Sunday, August 1, 2010

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act)

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) there were a few little acorns tucked away in the 848 pages of the act. One of them extended the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) – instead of it vanishing at the end of 2012, it now is alive until the end of 2014. See Section 1484 of H.R. 4173 at page 829. This extension is a big deal for tenants of foreclosed properties. Thus far the industry and its vendors have ignored the Act (it became effective May 2009) because they would much rather evict everyone in the home and sell it vacant.


FHA has not considered the PTFA to be worthy of compliance when it comes to the implementation of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). This program was established to stabilize communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment. NSP authorizes recipients (states, nonprofits and others) to acquire foreclosed properties and then resell them to qualified buyers. Recipients target certain areas that have concentrations of foreclosures in order to stabilize the rest of the neighborhood using NSP funding. NSP funds may only be used to purchase foreclosed properties for which PTAF was complied with during the foreclosure. This is important, as reports have shown that PTAF is widely ignored by lenders.



Fannie claims to have addressed the NSP certification issue for some recipients (not Texas as mentioned in the original post below) by hedging the language of the certification:

Fannie Mae has established a due diligence process that attempts to identify any bona fide tenant (“Bona Fide Tenant”), as that term is defined under the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 (“the Act”), that occupies a property acquired by Fannie Mae through foreclosure on or after the date of the Act. Upon information and belief, any Bona Fide Tenant protected by the Act, occupying the Property after the date of the Act, received all notices required pursuant to the Act. Upon information and belief, Seller states that the Property was vacant at the time Buyer and Seller entered into negotiations for purchase of the property Upon information and belief, Fannie Mae became initial successor in interest to the Property after a foreclosure sale on __________________ (foreclosure sale date). Upon information and belief, Seller states that the Property was vacant as of ________ (Initial OSR Date).



http://foreclosurebuzz.org/2009/07/16/new-federal-law-protects-tenants/



http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h4173enr.txt.pdf



http://www.nlihc.org/doc/PTFA-Report-Final.pdf