Fannie: No Comment On Affect Of New Federal Protections For Tenants in Foreclosed Homes

In Hartford, Connecticut, the Hartford Courant reports:

• Fannie Mae still won't comment on how it will be affected by new federal protections for tenants living in some foreclosed properties, but the mortgage giant said Tuesday that it already tries to help renters who face the loss of a place to live. [...] Fannie Mae's policies on evictions jumped into the spotlight last week after Greater Hartford Legal Aid challenged the agency's move to evict Evelyn Colon, a single mother living in a recently foreclosed property on Marshall Street in Hartford.

***

• Legal Aid lawyers invoked a provision in the $700 billion financial services bailout legislation that protects tenants in foreclosed properties that are under the control of federal agencies.(1)

For more, see Fannie Mae: Goal Is To Avoid Evictions (if link expires, try here).

For earlier information on this story, see:

• Hartford Tenant Fights To Stay In Home After Foreclosure,
• Connecticut Renter Facing Foreclosure Eviction Invokes New Bailout Law In Attempt To Fight Off Fannie.

(1) Section 109(b) of the Federal bailout bill may require the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to work with the F.H.F.A. and other government entities to permit tenants like Evelyn to remain in their apartments after foreclosure. BetaTenantRentSkimming

Residents Face Water Shut-Off, Foreclosure Eviction As Mobile Home Park Owner Fails To Pay Water Bills, Mortgage Payments

In Florence, Colorado, KOAA-TV Channels 5/30 reports:

• Faucets have run dry for tenants of the Shady Lane Mobile Home Park in Florence, CO as they learn their landlord hasn't been paying bills--and soon they'll lose their homes. "Everybody's angry," said John Custer, who moved to the community 5 months ago. "There's no way people should have to live like this." [Last week], Custer came home to cook dinner and take a shower, but the water just trickled out of his faucets.

***

• Now, several of the residents have received notices that the property is in foreclosure. It will go up for auction in January and they will have to leave their homes. They stopped paying their rent because the water was shut off, and now some say their wages are being garnished.

For more, see Landlord's financial problems hit tenants.

For story update, see Life without running water.

For other posts involving the problems tenants face in homes in foreclosure, go here, go here, go here, go here, and go here. BetaTenantRentSkimming

L.A. Official Calls For Stop To Illegal Foreclosure Evictions; Lender Accused Of Stiffing Booted Tenants Out Of $7K "Relo Fee" Required By City Law

In Los Angeles, California, CBS 2 reports:

• Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti called Friday on Countrywide Home Loans to stop the practice of evicting tenants from apartment buildings that have gone into foreclosure. The councilman pointed to the case of Johnny Lee, who lives in a triplex in Echo Park. Following foreclosure, Countrywide allegedly pressured Lee to leave the apartment and offered him a $2,000 relocation fee. City law requires a $7,000 fee in such cases, according to Garcetti.

• A representative for Countrywide was not immediately available for comment. "It's really frustrating, and I feel like I was duped," Lee said. "I had no idea that this was illegal and that I had a right to stay or to a minimum amount of money. In fact, I was told I would have to be out within 30 days and didn't have the right to any money, even my security deposit," he said. "I encourage others in this situation to learn more about their rights as tenants."

• In a letter to Countrywide, Garcetti said the Calabasas-based company attempted a similar eviction earlier this year in South Los Angeles. "Months later, it appears that Countrywide and its agents continue to violate city law by illegally pressuring tenants to vacate foreclosed properties and offering relocation fees below what is required by law," Garcetti wrote. "I am writing to ask that your company cease and desist illegal foreclosure-related eviction practices immediately. In addition, Countrywide must bring its eviction practices and guidelines into compliance with the city's Rent Stabilization Ordinance."

Source: Councilman To Countrywide: Stop Illegal Evictions.

See also: Countrywide to EP tenants: get moving. BetaTenantRentSkimming

"No One Leaves Campaign" Takes To Boston Streets As Students Spread Word To Protect Tenants From Illegal Practices In Foreclosure Evictions

In Boston, Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reports:

• Today, 106 Boston law and college students plan to join community activists to walk the streets of Dorchester, Hyde Park, and South Boston, to advise tenants to stand their ground and stay in their homes. Calling it the "No one leaves campaign," students aim to advise tenants of their legal rights to stay in their homes, even after foreclosure. That will help slow abandonment and blight in vulnerable neighborhoods. They are focusing on the 28 zones in Boston and Chelsea with the most foreclosures.

