Providence Judge Issues Split Decision On City Foreclosure Ordinance

In Providence, Rhode Island, The Providence Journal reports:

• A Superior Court judge has ruled on a controversial city ordinance enacted last year in an effort to slow the tide of foreclosures in the city. Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Lanphear ruled on Monday that the city has the right to require banks to take part in homeowner mediation before foreclosing on a home and the right to impose a $2,000 fine for noncompliance with the law.

• But the city does not have the right to prevent banks that do not follow the law from filing necessary real estate documents to complete the foreclosure process, as the city ordinance mandated.

For more, see Judge upholds Providence foreclosure ordinance.

For the ruling, see Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. City of Providence, et al.

Thanks to Donald Marritz of Regional Housing Legal Services, a nonprofit, Pennsylvania law firm headquartered in Glenside and with offices in Harrisburg, Gettysburg, and Pittsburgh, for the heads-up on the court ruling.