If you are not sufficiently terrified about the arrogance and abusive power that the banks are wielding all across this country, hold on to your hats and just wait for this one…..it’s an OUTRAGE that is really going to get your attention!
How would you like to know that hundreds of jackbooted thugs have keys to your home and they can come and go anytime they please?
Banks are busy breaking into properties all across this country. Now most times when this occurs it is after an unlicensed, unregulated and uncontrolled subcontractor hired by the bank makes a determination that the home is vacant or abandoned. After this unilateral decision is made, the “property preservation specialist” then takes it upon himself to steal whatever property is left then change the locks on the door. Granted, most times when this occurs, the rightful owner of the property is in some stage of abandoning and leaving the property, but in an alarming number of cases, this is occurring when people are still living in the property!
Just to make sure the point is clear, let me repeat and emphasize….SUBCONTRACTORS HIRED BY THE BANKS ARE BREAKING INTO PEOPLE’S HOMES, CHANGING THE LOCKS AND TAKING PROPERTY. Just how widespread is this phenomena? No one really knows because it is vastly underreported, but I say that any single example is a serious violation of fundamental Constitutional rights and that this cannot be permitted to continue.
The respect of property rights and especially the right to be secure in one’s home was formerly a bedrock principle that defined this country, so important in fact that it was incorporated into a now meaningless and unimportant scrap of paper called The Constitution of The United States of America. The Constitution has become meaningless and unimportant because law enforcement,our courts and we as a people have allowed the rights that were articulated in this document to be trampled on and ignored.
The fact that these rights are now ignored is clearly evidenced when a victim of a bank break in calls law enforcement…the typical response from law enforcement is “too bad, private dispute, no crime committed”….oftentimes no report is even taken but when you talk to law enforcement, they are getting these phone calls all the time. But their budgets are stretched and they’ve been convinced that this is permissible conduct by the banks….so they just brush the victim off and go on about their business.
Now here’s what should really get all of America outraged…and should terrify those people who have had their homes broken into and the locks changed by the banks…..when the banks change the locks, they are putting on locks with master keys….not unique keys for that home, but locks with master keys that hundreds of subcontractors have the keys to. This was confirmed to me recently after a client confronted a contractor who was inspecting a bank owned property next door to hers. The locks to her door were changed and this guy….seemed to be a pretty straight up guy warned her about this master key issue….to demonstrate, he walked over, put in a key and opened her deadbolt with the very first key….can you imagine her horror?
Now the details of this exchange and the industry practice will be confirmed through deposition and formal discovery, but the issue for anyone who is a victim of this and for every single American is this practice is a bona fide OUTRAGE that cannot be allowed to continue. There has got to be more reporting of these crimes and the victims of the crimes must be insistent that law enforcement take reports and investigate….but beyond that, lawyers across this country need to take a far more aggressive posture in prosecuting these cases. Although this seems like an ancillary issue at this point in time, there is simply no other group that can stand up and protect these vital Constitutional rights.
Just like the big boys in major plaintiff law firms are now taking on the banks in the securitization and investor put back lawsuits, it’s time for the Consumer Right Attorney Warriors to step onto this battlefield and take on this fight for all of Americans. It’s also time for the press to again start talking about this issue….it’s been a few months since the issue got the kind of coverage it deserves, but I can guarantee that the frequency of these crimes has only increased…..
Here’s a sampling of prior reporting….
CORRECTED FOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR
PLEASE DELETE PREVIOUS VERSION
Comment to Matt Weidner , May 23, 2011
It’s time that this faux pretense of “property preservation” is dropped and this conduct is properly called what it really is: HARRASSMENT
This past March, I prevailed in my motion to dismiss a foreclosure case brought against me by Deutsche Bank.
The case was dismissed without prejudice but also *without* leave for the plaintiff to amend.
I am no longer “in foreclosure” and no current Lis Pendens is in effect pursuant to the aforementioned dismissal.
What I apparently did not get granted by the court was a reprieve from continuing harassment by Deutsche Bank through it’s agents.
For the past 2 months the “cockroach” that harassed me all throughout the litigation has continued to trespass, take photos of everything including my pets, my wife, the license plates on my vehicles or anything that appears to suit his interest. He peers into my windows, prowls about my property and leaves collection notices from the mortgage servicer on my mailbox or door… WHILE WE ARE AT HOME.
There are cars in my driveway, music or televisions are regularly on and our dogs bark at the slightest sounds outside. There is no mistaking that my home is NOT VACANT.
Not one single time has this “cockroach” knocked on my door to announce his presence or offered any identification when I have come outside to challenge him. On all occasions he has become verbally abusive to me and refused to leave my property when I have instructed him to.
I have even advised the company that employs this intruder that *their agent* has been noticed that he is trespassing on my property and I am giving them notice as well.
Having prevailed in court against Deutsche Bank there can now be NO MISTAKE, this conduct is clearly not “property preservation”, it is obviously INTENTIONAL HARRASSMENT
Local law enforcement has taken no action on my complaints beyond simply taking a report.
Apparently I am left to defend my home as best I can from continuing trespass and harassment.
I shall now do so.
i met with a very prominent attorney today….we are going after the cockroaches….
One of the first lies told by the bank propaganda machine was and still is about how the “deadbeat” homeowner is so pissed about losing their home that they trash the place before they leave. Ask any Realtor working in distressed housing over the past 4 years and they’ll tell you how many times they’ve heard this explanation or even repeated it to explain the condition of a bank owned home.
The problem is, all these trashed homes have the same kinds of fixtures removed and the appliances, a/c units and copper plumbing all cut out with professional tools. And sadly, their children’s toys and clothes are still laying in a pile in the closet. The thing that pisses me off the most about propaganda is how easily people believe it without thinking through it for themselves to uncover the obvious lies.
The unlicensed and unregulated “property preservation” sub-contractors are indeed dangerous. Every homeowner has to protect themselves and their family, especially if they have small children, elderly or disabled persons in the home. Homeowners are in danger no matter what stage of mortgage dispute, not even just active foreclosure suit. Homeowners that think they are working on a modification with the bank by talking with someone on the phone and faxing in documentation are oftentimes the most suseptible because they are led to believe that they don’t need their own independent Attorney representation.
If anyone in the State of Washington, where the courts are corrupt and the attorneys are afraid to fight the banks are organizing a civilized, controlled protest with signs on the sidewalks and streets, please let me know. I believe the people need to start protesting in the streets and on the sidewalks where ever it can make a difference. We have been victimized enough. I stess it must be protested as calmly as possible letting our signs and physical being there protest, so no more harm comes to us. I urge everyone to write, call and e-mail every public official you will contact, in the masses to let them know their is a huge wave on Americans that will no longer accept being victimized by these banks and we will the banksters to go to jail.