Florida Legislature Considers a “Foreclosure Bill of Rights”
Welcome to America in the 21st century where in Florida we are considering adopting a “Foreclosure Bill of Rights”. The 2010 Florida Legislature has pending before it a bill that would provide additional rights when a homestead is foreclosed.
If adopted, HB 75 would become effective 7/1/10 and would allow a homestead owner to file a notice invoking the Foreclosure Bill of Rights. Within 45 days thereafter, the lender would have to obtain a new appraisal of the homestead. Then the lender would have to provide the appraisal to the borrower along with copies of all the loan closing documents involving the mortgage.
So far so good in protecting the borrower. Here’s where the bill takes a left turn. The borrower would then have 30 days to provide a sworn financial affidavit and copies of 3 years of tax returns and bank statements. These are documents that the lender would not have been entitled to receive before obtaining a judgment against the borrower.
So, this bill essentially requires the borrower to give up the right to keep these documents private in order to….what….require the lender to give the borrower copies of the loan closing documents and get a new appraisal. The loan closing docs are available through discovery, anyway. So far, the bill seems more beneficial to the lender than the borrower.
Jim Martin 3/13/10
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