All Ohio foreclosures shall be done through court proceedings only and shall typically take about 7 months for completion.

The foreclosure process begins with the filing of the complaint by the lender for default of payments of debt by the borrower. The complaint shall be filed with the local court. After filing the complaint, the lender shall issue notice to the borrower, either in person or through mail or through a publication in a newspaper of the complaint filed by the lender.

The borrower is required to respond to the notice within 28 days of serving the notice. If the borrower does not respond to the summons, the court can hold the borrower at default. A foreclosure decree prescribing the rights of the various parties involved is submitted to the Court for approval. Once the court approves the decree, an order of sale is issued to the Sheriff for execution of the foreclosure sale.

The court allows the borrower to pay the debts due within a specified time in order to halt the foreclosure process. If the borrower fails to pay within the time specified, the foreclosure proceedings shall continue.

The Sheriff can retain 3 fee holders as appraisers of the property and obtain 3 appraisals for the property, and the appraisals are to be published in a county newspaper for 3 weeks. The Sheriff shall schedule an auction of the property and publish a notice of the auction in the local newspaper within a period not less than 30 days from the date of such auction.

The auction sale shall be held at the place designated by the Sheriff on the notified date. The minimum bid for the property shall be 2/3rd (two-thirds) of the highest appraisal obtained by the Sheriff from the 3 appraisers.

The property shall be sold to the highest bidder. The court examines the sale proceedings and if there is no irregularity in the same, the Court files an order in confirmation of the Sheriff's sale. Un-disputed foreclosure auction sales generally take 6-8 months to complete.

All occupants of the property shall be involved in the foreclosure proceedings as parties, whether or not they are the borrowers. Any occupants of the property shall also be served the notice of the foreclosure and shall be appraised of the sale proceedings.

If the occupants have been named as one of the parties in the foreclosure notice, then a writ of possession of the property can be filed through the Sheriff for the eviction of the property. The eviction can be initiated by serving a summons. If the occupants were not included as parties in the foreclosure notice then the eviction proceedings have to be done through a municipal court by initiating eviction action. Either process of eviction would take about 6 weeks to complete.

The Ohio foreclosure law permits the mortgager to redeem the property by claiming the redemption through payment all dues, along with costs, to the lender before the Sheriff's sale is confirmed by the court. Redemption cannot be done if the auction sale is confirmed by the court.

If you need more information about Ohio foreclosure laws, you should contact a foreclosure lawyer, or contact us so we can recommend one for you.