North Carolina Senate Bill 168

July 27, 2018
The North Carolina legislature recently amended its laws related to foreclosure. The amendments apply to foreclosure sales noticed on or after July 1, 2018.

A foreclosure sale must begin at the time designated in the notice of sale or as soon thereafter as practicable, but no later than one hour after the time designated unless it is delayed by other sales held at the same location. The sale must be held between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on any day on which the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court (“Clerk”) is normally open for transactions.

If it is determined that the sale cannot be held in the timeframe required or is postponed, then the person exercising the power of sale must, immediately upon determining that the sale will not occur and prior to the scheduled time of the sale, deliver a written notice to the Clerk of the Superior Court that includes all of the following:

  • The case number assigned by the Clerk;
  • The mortgagor(s) and record owner(s) name(s);
  • The U.S. Postal Service address of the property or, if no address has been assigned, a brief description of the location of the property;
  • The originally scheduled date and time for the sale;
  • A statement that the foreclosure sale has been withdrawn, rescheduled for a specific date and time, or postponed with no date yet set, as appropriate.

If the required notice is not received by the Clerk prior to the scheduled time of the sale, then the person exercising the power of sale must personally, or through his or her agent or attorney, do all of the following:

  • At the time and place advertised for the sale, publicly announce the cancellation of the sale;
  • On the same day, attach to or enter on the original notice of sale or a copy thereof, posted at the courthouse door, a notice of the cancellation;
  • Give written or oral notice of cancellation to each party entitled to notice of sale; and
  • Hand-deliver the required written notice to the Clerk's office.

So that the required notices may be delivered in the time frame required, the Clerk's office must, upon request, provide to the person exercising the power of sale an e-mail address and/or fax telephone number to use for delivery of the notices.

Should the Clerk's office be unexpectedly closed on the day of the sale, the above requirements will be delayed until the next day the Clerk's office is open for transactions.

All notices of a scheduled foreclosure sale, withdrawal of a scheduled sale, or postponement of a scheduled sale must, on the day of receipt by the Clerk, be posted by the person exercising the power of sale in the location at the county courthouse normally used for the posting of public notices. If a scheduled sale has been withdrawn, that notice must remain in that location for no less than 30 days. If the sale has been postponed, that notice must remain in that location until it is replaced by a notice of a rescheduled sale or of a withdrawn sale.

The required delivery of notices in no way removes any responsibility of any party to file documents with the Clerk as required elsewhere by law.

A Clerk may report habitual noncompliance with these provisions to the Administrative Office of the Courts.

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Expert insights and regulatory updates on RegTech, compliance management, and fair lending.

Diane Jenkins

Director, National Mortgage Compliance Practice Group, AsurityDocs Of Counsel, Sandler Law Group

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