Wave Of Lawsuits Targeting Foreclosing Lenders, Contractors For Illegal "Trash-Outs" Seen On The Horizon?

The Palm Beach Post reports:

• The home repo business is booming as lenders break records this year to take back properties from delinquent borrowers. But some homeowners and attorneys complain the banks, and the property preservation companies hired to change door locks and clean homes, are overzealous in their work.

• In a handful of recent lawsuits statewide, homeowners say their locks were changed before a foreclosure had even been filed, that personal property and financial papers were rifled through or taken, and that charges are being levied for lawn maintenance and trash removal when HOAs already take care of those services.

• Often, homeowners say they can't even figure out who has been in their home as banks contract with nationwide property preservation groups that subcontract to local companies, which are not state regulated or required to receive special licensing.

• In one suit, a man with a criminal record of drug and burglary charges who is working for a property preservation company is alleged to have taken a laptop computer, several bottles of wine and a cordless drill from a Punta Gorda home while there to change the locks. He also helped himself to a cold beer from the refrigerator, leaving it, along with his fingerprints, on a counter top, the suit says.

• "They are emboldened because they are getting away with it," said St. Petersburg attorney Matt Weidner, who is representing the Punta Gorda homeowner.(1)(2)

For more, see Critics: Home repo agents too 'gung-ho,' change locks before foreclosures are filed.

(1) Reportedly, the lawsuit names Sarasota-based First Property Preservation Inc., which is doing business as Good Choice Preservation, and claims that not only were things stolen, but that the employee with the criminal record returned a second time and threatened the renters saying he was going to take all of their belongings. The home was in foreclosure, but occupied by renters, the story states.

(2) For earlier posts on a couple of high profile illegal trash-out cases, see:

• Countrywide Financial: Nevada High Court OKs $1M+ Damage Award To Homeowner Due To Mortgage Company Misidentification Of Home In Foreclosure (for the court ruling, see Countrywide Home Loans v. Thitchener, 192 P.3d 243; 2008 Nev. LEXIS 79; 124 Nev. Adv. Rep. 64 (September 11, 2008).),

• Wells Fargo: Long Island Judge Hammers Wells w/ $155K Tab For Oppressive, Heavy Handed, Egregious Conduct For Pre-Sale Lockout Of Homeowner In Foreclosure (for the court ruling, see Wells Fargo v. Tyson, 2010 NY Slip Op 20079 (Sup. Ct., Suffolk County, March 5, 2010)).