The California right of redemption after foreclosure lets a former owner buy the property back from the foreclosure purchaser, but only in one narrow situation: the lender went through a judicial foreclosure and the court’s decree allowed for a deficiency judgment against the borrower. When that box is checked, you have either three months or one year from the sale date to pay the buyer the full redemption price. In every other California foreclosure, including the trustee sales that account for the overwhelming majority of them, there is no post-sale right to redeem.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.010
When You Actually Have a Right to Redeem
Two things have to line up. The lender must have foreclosed judicially, meaning through a lawsuit and a court decree of sale, not through the power-of-sale clause in a deed of trust. And the court’s decree must have determined that a deficiency judgment may be ordered against the borrower.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.010
A deficiency judgment is what a lender pursues when the foreclosure sale doesn’t cover the full debt. The possibility of that judgment is the trigger. If the court’s decree doesn’t authorize one, the property sells free and clear and no redemption right attaches. The logic behind the rule is that borrowers left personally on the hook for the shortfall deserve a second chance to reclaim the property and clear the debt.
Why Most California Homeowners Do Not Qualify
California lenders almost always foreclose nonjudicially, using the power of sale in the deed of trust. After a nonjudicial sale, there is no statutory right of redemption. Once the trustee’s deed records, the sale is final.
Even when a lender does go the judicial route, two antideficiency statutes usually shut down the deficiency judgment that would otherwise trigger redemption. No deficiency judgment is allowed after any nonjudicial foreclosure sale.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 580d And no deficiency is allowed on a purchase-money mortgage, which covers most loans used to buy an owner-occupied home of four units or fewer, plus seller-financed loans.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 580b If the loan is purchase-money, the court can’t authorize a deficiency in the first place, and the right of redemption never attaches.
The practical result is that redemption comes into play mostly with non-purchase-money loans that went through court: cash-out refinances, commercial loans, hard-money loans. A typical homeowner who defaulted on the original mortgage used to buy the house probably has no right of redemption at all.
How Long You Have to Redeem
When the right applies, the clock starts on the day of the foreclosure sale:
- Three months if the sale price covered the secured debt plus interest and the costs of the lawsuit and sale.
- One year if the sale price fell short of that amount.4California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.030
The split is arithmetic, not discretionary. If the sale didn’t fully pay the debt, you get the longer window automatically. No extensions, no grace periods.
The levying officer who ran the sale, usually the county sheriff, must promptly notify you of the redemption right and which period applies, delivered in person or by mail.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.050 Don’t wait for the notice to start planning. The deadline runs from the sale date, not from when the paperwork lands in your mailbox.
What Redemption Costs
Redeeming isn’t cheap, and it isn’t just the auction price. The redemption price includes:
- The purchase price at the foreclosure sale.
- Taxes and assessments the buyer paid on the property after the sale.
- Reasonable amounts for insurance, maintenance, upkeep, and repairs.
- Any payments the buyer made on a senior lien to protect their interest.
- Interest on all of the above at the money-judgment rate, running from the date each amount was paid until you deposit the redemption price.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.060
If the foreclosure buyer also holds liens that were junior to the foreclosing lien, add the full amount of those junior liens plus interest at the same rate.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.060
The California money-judgment interest rate is 10% per year in most cases.7California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 685.010 On a $400,000 sale price, that alone is roughly $3,333 a month.
One offset works for you. Any rents or profits the buyer collected from the property, or the value of their own use and occupancy, are subtracted from the redemption price.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.060 For a rental that the buyer has been collecting on for months, that can be real money.
The redemption price is a lump sum. No installments. A successor in interest (someone who bought or inherited your interest) can redeem too, but they must file proof of their interest with the payment.
How to Redeem, Step by Step
Redemption isn’t a negotiation with the buyer. It’s a deposit-and-transfer procedure run through the levying officer:
- Calculate the redemption price using the statutory components. This is the hardest part, because you need to know what the buyer actually paid for taxes, insurance, repairs, and any senior-lien payments.
- Deposit the full amount with the levying officer before the redemption deadline.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.060
- The levying officer tenders the deposit to the foreclosure buyer.
- If the buyer accepts, or if the amount was set by court order, the levying officer executes a certificate of redemption, delivers it to you, and records a duplicate with the county recorder.8California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.080
When that certificate records, the foreclosure sale is effectively undone and title returns to you.
If You Disagree With the Buyer’s Numbers
Most redemption attempts hit a dispute somewhere. You may not know exactly what the buyer spent on taxes, insurance, or repairs. The buyer may inflate those costs, or may argue you have no right to redeem at all. Either side can push the fight to court by petitioning to determine the redemption price or the right to redeem.9California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.070
The petition has to be filed before the redemption period ends. At filing, you deposit the undisputed portion of the price with the levying officer and give notice of the pending petition. The court sets a hearing within 20 days, and you must serve the buyer at least 10 days beforehand.
At the hearing, the borrower carries the burden of proof. If the court fixes a redemption price higher than what you already deposited, you have 10 days after the order to pay the difference to the levying officer.9California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 729.070 Miss that 10-day window and an otherwise valid redemption dies.
What Happens to Other Liens After You Redeem
Redemption undoes the sale, but it doesn’t reset the property’s lien history.
Liens that were junior to the foreclosing lien were wiped out at the sale, and redemption doesn’t revive them. A second mortgage or judgment lien eliminated by a senior lender’s foreclosure stays eliminated after you redeem. Those junior creditors lost their security when the sale went through.
Liens senior to the foreclosing lien survive both the sale and the redemption. If a second-mortgage lender foreclosed while the first mortgage remained in place, that first mortgage is still there when you redeem, and you still owe it. Priority generally follows recording date, with the earliest-recorded lien ranking highest. Tax liens follow their own priority rules based on when the tax liability arose.
Property Tax Sales Are a Different Rule
If the county is selling your property for unpaid property taxes rather than a lender foreclosing on a mortgage, the redemption framework above does not apply. Under the Revenue and Taxation Code, the right to redeem tax-defaulted property terminates at the close of business on the last business day before the tax sale begins.10California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 3707 Once the sale starts, redemption is gone. Mailed payments have to arrive before the cutoff; postmarks don’t count.
Two narrow revivals exist. If the tax collector approved the sale as a credit transaction and the buyer fails to pay in full by the deadline, the redemption right revives the next business day. And if the property doesn’t sell at auction at all, the right revives.10California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 3707 Outside those situations, once notice of a scheduled tax sale arrives, the window to act is measured in days, not months.
If You Do Not Redeem
When the redemption period lapses, title vests permanently in the foreclosure buyer. No late filings, no hardship extensions, no do-overs.
The financial damage doesn’t stop at the loss of the house. If the sale didn’t cover the debt, which is the very scenario that gave you the one-year redemption window, the lender can pursue a deficiency judgment for the shortfall. That judgment is collectible through wage garnishment, bank levies, and seizure of other assets.
The foreclosure also stays on your credit report for seven years from the date of the first missed payment that led to it.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If I Lose My Home to Foreclosure, Can I Ever Buy a Home Again? Conventional mortgage qualification is difficult during that period; FHA financing may be available sooner depending on the facts. When redemption is on the table, treat the deadline as the day of the sale and start pricing the buyout immediately.