Lehigh 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 Lehigh County are heard at the Court of Common Pleas, in Lehigh County. The lender files a complaint with the Prothonotary's civil division at 455 W Hamilton 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, applying to the county's diversion or mediation programs where they exist, 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.

Lehigh County runs from Allentown — dense, older, rowhouse and twin stock, with a large rental and investor presence — west through the suburban townships of South Whitehall, Upper Macungie and Lower Macungie, and then into the rural north toward Slatington and the Lehigh River gap. The Lehigh Valley's warehousing and logistics buildout along I-78 and Route 22 has added a great deal of new housing and new employment at once, which cuts both ways: it lifts valuations in the suburban ring while leaving the older city stock in a separate market. Allentown is the seat where every complaint is filed.

Foreclosure complaints and responses go to the Lehigh County Prothonotary — Civil Division at 455 W Hamilton St, Allentown, PA 18101, and the sale itself is conducted by the Lehigh County Sheriff's Office. Free help is available locally through Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania (Lehigh) at (610) 317-5300. 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.