The Rent Is All Paid Up, but Eviction Still Looms

[babylonsister]

The Rent Is All Paid Up, but Eviction Still Looms

Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

Fannie Mae has allowed Chauntay Barnes, left, to stay in her home in Hamden, Conn., after her landlord defaulted.

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By JOHN LELAND
Published: May 1, 2009


Chauntay Barnes and Edgar Letriz, who live near each other in Connecticut, have many things in common. Both rent homes whose owners defaulted on their mortgages. Both say they never missed a rent payment. And both received eviction notices after the lenders foreclosed. But there is a major difference.

The mortgage on Ms. Barnes’s house in Hamden is controlled by Fannie Mae, which in January stopped evicting renters from foreclosed properties. The mortgage on Mr. Letriz’s three-family house in New Haven is controlled by HSBC, a London-based bank.

Ms. Barnes is now awaiting a month-to-month lease, valid until Fannie Mae sells her home; Mr. Letriz, on the other hand, is facing eviction.

Renters like Mr. Letriz and Ms. Barnes have long been unsuspecting casualties in the foreclosure crisis, facing eviction through no fault of their own, often with little warning. When the government-controlled mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, started offering leases to renters of foreclosed properties, lawmakers and housing advocates hoped that other lenders would follow suit.

But so far, action has been minimal.

“This has been a silent issue that is now gaining steam and attention,” said Marietta Rodriguez, director of national homeownership programs at NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit network of community housing groups. “A lot of states and municipalities are trying to see what they can do” to require banks to extend leases.

So far this year, 30 percent of homes that received foreclosure notices were occupied by someone other than their owner, according to RealtyTrac, which collects foreclosure data. The federal government’s recently announced $75 billion housing rescue plan leaves renters unprotected because it applies only to a homeowner’s primary residence, not rental properties.

After renters are evicted, properties often remain vacant and become neglected or vandalized, hurting neighborhood property values and creating eyesores — a loss for lenders as well as residents, housing advocates say.

“Is it explicable?” Ms. Rodriguez said. “Not really. It affects the displaced tenant, the value of the building, the neighborhood. Nobody wins.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/us/02renters.html

[glowing]

1. Unless its a rule that all the banks must follow, not all of them will.

this is the reason for our do-nothing congress. How hard is it to say, on a rental property foreclosure, the bank must give the tenants 90 days to move and return any deposits that the tenant is due.. or the bank can sign a new lease with the tenant and act as the land lord. Its really very simple. This is not rocket science to create a system that is fair to all parties involved.

[elizfeelinggreat]

2. I think it's fair and the decent thing to do

but I'm pretty sure the Greedy Old Perverts wouldn't think so.

[glowing]

4. I wouldn't see why not. At least with rental money, the banks would make some

kind of profit... they may even be able to engineer a rent to own type of scenario and clear their balance sheets.

[elizfeelinggreat]

6. because

everything I've seen from them leads me to that conclusion.

They may want to help corporations but not if it involves helping real people who need some help. We've already seen them give piles of money away and we've seen who gets the money - it's not anyone who is in a position that article describes. We have seen many hateful and unfair things from the GOP. Just look at the gay marriage stance - what skin is it off their nose for others to be happy? They don't believe in equality in any sense of the word, they believe in the good old boy network. Keep the little people in their place.

Gosh, it's depressing trying to explain why I think they would fight it.

[glowing]

7. Actually, you are right.. they would fight it. why because GOP and Logic do

not mix.. and I think it the old boys network... they hate new money.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I lobbied hard for a law in MO protecting renters

And I am proud to report it is making its way through the legislature. :)

We have had far too many families at my school lose their homes because the landlord defaulted on the mortgage. And some got no notice at all; they came home to find their belongings on the front yard. :mad:

[madrchsod]

5. tom dart, the sheriff of cook county, named in time`s top 100....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/01/cook-county-sheriff-tom-d_n_194480.html

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893847_1894203,00.html




this actually warrants a separate post but i don`t have the time. ..this guy really is something