• "Tenants have an amazing amount of rights and a lot of ability to fight these evictions," said Harvard Law School student Nick Hartigan, 25, one of the main organizers. "Banks should do the responsible thing and allow people to stay."

***

• [Tracie Tyler, a 47-year-old administrative assistant fighting her eviction] is energized to have student involvement in what she sees as the important quest of getting the news out. "They are young, they are vibrant, they inspire us older folks," Tyler said. "There are people that are afraid who don't know where to go."

For more, see Students take to the streets to aid displaced tenants.

See also, Harvard Law Record: Harvard Law's foreclosure taskforce tackles housing crisis (Legal Aid Bureau leads effort to stop eviction of tenants in foreclosed properties). BetaTenantRentSkimming

Two Active Duty Marines Lose Rented Home While Overseas As Landlord Succumbs To Foreclosure

In Imperial Beach, California, KGTV Channel 10 reports:

• A South Bay home is where two servicemen used to live. While they were overseas, they kept paying rent to a homeowner whose property was under foreclosure. [...] The property owner said she accepted the [Marines' rent] payments because she believed the bank would negotiate a new loan. However, Realtor Marilyn Swartz said the tenants were never notified. "Unfortunately, these young men were not made aware of that because the previous owner did not contact them," said Swartz. [...] The two Marines are still on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the story, see Are Some Renters Paying Rent On Foreclosed Homes? BetaTenantRentSkimming

Flint-Area Sheriff Declares Two Week Eviction Moratorium; Expresses Concern Over Unwitting Tenants Renting From Landlords In Foreclosure

In Flint, Michigan, WJRT-TV Channel 12 reports:

• Amid a national mortgage meltdown, Genesee County's sheriff is taking an unusual step to fight foreclosure. Sheriff Robert Pickell says renters won't be evicted for the next two weeks. The eviction moratorium is drawing fire from landlords and praise from tenants.

***

• Last week, the sheriff in Chicago announced a similar moratorium. [...] Pickell says his deputies evict 50 to 60 families a week. About five of those, he says, are renters who have paid their bills on time.

For the story, see Local sheriff puts halt on evictions (Controversial moratorium will last two weeks).

See also, The Flint Journal: Foreclosures prompt Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell to call off evictions of renters.

For story update, see Genesee County moratorium on evictions scaled back to include only renters in foreclosed homes. BetaTenantRentSkimming

NYC Tenant Evictions Soar As Landlords Lose Homes To Foreclosure

In New York City, the Daily News reports:

• The staggering rise in foreclosures and home evictions across the outer boroughs has created a new group of innocent victims - renters. A Daily News investigation shows that from Staten Island to South Jamaica, renters have been given just weeks to find new digs, while unscrupulous landlords collect rents for homes they no longer own.

For more, see Evictions soar as banks foreclose on landlords during credit crisis. BetaTenantRentSkimming

Lenders Are Failing In Obligation To Identify All Occupants In Homes When Requesting Foreclosure Evictions, Says Chicago-Area Sheriff

According to a press release from Cook County, Illinois Sheriff Thomas J. Dart's office:

• [W]hile mortgage companies are supposed to conduct a basic due diligence investigation before requesting an eviction – identifying all occupants – sheriff’s deputies are regularly finding no work done by the mortgage company in advance, leaving the identifying work to deputies working at taxpayer expense.

• “These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people, and don’t care who’s in the building,” Dart said. “They simply want their money and don’t care who gets hurt along the way. On top of it all, they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them. We’re not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We’re just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today.”

***

• [Dart] wants mortgage companies to be forced to provide sufficient information to the Sheriff’s Office in order to conduct an eviction. That will provide greater notification to tenants that their building is in foreclosure and will require mortgage companies and their attorneys to do more leg work in advance of an eviction.

For more, see Cook County Sheriff Suspends Foreclosure Evictions (Move comes in wake of growing mortgage crisis).

In related stories, see:

• Illinois Attorney General Backs Sheriff's Eviction Moratorium,
• Lawsuit Withdrawn Over Eviction Orders (A mortgage lender that filed a lawsuit to force the Cook County Sheriff to evict a suburban Chicago woman from her home has withdrawn the lawsuit. Accredited Home Lenders says it's also suspending its eviction action against Shirley McFarland of Dolton from her foreclosed bungalow.). BetaTenantRentSkimming

"Sewer Service" One Reason Why Unwitting Tenants Unaware Of Foreclosure Proceedings?

