• Foreclosures in Tennessee are regulated by lawTennessee state contour against blurred USA flag image by Stasys Eidiejus from Fotolia.com
  
  Foreclosure, the process where a lender takes ownership of property when a borrower defaults on loan repayments, is regulated by law in the state of Tennessee. A foreclosure can either be ordered by the court following a petition filed by a lender, or initiated without the intervention of the courts if the contractual conditions that may trigger a foreclosure have occurred.
  
  

Publication of Notice of Sale

• Following a foreclosure, the sale of the property must be published. Section 35.5.101 of Chapter 5, Title 35 of the Tennessee Code states that the sale of land in a case of foreclosure must be published three times in a newspaper published and circulated in the county that the property is located in. The first publication of the sale has to be at least 20 days before the sale is scheduled to take place. The debtor must also be informed of the sale, on or before the first notice of the sale is published. The law says that notice sent to the debtor must be sent to the address of the property being sold, and at the last known mailing address of the debtor.
  
  

Cure of Default

• When a property is the subject of a foreclosure, Tennessee law allows the debtor to "cure" the debt prior to the sale of the foreclosed property. Chapter 20 of Title 45 in the Tennessee legal code states, in section 45.20.104, that the debtor--or someone acting on behalf of the debtor--can pay the amount of the debt and the property returns to the debtor. The law states that payment of the amount in default, puts the borrower in the same legal position as if the default had not happened at all.
  
  

Right of Redemption

• Under Tennessee law, when a property has been foreclosed by an institution holding a deed of trust or a mortgage, the borrower in default has the right to redeem the property. Tennessee Code Title 66, Chapter 8, section 66.8.101 states that real estate that has been sold to pay a debt, can be redeemed by the debtor within two years of the sale. The debtor only has to pay the price paid by the purchaser, plus interest, calculated using the prime rate of the Federal Reserve Board at the date of the purchase. According to section 66.8.106, to redeem the property, the purchaser must also pay any charges, such as legal fees, that the purchaser of the property incurred when he purchased the property.