Stop a Sheriff Sale in York County, Pennsylvania

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

York County sheriff sales are conducted on a published monthly cycle at the York County Judicial Center, with the sale list maintained by the Sheriff's Office. Sales are frequently continued; the Sheriff's posted list is the authoritative source for whether yours is still going forward.

York County has operated a mortgage foreclosure diversion effort for owner-occupied residential cases through the Court of Common Pleas and local housing counselors. Confirm current intake through the Court or a HUD-approved counseling agency in York.

York County homeowners routinely commute to Maryland for work, and that creates a specific problem: income earned out of state, a Pennsylvania homestead, and a servicer that treats the file as out of area. None of that affects the automatic stay. A Chapter 13 filed in the Middle District at Harrisburg stops a York County sheriff sale the same as any other, and the arrears cure runs over three to five years.

The automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 takes effect the moment the petition is docketed in the Middle District. That stops a scheduled York 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 York 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.