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Governor Scott signs foreclosure fast track bill

Thu Jun 13, 2013 by on Florida Law News

The following article was written by Brian Bandell for the South Florida Business Journal and republished in the South Florida Law Blog.

Protect yourself against wrongful foreclosures with a good foreclosure defense plan and stand your ground.

Protect yourself against wrongful foreclosures with a good foreclosure defense plan and stand your ground.

Governor Rick Scott signed a bill that aims to move foreclosures through the court system more quickly, but some homeowner advocates worry that it will erode their rights.

House Bill 87 requires banks to file cases with a clear chain of ownership of the mortgage note and how the delinquency occurred. If the case has the correct documentation, the lender can seek a “show cause” order as to why it shouldn’t be awarded a judgment and take the house. The homeowner would have to quickly raise a valid defense.

The foreclosure fast bill prevents homeowners who wrongly lost homes to foreclosure from getting them back. Instead, they would be awarded monetary compensation.

Weston foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim said the bill gives title insurance underwriters a get out of jail free card because they are no longer liable for the improper sale of bank-owned homes.

“The original homeowner who was foreclosed upon, and may have been illegally foreclosed upon, ultimately is the big loser,” Oppenheim said. “While they can sue the bank for an illegal foreclosure, if they can find a foreclosure defense ttorney willing to handle such a case, they will never be able to get their home back.”

In addition, lenders would have only one year to seek a deficiency judgment against a borrower to nail them for the judgment amount in excess of the value of their home.

“The allowance of the retired senior judges to continue to serve in their capacity also is a constitutional question, it allows such judges to basically continue to serve while not facing either re-election or re-appointment as required by the Florida constitution,” Oppenheim added. “Thus, it should be a very interesting next two years to see how the judicial branch responds to these changes.”

Real Estate Defense and Foreclosure Attorney, Roy Oppenheim

Real Estate Defense and Foreclosure Attorney, Roy Oppenheim

Real estate attorney and foreclosure defense attorney, Roy Oppenheim left Wall Street for Main Street, founding Oppenheim Law along with his wife Ellen in 1989 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is vice president of Weston Title and creator of the South Florida Law Blog, named the best business and technology blog by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Follow Roy on Twitter at @OpLaw or like Oppenheim Law on Facebook.

Tags: bank, bank fraud, bank-owned, court system, fast-track foreclosure bill, florida foreclosure, Florida Foreclosure Defense, foreclosure defense attorney, foreclosure fast track bill, Governor Scott, HB 87, improper sales, Lenders, Oppenheim Law, Oppenhieim Law, Roy Oppenheim, South Florida Business Journal, south florida law, South Florida Law Blog, title insurance, title insurance undewriters

2 responses to “Governor Scott signs foreclosure fast track bill”

  1. […] Allowing retired judges to continue to serve within the rocket docket system is also an issue the bill creates, Oppenheim wrote in a blog. […]

  2. […] the foreclosure crisis began, real estate law has been the subject of much turbulence and change.  House Bill 87 and the Rocket Dockets combined as a force of nature, causing a glacial surge right here in Florida […]