1. The forfeiture shall be initiated by the vendor by serving on the vendee a written notice
which shall:
a. Reasonably identify the contract by a document reference number and accurately
describe the real estate covered.
b. Specify the terms of the contract with which the vendee has not complied.
c. State that unless, within thirty days after the completed service of the notice, the vendee
performs the terms in default and pays the reasonable costs of serving the notice, the contract
will be forfeited.
d. Specify the amount of attorney fees claimed by the vendor pursuant to section 656.7
and state that payment of the attorney fees is not required to comply with the notice and
prevent forfeiture.
2. a. The vendor shall also serve a copy of the notice required in subsection 1 on the
person in possession of the real estate, if different than the vendee; on all the vendee’s
mortgagees of record; and on a person who asserts a claim against the vendee’s interest,
except a government or governmental subdivision or agency holding a lien for real estate
taxes or assessments, if the person has done both of the following:
(1) Requested, on a form which substantially complies with the following form, that notice
of forfeiture be served on the person at an address specified in the request.
REQUEST FOR NOTICE PURSUANT TO
IOWA CODE SECTION 656.2, SUBSECTION 2
The undersigned requests service of notice under Iowa Code
sections 656.2 and 656.3 to forfeit the contract recorded on the ........
day of ................ (month), ........ (year), in book or roll ................,
image or page ............, office of the ................ county recorder,
.................... county, Iowa, wherein ........................................ is/are
seller(s) and ........................................ is/are buyer(s), for sale of
real estate legally described as: [insert complete legal description]
....................................................
NAME
....................................................
....................................................
....................................................
ADDRESS
CAUTION: Your name and address must be correct. If not
correct, you will not receive notice requested because notice need\n\nTue Dec 09 21:58:01 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 656 (21, 0)
§656.2, FORFEITURE OF REAL ESTATE CONTRACTS 2\n\n only be served on you at the above address. If your address
changes, a new request for notice must be filed.
(2) Filed the request form for record in the office of the county recorder after acquisition
of the vendee’s interest but prior to the date of recording of the proof and record of service
of notice of forfeiture required by section 656.5 and paid a fee of five dollars.
b. The request for notice is valid for a period of five years from the date of filing with the
county recorder. The request for notice may be renewed for additional periods of five years
by the procedure specified in this subsection. The request for notice may be amended at any
time by the procedure specified in this subsection. The request for notice shall be indexed.
c. The vendee’s mortgagees of record include all assignees of record for collateral
purposes.
3. As used in this section, the terms “vendor” and “vendee” include a successor in interest
but the term “vendee” excludes a vendee who assigned or conveyed of record all of the
vendee’s interest in the real estate.
[C97, §4299; S13, §4299; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §12390; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77,
79, 81, §656.2]
84 Acts, ch 1203, §2; 86 Acts, ch 1237, §41; 87 Acts, ch 166, §1; 91 Acts, ch 161, §1; 2000
Acts, ch 1058, §56; 2001 Acts, ch 44, §32; 2003 Acts, ch 108, §112; 2003 Acts, 1st Ex, ch 2, §44,
209; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §219
Referred to in §656.3, 656.8
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
29
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1948–2025 · leading case:
Jamison v. Knosby, 423 N.W.2d 2 (Iowa 1988).
Jamison v. Knosby, 423 N.W.2d 2 (Iowa 1988).
· cites it 11× “See Iowa Code §§ 656.2 (2); 562.5-562.7. Jamison responded through her attorney that she considered Hanf’s rights to the land extinguished by the forfeiture.”
Gottschalk v. Simpson, 422 N.W.2d 181 (Iowa 1988).
· cites it 6× “See Iowa Code § 656.2 (1985). The notices stated: You and each of you are hereby notified: (2) that said contract will stand forfeited and canceled as by its terms and provisions it may be, unless the parties in default within thirty days after the completed service of this…”
Dreesen v. Leckband, 479 N.W.2d 620 (Iowa Ct. App. 1991).
· cites it 16× “The district court found the Reiters had no obligation to serve notice of the forfeiture on Margae Farms because the corporation was not a party entitled to notice under Iowa Code section 656.2. [1] We agree. The assignment of the real estate contract from Leckband to Margae…”
Slade v. M.L.E. Inv. Co., 566 N.W.2d 503 (Iowa 1997).
· cites it 4× “See Iowa Code § 656.2 (1991). On October 21, 1992, the last day of the statutory thirty-day period for curing the default and avoiding forfeiture of the Ohio Street property, Slade filed an action in district court seeking to enjoin M.”
Keokuk State Bank v. Eckley, 354 N.W.2d 785 (Iowa Ct. App. 1984).
· cites it 6× “Iowa Code § 656.2 (3) (1981). Dallas and Karen Eckley learned on the 30th day they would be unable to tender the alleged deficiencies.”
Fairfax v. Oaks Dev. Co., 713 N.W.2d 704 (Iowa 2006).
· cites it 7× “3 (2003) had not been properly completed as to both vendees and that this circumstance rendered the attempted forfeiture under Iowa Code section 656.2 ineffective and invalid. The court of appeals found that the forfeiture had been properly completed by service of proper legal…”
Jensen v. Schreck, 275 N.W.2d 374 (Iowa 1979).
· cites it 2× “Section 656.2 provided the method in the following language: Such forfeiture and cancellation shall be initiated by the vendor where by the successor in interest, by serving or causing to be served on vendee or successor in interest, if known to the vendor or his successor in…”
Ganzer v. Pfab, 360 N.W.2d 754 (Iowa 1985).
· cites it 4× “Iowa Code § 656.2 . Plaintiff filed affidavits with the county recorder in support of forfeiture on April 11 and April 27, 1983.”
Miles Homes, Inc. of Iowa v. Grant, 134 N.W.2d 569 (Iowa 1965).
· cites it 8× “The question is, is a mortgagee of a vendee a successor in interest as that term is used in section 656.2, Code of Iowa, 1962, and therefore entitled to notice of forfeiture before the mortgagee’s lien can be cut off? Plaintiff is the mortgagee of the vendee in a real-estate…”
Bettis v. Bettis, 228 N.W.2d 193 (Iowa 1975).
· cites it 3× “Bettis and Charles Ronald Bettis under the terms of § 656.2, The Code, 1971. Charles Ronald Bettis does not appeal and all further references to the contract purchaser are to Nancy K.”
Dunbar v. Johnson (In Re Grady), 202 B.R. 120 (Bankr. D. Iowa 1996).
· cites it 2× “VALIDITY OF FORFEITURE Trustee first argues that the inaccuracies in the notice of forfeiture nullify the forfeiture.”
Klotz v. Klotz, 440 N.W.2d 406 (Iowa Ct. App. 1989).
· cites it 2× “A forfeiture of the real estate contract for nonpayment of monies owed could be accomplished in a thirty-day period.”
— Iowa Code § 656.2(1) — 1 case
— Iowa Code § 656.2(1)(c) — 1 case
— Iowa Code § 656.2(2) — 2 cases
Jamison v. Knosby, 423 N.W.2d 2 (Iowa 1988).
“See Iowa Code §§ 656.2 (2); 562.5-562.7. Jamison responded through her attorney that she considered Hanf’s rights to the land extinguished by the forfeiture.”
— Iowa Code § 656.2(3) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.