In 2002, the defendant and his wife gave a mortgage on the property in question to another bank. The mortgage was foreclosed on in 2008 and the court issued a special execution for a sheriff’s sale of the property, upon the expiration of six months from the entry of the decree of foreclosure (the defendants had six months to redeem the property). The plaintiff bank purchased the property at the sheriff’s sale and the deed issued immediately. However, the defendant had not yet left the premises. The bank filed a petition for forcible entry and detainer against the defendant. The trial court held a hearing on the bank’s petition and found that the bank was entitled to immediate possession of the property. The court ordered the county sheriff to “remove” the defendant from the home.
The defendant appealed to the Iowa Court of Appeals, and the court examined the defendant’s argument that he had “paramount” title to the property and that this title was paramount to the lien under which the sheriff’s sale was made. The appellate court found that the trial court did have jurisdiction to order the foreclosure and subsequent sheriff’s sale. The defendant was properly afforded the requisite six month right of redemption as required by Iowa law. Quite simply, the defendant did not pay his mortgage, the foreclosure was proper, he did not exercise his right to redeem and the land was sold. Glenwood State Bank v. Hawbaker, et al., No. 0-780/09-1564, 2011 Iowa App. LEXIS 119 (Iowa Ct. App., Feb. 9, 2011).