notice of the foreclosure before the case goes to court. If your mortgage lender fails to comply with these strict requirements, the foreclosure cannot go forward. This is also why you should keep good records of any communications you receive from your mortgage lender, since it can help demonstrate if there have been any procedural errors on their part.
3. Right to cure your mortgage
   • So long as you have not finished the foreclosure process, you have the right to cure your mortgage. In other words, you have the right to repay whatever you owe on your mortgage and resume it as normal. This gives you the opportunity to avoid the complex and stressful process of foreclosure by simply paying what you previously owed.
4. Right to challenge the terms of your mortgage
   • You do not need to accept the terms of your mortgage as they are. What may have seemed reasonable at the time you bought your house may turn out, in retrospect, to be legally problematic. You have the right to challenge the terms of your mortgage for being fraudulent, coercive, or otherwise illegal. If you successfully do so, you may be able to release yourself from the burden of the mortgage.
5. Right to renegotiate
   • You have the right to renegotiate the terms of your mortgage with your mortgage lender, potentially getting terms more favorable to yourself. This can let you refinance your mortgage to get a better interest rate, or you can get a more generous repayment schedule that makes it easier to pay your mortgage off. Either way, you will need the help of a lawyer experienced in foreclosure matters to help you with negotiations and ensure you explore every option available to you when you are being foreclosed on.

    At David J. Lorber & Associates, PLLC, we assist clients throughout New York who are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. We will explain your options and guide you in making the best decision for your circumstances. Call us at (631) 750-0900 or contact us online to schedule your Free consultation at our Setauket office.