Stop a Sheriff Sale in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

A sheriff sale in Philadelphia County is the last step of a judicial foreclosure, not the first. The lender sued you in the Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia 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.

Philadelphia mortgage foreclosure sales are run by the Office of the Sheriff on a published monthly list, conducted through the Sheriff's online auction platform rather than in a courthouse room. The list, the postponement status of each property, and the bidding rules are posted in advance on the Sheriff's site — check your specific writ number there, because a property can be postponed or restored to the list without a separate notice reaching you.

Philadelphia runs the oldest and best-established Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program in Pennsylvania. Owner-occupants get a conciliation conference with the servicer, a housing counselor, and a volunteer attorney before the case can move to sale. If you are an owner-occupant and no conference has happened yet, the sale should not be going forward — that is worth raising immediately.

Philadelphia's other pressure is tax: delinquent real estate taxes, the Water Revenue Bureau, and gas liens generate their own sheriff sale track separate from the mortgage. A Chapter 13 handles both at once, curing the mortgage arrears under § 1322(b)(5) while paying the municipal claims through the plan. Cases file in the Eastern District at 900 Market Street, and the § 341 meeting is virtual.

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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia 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.