Stop a Sheriff Sale in Delaware County, Pennsylvania

A sheriff sale in Delaware County is the last step of a judicial foreclosure, not the first. The lender sued you in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, obtained a judgment, and asked the sheriff to sell the property. Everything before that step had an option attached to it, and so does this one: a Chapter 13 filed before the sale takes place stops it by operation of law.

This page covers how foreclosure actually runs in Delaware County — where the sale happens, what the court offers, and what filing looks like from here. It is general information about Pennsylvania and federal law, not advice about your loan.

The Delaware County Sheriff conducts real estate sales on a published monthly schedule out of the Government Center in Media. Sale lists, continued sales, and bidding requirements are published by the Sheriff's Office in advance of each sale date.

Delaware County's Court of Common Pleas has run a residential mortgage foreclosure diversion/conciliation program giving owner-occupants a supervised conference with the servicer before the case advances. Ask the Court's Office of Judicial Support or a HUD-approved counselor in the county whether your case is still eligible.

Chester City, Upper Darby, and the older river-ward boroughs carry a heavy overlay of school district and municipal tax claims on top of the mortgage, and it is common for the tax claim, not the mortgage, to be what actually puts the property on a sale list. A Chapter 13 in the Eastern District can address both in one plan; a modification with the servicer addresses only one of them.

The automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 takes effect the moment the petition is docketed in the Eastern District. That stops a scheduled Delaware County sheriff sale — I have filed cases the morning of a sale.

From there, 11 U.S.C. § 1322(b)(5) lets you cure the arrears over the three-to-five-year plan while resuming the regular monthly payment. The lender cannot demand a lump sum and cannot refuse the cure. If your first mortgage exceeds the home's value, a wholly unsecured second mortgage or HELOC can also be stripped and discharged with the unsecured debt — relief that does not exist in Chapter 7.

To file quickly we need your mortgage statement, the foreclosure complaint or sale notice, the last six months of income, and a credit-counseling certificate. When a sale is imminent, a case can be filed within hours.

• Confirm your sale status with the Delaware County Sheriff's office rather than the last letter you received.
• Open a written loss-mitigation file with your servicer through their portal and keep every submission dated.
• If an Act 91 notice arrived within the last 30 days, meet with a HUD-approved counselor and ask about HEMAP through PHFA — that window does not reopen.
• Get a straight read on whether the ongoing payment is affordable. If it is not, surrendering through Chapter 7 and discharging the deficiency is often the cleaner exit, and saying so early is worth more than a plan that fails in month eight.