In New York City, a story in Metro New York suggests one possible reason why tenants unwittingly renting homes in foreclosure are unaware of the ongoing legal proceedings, only to get caught by surprise when sheriff's deputies show up at their front door to carry out an eviction:

• [S]ome [tenants] don’t even know their landlords are in foreclosure until the bank brings them to court. Three notices are supposed to be served before eviction, but many tenants never receive papers. “A lot of buildings have problems with mail, and there is ‘sewer service,’” [lawyer and director of the City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court Louise Seeley] said, referring to unscrupulous process servers who dump papers instead of delivering them.

Source: Beware broke landlords (Foreclosure crisis leading to more renters dealing with evictions).

For other posts involving the problems tenants face in rented homes in foreclosure, go here, go here, go here, go here, and go here.

Go here for other posts on alleged fraud in the serving of court papers.

Go here for other posts on process server screw ups. ScrewUpProcessServing SewerServiceAlpha BetaTenantRentSkimming

Chicago-Area Foreclosure Evictions To Resume Monday; Court System Implements Added Procedural Protections To Address Sheriff's Concerns

In Chicago, Illinois, the Daily Herald reports:

• Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said Thursday he will resume evictions at foreclosed homes and apartment buildings beginning Monday, confident that he and the court system have put adequate protections in place to protect renters' due process. "We've been given adequate assurance that we're not going to be asked to evict innocent tenants," said Dart in announcing the move.

***

• Dart said that even though representations [by foreclosing lenders] were sometimes made that notice had been given [to tenants], it often wasn't. [...] To illustrate how untruthful some of the representations had been in the past, Dart displayed a picture of a piece of property from which he was court-ordered to evict tenants. When his deputies arrived, they discovered the property had burned down five years ago, unbeknown to bankers or the court.

***

• Dart believes the problem has been addressed because Cook County Chancery Division Presiding Judge Dorothy Kinnaird worked with him to provide new forms that must be sworn to by bank representatives or their lawyer before an eviction can begin. The new form, says Dart, gives him what he wanted: "somebody who signed a piece of paper (who has) something to lose."

For the story, see Sheriff says he's changed the system, will restart evictions.

For a description of the new requirements imposed on lenders involved in foreclosure actions in Cook County, Illinois, see Cook County Sheriff's press release: Safeguards Added to Eviction Process (Cook County Judiciary introduces protections for tenants, taxpayers). BetaTenantRentSkimming

Connecticut Renter Facing Foreclosure Eviction Invokes New Bailout Law In Attempt To Fight Off Fannie

In Hartford, Connecticut, The Hartford Courant reports:

• Four days after Evelyn Colon paid the September rent for her Hartford apartment, a U.S. marshal knocked on the door. He handed her a notice that she had to be out in a month. Fannie Mae, the huge mortgage financier, had foreclosed on her building and was evicting Colon and two other tenants.

• Colon is now fighting her eviction in what her attorneys believe is the first court challenge in the country to use a provision(1) deep within the government's $700 billion bailout legislation to seek protection for renters facing eviction after foreclosure. She will be able to stay in her apartment while the case is litigated.

***

• Colon's attorneys at Greater Hartford Legal Aid Inc., an agency that helps low-income clients, are arguing that Fannie Mae became a federal agency when it came under the control of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Sept. 7 and is therefore bound by the financial services bailout legislation.

For the rest of the story, see Hartford Tenant Fights To Stay In Home After Foreclosure (if link expires, try here or try here).

See also, WTNH-TV Channel 8: Renter fights back against foreclosure:

• "Basically we've asked the court to throw this case out, the eviction, out of court, or, if the court doesn't feel comfortable doing that, to kind of put things on pause until the Treasury or another federal agency, perhaps the F.H.F.A. (Federal Housing Finance Agency), issues a policy statement saying what does the language in the Bailout Bill mean," said Stephanie D'Ambrose from Greater Hartford Legal Aid.

(1) Section 109(b) of the Federal bailout bill may require the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to work with the F.H.F.A. and other government entities to permit tenants like Evelyn to remain in their apartments after foreclosure. BetaTenantRentSkimming

Defense Department Moves To Protect Servicembers Renting From Landlords In Foreclosure

Members of the U.S. Armed Services are not immune from finding themselves renting from rent-skimming landlords in foreclosure and finding themselves having to move on short notice. Aware of the situation, the U.S. Defense Department is taking steps to lend assistance to its servicemembers to mitigate the cost and aggravation in these cases.

