California lawmakers have voted to extend a law passed during the peak of the mortgage crisis that provides added protections for property owners, renters and neighbors of foreclosed properties.
The law passed in 2008 says foreclosure proceedings can’t begin until the lender has tried for 30 days to work out alternatives with the delinquent homeowner. Lenders also must notify renters that they are beginning foreclosure proceedings. And they must give renters 60 days’ notice before evicting them from a foreclosed property.
They also are required to maintain vacant foreclosed houses or risk fines up to $1,000 a day.
The law was set to expire after this year, but senators voted Monday to extend it another five years, through 2017.
Senators unanimously approved a second bill, this one designed to prevent the California Housing Finance Agency from foreclosing on certain borrowers who rent out their homes.
The prohibition is limited to homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments, but rent out their homes because they owe more than their house is worth. The bill’s author, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, said it is designed to help property owners who find themselves in financial trouble because of circumstances like a lost job or growing family, and is not aimed at helping housing market speculators.
Read more at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jan/25/tp-state-senate-votes-to-extend-mortgage-law/
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