Real estate defense attorney Roy Oppenheim includes excerpts in the following article, written by Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post, Friday, May 31st, 2013, and republished in The South Florida Law Blog.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is facing heavy lobbying from both sides of the fast-track foreclosure bill that arrived on his desk this week.
Response in support of the plan, HB 87, narrowly outpaces those fighting the bill, which passed both chambers during the 2013 legislative session after years of debate and compromise.
Calls in favor of the legislation stood at 632 on Thursday, with opposition calls at 563.
Scott has until June 12 to take action on the bill, or he can allow it to become law without his signature. He’s been asked by homeowner advocates and Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando to veto the legislation on grounds that it violates historic property rights laws and puts more onus on the homeowner to prove why he or she shouldn’t lose their house.
“In the middle of the game this law would change the rules of current engagement of existing trials before judges,” said Oppenheim Law, South Florida real estate [foreclosure] defense attorney Roy Oppenheim, who opposes the bill. “This will only create more uncertainty and a host of new issues will ultimately arise.”
Proponents of the bill say it will streamline Florida’s meandering foreclosure process, making it easier to foreclose on abandoned and vacant homes while helping homeowners by reducing the amount of time a bank can pursue a borrower for unpaid debt from five years to one year.
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