Dauphin County Foreclosure Resources

Under Act 91 the lender must send a notice at least 30 days before filing the foreclosure complaint. It tells you that you may qualify for HEMAP and that you must meet with a HUD-certified housing counselor within 33 days of the notice date. That 33-day window is a real deadline — missing it can cost you HEMAP eligibility, and it runs long before any sheriff's sale is scheduled.

The Homeowner's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program is administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. It makes loans to bring a delinquent mortgage current and can pay monthly mortgage costs for up to 24 months when the default is due to circumstances beyond your control. You must apply before the sheriff's sale. HEMAP is Pennsylvania-specific and has no equivalent in most other states.

Foreclosures in Dauphin County are heard at the Court of Common Pleas, in Dauphin County. The lender files a complaint with the Prothonotary's civil division at 101 Market St, and the case proceeds before a judge. There is no non-judicial foreclosure track in Pennsylvania — every residential foreclosure goes through the court.

No. Pennsylvania does not provide a statutory right of redemption once the sheriff's sale is confirmed and the deed delivered. Your opportunities are all before the sale: responding to the Act 91 notice, applying for HEMAP, engaging any county conciliation or diversion program, and defending the foreclosure on its merits in court.

Yes, but only in a separate action brought within six months of delivery of the sheriff's deed. Pennsylvania also recognizes a fair-value defense, which limits the deficiency to the judgment amount minus the property's fair market value rather than the auction price. Where a property sold well below market at the sheriff's sale, that defense can substantially reduce the exposure.

Dauphin County is built around Harrisburg, the state capital, and that shapes the housing in ways that are specific to this county. The city itself is older rowhouse and semi-detached stock on small lots along the Susquehanna, much of it pre-1940 and a significant share of it rental. Outside the city the county changes quickly: the suburban townships east of the river — Lower Paxton, Susquehanna, West Hanover — are post-war and newer subdivision housing tied to commuter and state-government employment, while the northern and western townships toward Halifax, Millersburg and Lykens are rural, small-town and considerably lower-valued, with old coal-region boroughs in the far north. Hershey, in adjoining Derry Township, anchors a distinct employment and housing market at the county's southeast edge.

Foreclosure complaints and responses go to the Dauphin County Prothonotary — Civil Division at 101 Market St, Harrisburg, PA 17101, and the sale itself is conducted by the Dauphin County Sheriff's Office. Free help is available locally through MidPenn Legal Services (Harrisburg) at (717) 232-0581. If you have received an Act 91 notice, contact a HUD-certified housing counselor immediately — the 33-day deadline is the single most important date in the Pennsylvania process.