Florida’s 2012 Legislature Aims to Help Homeowners with Proposed Foreclosure Bills

Foreclosure rates in Florida are much higher than the rest of the nation and South Florida tops them all. According to CoreLogic, the foreclosure rate in Miami-Dade County in October 2011 was 18.13 percent, while the national foreclosure rate was only 3.51 percent. Broward County was only slightly better at 14.45 percent and Palm Beach remained at 12.84 percent, a rate they have carried since October 2010. There is no doubt that drastic measures are needed to stop the hemorrhaging and stimulate real estate growth in Florida.

As the Florida legisl­­­­ative session begins this year, several congressmen and women will be proposing bills aimed to help homeowners.  Here is an overview of the proposed­­ bills:

HB 213 by Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples is proposing the most aggressive bill with her Florida Fair Foreclosure Act which requires foreclosing party to provide specified notice and allows suit for damages to set aside foreclosure.

The bill includes mandates for lenders to prove their right to the property and new provisions to encourage judges to push stalled cases forward. The bill also assures third-party auction buyers that in the event of error in foreclosures, buyers keep the property and the previous homeowner can seek damages from the lender.

Passidomo also proposed HB427 which sets 60-day limit for claims payment by insurers to avoid bad faith claims.

Other proposed bills include:

HB65 by Darren Soto, D-Orlando: Soto’s bill creates deficiency judgment reimbursement program in Florida Housing Finance Corp.  He, along with Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, is requesting a minimum $100 million federal grant be established to help the hardest-hit housing markets.

Stay tuned to our website and subscribe to future blogs and we will keep you up to date on the status of these bills and other state and national legislation that affects South Florida’s homeowners.