Foreclosure Defense Florida

Message To Governor Scott- VETO FORECLOSURE LEGISLATION!

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is considering whether to sign a bill meant to speed up the home foreclosure process. But foreclosure lawyers are saying the measure is unfair to consumers, and they’re threatening a legal fight if it becomes law.
Florida’s housing market may be improving, but courts are still getting crushed by the backlog of foreclosure cases””that’s lenders trying to take possession of property when someone can’t pay a mortgage. As of February, about 340,000 foreclosure cases sat unresolved in Florida courts. And it’s predicted an additional 680,000 cases will be opened in the next two years.
Courts and lawmakers agree that’s a problem, but there’s disagreement about how to alleviate it. One solution is in a bill now before Scott, sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater).
Debating the bill on the last day of the legislative session, Latvala said, ” I don’t think our real estate market will really start getting back to normal in Florida with new home building and so forth unless we can reduce this backlog. I think we’ve added safeguards in this bill that on balance make it much more tilted toward consumers than it is the banks.”
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One Comment

  • Capt Ben Alexander Cola says:
    May 14, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    Dear Honorable Rick Scott,
    I am aware of the fast foreclosure bill that has arrived on your desk. I rise in opposition to changing and or streamlining the foreclosure process that has been in use for over a hundred years. Almost ten years ago my wallet was stolen while I was ordering a meal at a local Macdonalds. I had just cashed a 1,500 paycheck and was on my way to purchase some expensive used parts for a hobby boat that I was refurbishing. I ordered a replacement Drivers license, and other IDs’. In 2007, I was foreclosed on for a loan I never took and on a home I’d been living in since well before the wallet incident. After answering the foreclosure lawsuit, my foreclosure was dismissed but the lender has refused to go away and I received a certified letter from them just 2 weeks ago demanding payment. I fear they will try an end run to foreclose on me and Ms Lee Reel again and without us even knowing because they could simply go straight to a judge claiming anything and that we wouldn’t have a chance to respond. That is what the pushers of this bill are trying to do. Sort of a retroactive law change that would surely in many cases destroy homesteads and lives. My advice is that if you feel the need for procedure and or law change it must be not retro active. Some people would not wish to have purchased a home in the first place and rented instead if they knew they wouldn’t have any rights beyond the rights of a tenant where they can be evicted with very little question or paperwork, I know this because I am a licensed property managing real estate company owner. Also, I believe that if there is a dispute of any kind against a homeowner, then government must not take sides to streamline throwing out a family simply because the bank or the hostile Homeowners association wants your home that has no real loan against it. The existing process has worked well enough and far too many people have lost their homes already by mistake due to fast process without checks and balance. There is a reason for the foreclosure backlog and it is not the existing process that we’ve had for a hundred years. It may be a true backlog, but that is no reason to cut corners and retroactively change the laws of foreclosure. All parties should be well notified and heard in all cases otherwise a severe taking advantage will occur and more “Oh they caught us in a “mistake” will happen. Keep in mind that you are talking about throwing out children along with their Fathers and Mothers. To change the law to hasten this process is immoral and denies a homeowner “ALL rights currently protecting them” under a law that was very well already thought out. The current system is not broken and the fact that it is backlogged is only proof that the banks do not have their appropriate paperwork in many of these cases and they cannot produce so they want to rush the case thus denying Homeowners of their day in court. Just imagine being foreclosed on in a home that you’ve owned for decades by a bank that you owe no money to and or never heard of except that it has an office up the street? You come home and the Sheriff says he has a final judgement for possession and get out along with a lifetime of contents to move. Your court day was a secret and a joke. Now how are you supposed to overcome this when you need to find a place to live whilst apparently asking for your house back retroactively and presumably you’ll only have a few days to reclaim it while you are moving and you’ll have to pay costs for a lawyer and for filing papers while you are living in a car with no internet connection, printer or way to properly dispute the bank’s possession of your home. The current system needs not be changed unless you are interested in tilting the tables against the good peoples of Florida who you have thus far represented fairly. It is your responsibility to represent the people of the state, not to tilt the tables to help the rich and powerful get false and illegal foreclosures rammed through the courts under new supersonic laws that speed faster than sound of a homeowner’s voice. I find it very hard to believe that a powerful bank is having trouble with foreclosure when they have all they need. What they want now is more than they should have. Please veto the foreclosure bill. It will not hurt anyone to do so. All parties to pending litigation still have their original rights as specified in the existing good law. Retroactive law changes are immoral. Capt. Ben Alexander Cola

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