HB 87: The New Bill Which Aims To Speed Up The Foreclosure Process Within Florida

The proposal which aims to speed up the foreclosures that caused for consumers to

protest in 2012 is back again in the form of a more reasonable bill called HB 87 which
was filed last week by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples.

According to the new bill, HB 87 aims to provide changes to the civil procedures that
govern the foreclosure process throughout the state of Florida where the occurrence of
home repossessions seem to be rampant once again.

Provisions included in the bill are seeking for ways to speed up and clean up the
whole process which is now recorded to take over 600 days before it can run its full
course within the state.

Passidomo mentions the need to ensure the process is as efficient as possible while
also being able to grant borrowers their due process rights. However, people who do
not have any source of income or are unable to afford making due payments cannot
expect property status to be put on hold for too long.

The bill which proposes the implementation of strict paperwork requirements for
lenders, fast procedures, and protection against possible legal problems has seemed to
resurfaced during a point in time wherein banks are starting to precipitate again after
the two years spent cooling down on home repossessions after news regarding bank
employees handling foreclosure paperwork without first conducting proper reviews.

Recent figures show that foreclosure filings in Florida have increased by as much as
20 percent in the last year which makes it the United States’ highest foreclosure rate
to date. Despite the fact that the housing market is showing signs of improvement,
there are many foreclosures that have yet to undergo the process in the upcoming
years.

According to the Lender Processing Services, one in every five mortgages are
currently delinquent and more than 50 percent have not even started the initial stages
of the foreclosure process.

HB 87 is hoping to make sure that the process turns out to be much faster by requiring
mortgage lenders to provide certification of correctly reviewed paperwork to prove
that they do have the legal right to foreclosure.

The bill will also provide condominium associations with the ability to speed up the
process whenever a specific bank is unable to act accordingly as many of these types
of associations have previously been obliged to handle maintenance costs while the
banks carry out the foreclosure process which many believe is being done on purpose
in order to cut down on the bank’s total costs.

Nevertheless, banks can also benefit from the bill as it also aims to eliminate possible
situations which could require them to pay monetary damages in the event that any
wrongful procedures are traced back to them.

As for consumers, Passidomo says that HB 87 has more provisions which aim for
borrower protection than what currently exists in the state of Florida. If you would
like to find out more regarding Florida foreclosures today, you may contact our team
of professional real estate for further details regarding your concerns.