Banks are the biggest barriers to speeding the foreclosure process in Florida because they let cases linger in the courts and continue to present flawed documents, the state courts administrator told a Senate subcommittee this week.
Lisa Goodner’s presentation, which included findings from the recently formed Foreclosure Initiative Workgroup, comes as Palm Beach County foreclosure attorneys scramble to respond to new local rules meant to hasten the rate of home repossessions.
Today is the first deadline in an administrative order issued last month requiring lenders and mortgage servicers to submit paperwork on aging Palm Beach County cases before potentially facing a court-forced trial date.
About 14,780 Palm Beach County foreclosures filed between 2007 and 2010 remain unresolved. There were more than 31,000 total pending cases as of the end of January.
The state has a backlog of 366,250 foreclosure cases and expects 680,000 more to be filed in the next three years, Goodner said.