A successful bidder at a trustee's sale (non-judicial foreclosure) may take possession of the property 20 after the sale.
RCW 61.24.060. No
notice is required for the new owner to evict the previous owners after the 20 period expires.
Savings Bank v. Mink,
49 Wn. App. 204, 741 P.2d 1043 (1987).
RCW 61.24.060 provides that the purchaser has the right of possession 20 days after the sale and has the right to
the summary proceedings of RCW 59.12, the unlawful detainer (i.e. eviction) statute. Under the eviction statute notice
to quit the premises, where required, is a jurisdictional prerequisite. RCW 59.12.030 lists six situations in which
a person in possession may be evicted and what notice is required for each.
The court of Appeals held that, although RCW 61.24.060 fails to specify under which provision of the eviction statute
the buyer at foreclosure may proceed, the closest situation was that of a hold-over tenant. Under the eviction statute
a landowner may evict anyone who remains in possession after the expiration of a lease term without serving a
pre-eviction notice.
The court reasoned that the 20-day period was analogous to a lease term for the purposes of the eviction statute.
The court further reasoned that the intention of the legislature, to avoid costly, time-consuming judicial foreclosure proceedings
in nonjudicial foreclosure, and to provide expeditious, summary proceedings for the removal of persons in the possession of
the property of another under the eviction statute, were best realized under this analysis. Also, the competing legislative
intent of providing an adequate opportunity [or notice] for interested parties to prevent wrongful foreclosure was not prejudiced
because the defendant in the eviction action received detailed notices and provides opportunities to cure pursuant to the
trustee sale statute.
Therefore, the court held no notice was required before serving the previous owner with the eviction lawsuit.
