Postponement of sheriff's sale
A sheriff's sale can be moved. Either side can do it, and the two routes work very differently.
The lender's route#
The foreclosing party may postpone from time to time, at its own expense.
It must publish notice of the postponement once, in the same newspaper the original notice ran in, and send notice to the occupant by first class mail within the statutory window.
Lender postponements are common. They usually reflect a title issue, a pending loss mitigation review, or a procedural defect being corrected — not a decision about the borrower.
The owner's route, and what it costs#
This is the option most Minnesota homeowners never learn they have.
Under Minn. Stat. 580.07, an owner can postpone the sale where the property is classified as a homestead, occupied by the owner as a homestead, and improved with not more than four dwelling units.
The mechanism: execute and record a sworn affidavit at least 15 days before the scheduled sale date, file a copy with the sheriff conducting the sale, and deliver a copy to the lender's attorney. The copies must show the recording date and the office where the affidavit was recorded.
The postponement runs five months where the original redemption period was six, or eleven months where it was twelve.
The price: the redemption period afterward is reduced to five weeks.
The arithmetic#
Six months redemption, no postponement: roughly six months from the sale before title vests.
Postponed: five extra months before the sale, then five weeks of redemption.
So the owner gains about five months of occupancy and loses about four and a half months of redemption window.
Which is better depends on one question: is the money to redeem findable?
If it is — a pending sale, an insurance settlement, a refinance in progress, family able to help — the six-month window is worth more than the extra months in the house, and postponing is the wrong move.
If it is not, and the realistic outcome is losing the property either way, then five extra months of housing at no cost is a substantial gain.
That is a genuine decision, and it is the most consequential choice most Minnesota homeowners in foreclosure never realise they were offered.
What it does not change#
Publication does not restart, and the occupant does not need re-serving where service already occurred.
What must change is the sheriff's certificate, which has to show the actual sale date and the actual length of the redemption period.
Get advice before doing it#
The deficiency position may also be affected, and the 15-day deadline is absolute. This is a decision for a lawyer or a housing counsellor, made with time in hand rather than in the last fortnight.