Late Thursday evening, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion to reinstate a court order blocking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (“CDC”) nationwide moratorium on residential evictions.
In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which, in part, imposed a 120-day eviction moratorium on properties
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (“FHFA”) statutory structure, which protected its director from being removed from position “only for cause”, violated the Constitution’s separation of powers. Writing for the majority in Collins, et al. v. Yellen, et al., Nos. 19-422 and 19-563, Justice Alito found that “the Constitution prohibits even ‘modest restrictions’ on the President’s power to remove the head of an agency with a single top officer.” The Supreme Court found this structure to violate the Constitution and reasoned that “the President must be able to remove not just officers who disobey his commands but also those he finds to be negligent and inefficient[.]” Hours after the Supreme Court rendered its ruling, President Biden removed FHFA’s Director, Mark Calabria.
Continue Reading Agency Director Ousted Immediately Following the Supreme Court’s Ruling that the FHFA’s Structure to be Unconstitutional
As the sheer impact of COVID-19 continues to unfold, federal agencies are implementing policies across the country in an effort to lessen the financial burden on Americans. On March 18, 2020, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) authorized the Federal Housing Administration to place an immediate 60-day suspension on all evictions and foreclosures. HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, is hopeful this moratorium “will provide homeowners with some peace of mind during these trying times[.]”
Continue Reading How COVID-19 is Impacting Mortgage Lenders
For institutional lenders, the filing of any foreclosure action requires careful navigation and compliance with various state and federal laws. Notice to the mortgagor, for instance, is a prerequisite to any foreclosure; however, what if the property is subject to a residential lease? What obligation does a mortgagee then have to a third-party tenant? For issues like these, states generally have their own specific tenant foreclosure notice requirements. In many states, notice laws are drafted to mirror the federal provisions provided under the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (“PTFA”).
Introduced in 2009, the PTFA was originally enacted under Title VII of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. The PTFA included a sunset clause, but on May 24 2018, the Trump Administration signed its permanent extension into law. In addition to serving a notice on the mortgagor, the PTFA mandates that notices to foreclose must also be served on all tenants. Generally, once the mortgagee issues a notice to foreclose, the PTFA permits tenants to stay in the foreclosed property for either: (1) 90-days from the date of the notice or (2) the remainder of their lease term, whichever is greater. Significantly, however, the PTFA’s protections only apply to tenants with bona fide tenancies.Continue Reading The Often Overlooked Federal Protections to Tenants in Foreclosure Actions
On December 10, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States resolved a split among the Circuit Courts of Appeals over whether the one-year statute of limitations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) begins to accrue from the time the alleged violation occurs, as opposed to when it is discovered. The Supreme Court’s decision, delivered by Justice Thomas, in Rotkiske v. Klemm, et al., No. 18-328, held that claims brought under the FDCPA are strictly subject to the statutory language of the FDCPA and must be filed “within one year from the date on which the violation occurs.”
Continue Reading Supreme Court Justices say no to applying the “discovery” rule on FDCPA claims