What Is an Act 91 Notice in Pennsylvania? What It Means for Your Home
An Act 91 notice is a mandatory pre-foreclosure warning that Pennsylvania lenders must mail to you before they can file a foreclosure lawsuit on your owner-occupied home. It is not a foreclosure itself, and it is not a notice to leave. It gives you a set window of time to meet with a certified housing counselor and apply for state help through HEMAP. How you respond to that letter decides how much control you keep over the house.
If you've fallen behind on your mortgage in Philadelphia and a letter arrived in the mail with the words "Save Your Home From Foreclosure" in large bold type across the top, that is your Act 91 notice. It can be alarming to open, especially when money is already tight. But this letter is not the end of the road, it's the opposite. It is the state of Pennsylvania forcing your lender to slow down and give you a formal chance to act before the courts get involved.
Let me walk you through what the letter actually is, what it requires, and what happens if you ignore it, so you can make the right call for your family.
What Does an Act 91 Notice Actually Say?
Act 91, a Pennsylvania law from 1983, applies to owner-occupied one- and two-family homes. Before your lender can start a mortgage foreclosure in court, it must send this notice in a specific, easy-to-read format. The letter tells you how far behind you are on the loan, lists approved consumer credit counseling agencies you can meet with for free, and explains the Homeowners' Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, or HEMAP, which is run through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). The law is strict about the format, because the point is that you actually read it and understand it.
How Long Do I Have to Respond to the Act 91 Notice?
The clock starts the day the notice is mailed, and you typically have 30 days, plus three days for postal delivery, to act. Within that window you should schedule a face-to-face meeting with one of the approved counseling agencies listed in the letter and apply for HEMAP help if you want it. While your HEMAP application is pending, foreclosure is delayed. For eligible homeowners dealing with a temporary hardship they didn't cause, HEMAP can cover up to 24 months of mortgage payments, and the money is repaid as a loan. Not everyone qualifies, but you don't know unless you apply, and applying is free.
What Happens If I Ignore the Act 91 Notice?
Ignoring the letter is the one move I'd never recommend. If you don't respond within the 30-day window, you lose the HEMAP protection, and the stay that would have delayed foreclosure disappears. The lender can then file a mortgage foreclosure complaint in your county's Court of Common Pleas, and once you're served, you usually have about 20 days to file a written answer. Miss that, and the court can enter a default judgment, which sets the foreclosure on a path toward a sheriff's sale of your home. The notice exists specifically so this doesn't happen to you quietly.
Does an Act 91 Notice Mean Foreclosure Has Started?
No. The Act 91 notice is a required warning that comes before foreclosure, not a foreclosure action itself. Federal rules generally stop a servicer from officially starting foreclosure until you're more than 120 days past due, and the Act 91 notice is usually sent well before that point, often once you're around 60 days delinquent. It is a gate the lender has to pass through first. If a lender skips or botches this notice, the foreclosure can be challenged in court. That protection only helps you if you act on it.
Can I Still Sell My House After an Act 91 Notice?
Yes, and this is the option most homeowners don't realize they still have. You hold title to the home until the sheriff's sale is actually completed, so a normal sale can still close while you're in pre-foreclosure. At closing, the sale proceeds pay off the mortgage, any liens, and back taxes, and you keep whatever equity is left. If you owe more than the home is worth, a short sale lets you sell for less than the balance with the lender's approval, and it typically damages your credit far less than a completed foreclosure. If you received HEMAP assistance, that loan gets repaid from the sale proceeds.
The Bottom Line
The Act 91 notice is your formal, on-the-record chance to get help before the courts get involved. You have roughly 30 days to meet with a counselor and apply for HEMAP, foreclosure can't start until the notice window is handled, and you remain the owner of the home until a sheriff's sale is completed. Whatever you do, don't ignore the letter. Respond, and you keep your options.
The full walkthrough of the Pennsylvania foreclosure timeline, how a short sale works, and the credit impact of each path is on my foreclosure and short sale guidance page, and my sell-my-house page covers what a pre-foreclosure sale involves for Philadelphia homeowners.
If you just received an Act 91 notice and you're not sure whether to apply for help or sell the house first, tell me your situation and I'll give you a straight answer on the best path. No pressure, just an honest read from someone who helps pre-foreclosure homeowners protect what they've built.