The West Virginia foreclosure laws provides lenders the freedom to choose between judicial and non-judicial processes to foreclose deeds of trust or mortgages that are listed in foreclosure listings due to default. The time required to complete a foreclosure proceeding in West Virginia is 60 days. The security instruments authorized and recognized by the state are the deeds of trust and mortgages. In general, the laws of the state do not allow the filing of lawsuits for deficiency judgments. Moreover, the borrower's Right of Redemption is not recognized.
A vital feature called the Power of Sale clause is present in certain security instruments. This clause requires the borrower to sell his property in order to repay the balance of the loan balance in default if he is unable to make regular payments. If this clause is absent, judicial foreclosure proceedings are followed, or else non-judicial foreclosure processes are used. While judicial foreclosure proceedings require the lender to obtain a court order to sell the property, non-judicial proceedings contain no such requirement and the lender is free to sell the property in line with a few rules and regulations set by the state.
West Virginia foreclosure laws
The presence of a Power of Sale clause in mortgage agreements and other security instruments results in the lender pursuing a non-judicial proceeding. This requires the specific terms of the clause to be followed strictly. If the terms are not specified, the state has its own laws that act as guidelines to be followed.
The lender must post a Notice of Sale at the door of the country courthouse under whose jurisdiction the distressed property lies. He is also required to post a copy of the notice in a public place that lies inside the premises of the distressed property a minimum of twenty days prior to the date of the foreclosures sale. The borrower and any lien holders are entitled to a copy of the notice at least twenty days prior to the date of the foreclosure sale.
Moreover, the laws also require the lender to publish the notice as a Class III advertisement in a local newspaper of the county in which the distressed property is situated. This advertisement must be issued once every week for four continuous weeks. The details that the law requires the notice to contain include the names of the lender and borrower, the mortgage date, the tax information of the distressed property, a description of the distressed property, and the date, time, place, and terms of the foreclosure sale.
The date, venue and time of the foreclosure sale must be those mentioned in the Notice of Sale and the sale must be conducted in the form of a public auction. The person or business with the highest cash bid is awarded the rights to the property. According to the state's laws, the bidder awarded the rights to the distressed property has to pay one-third of the bid amount immediately after the sale is completed. This, however, is enforced only if the deed does not stipulate otherwise.