For more, see:

• Air Force Times: DoD may pay for move in landlord foreclosure,
• Elmendorf Air Force Base Newsletter: AF-funded local moves for tenants affected by landlord foreclosures,
• CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa Newsletter: Marine Corps eases stress of renters in volatile housing market. BetaTenantRentSkimming

Foreclosed Landlord's Failure To Pay Utility Bill Results In Gas Shut-Off, Leaving Tenants In 10-Unit Building Facing Eviction

In Battle Creek, Michigan, the Battle Creek Enquirer reports:

• Residents of a 10-unit apartment house on Capital Avenue, Northeast, are facing forcible eviction [...] because the property owner is not providing heat for the building.

• Henry Turner, owner of the house [...] said Tuesday he had gotten a personal loan through his credit union to help cover the months-old, unpaid $4,800 natural gas bill that led to the service being cut off. [...] But the house has other code violations that may keep it condemned even after the gas is back on, said Marcie Gillette, neighborhood services director for the city of Battle Creek.

***

• A city housing inspector went to the house on Oct. 20 and 22 and found that it did not meet safety standards because it lacked central heat. "He found tenants heating their homes with their oven doors open," Gillette said, "which is a huge fire and safety concern." [...] Turner said he owns four rental properties and has been struggling with finances at all of them.

***

• City tax records show that the home, owned by Turner and his wife, Rhonda, was foreclosed upon this year. It was purchased Oct. 9 by its previous owners, Carl and Barbara Dennis, in a sheriff's foreclosure sale, the records show. The Turners remain responsible for the property during the six months they have to try to pay off what's owed on the house and retain ownership.(1)

For more, see Gas cut, tenants may be evicted.

See also: Court hearing set on unheated apartment building.

(1) Michigan law gives foreclosed property owners a six month redemption period after a foreclosure sale to come up with the amount needed to pay off the amount owed and keep their property. BetaTenantRentSkimming

100+ Spokane Seniors May Face Eviction As Local Retirement Home Faces Foreclosure

In Spokane, Washington, KXLY-TV Channel 4 reports:

• More than 100 Spokane seniors are wondering if they'll have to find a new place to live while their retirement complex faces foreclosure. The developer of Clare House on the South Hill is millions of dollars in debt and the property is heading for the auction block.

• The seniors living there are pretty worried because not only will their retirement complex be changing hands but many of the residents living here can't afford to move some where else.

For more, see Retirement complex to be auctioned (read story) (watch KXLY-TV video).

See also, Spokane Journal of Business: Retirement complex faces foreclosure (Clare House Apartments placed in receivership pending trustee sale). BetaTenantRentSkimming

90 Jacksonville Tenants Face The Boot In Foreclosed Apartment Complex As Renters Receive Eviction Notices

In Jacksonville, Florida, First Coast News reports:

• "I found this notice here on my door. Basically it's saying that we have 15 days to move," says Jasmine Taylor. Wednesday night, Taylor found out she had less than a month to find a new place to live, and she's not the only one. About 90 other residents of Watermark Marina Apartments at 2039 Niblick Drive, got their own letters saying the complex was shutting down.

• According to management staff, back in August, the complex owned by South Fork out of California, went into foreclosure. For the last two months, Heritage Bank of North Florida has had direct contact with the apartment management, but management also says this comes as a shock to them.

For the story, see Residents of A Westside Apartment Have 15 Days To Move Out. BetaTenantRentSkimming

Foreclosed 600 Unit Houston Apartment Complex Leaves Tenants Outraged, In Limbo

In Houston, Texas, FOX 26 reports:

• A foreclosure on the property of a north Houston apartment complex is leaving its residents in limbo. Residents say they had heard rumors of problems plaguing La Casita Apartments, rumors that appeared to be confirmed when they saw employees at the management office packing up their files and moving out. [...] Officials said the property's lienholder is working to place an interim management team, and Mayor Bill White's office will try to expedite the process so the residents of the 600-unit complex can remain in their homes.

For more, see Complex Residents Left in Limbo After Property Gets Foreclosed.

See also:

1) KPRC-TV Channel 2: Meeting To Be Held About Mass Eviction:

• The La Casita Apartments, [...] is in foreclosure and the residents are being evicted. When the residents were told their water and lights would be turned off in a day or two, hundreds of outraged residents gathered outside in protest on Wednesday.

2) The Houston Chronicle: City helps halt evictions (Quick action helps 1,000 residents of N. Houston apartment complex from losing homes). BetaTenantRentSkimming