Last week in Tallahassee, the state Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Florida Fair Foreclosure Act, getting it one step closer to passage in that body. The bill, sponsored by Pinellas County's Jack Latvala, would reduce to one year the time a foreclosing financial institution has to pursue a deficiency judgment (the current limit is five years). The bill would "quickly" move abandoned homes through the foreclosure process.
A companion bill in the House (HB213) is also moving forward, sponsored by Naples Republican Kathleen Passidomo, who says her bill would provide several options for lenders who want to fast-track foreclosures.
A State Courts Administrator appearing before the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Committee last month said there are an estimated 368,000 pending and expected new foreclosure cases in state courts. There are 28,000 in Hillsborough alone.
But St. Petersburg attorney Matt Weidner says for all of the discussion of how this legislation will speed up foreclosures, he says neither bill says how it will do so. Besides, he says the banks in many cases don't even want the foreclosed properties. "It won't accomplish anything," he says simply.
This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2012.