Gov. Scott Reviewing Mortgage Foreclosure Bill

Homeowners in danger of losing their homes due to foreclosure may soon have their fates decided by a bill that’s just landed on Gov. Rick Scott’s desk.

Lawmakers worried about the backlog of foreclosures in the pipeline just sent the governor a bill aimed at speeding up the foreclosure process. The backlog has negatively impacted Florida’s economy and stressed the judicial system.

What the bill would do

Among other things, HB87 would allow banks to repossess homes within one year of the date of filing of the foreclosure, rather than the current five years. It’s not yet clear whether the governor favors the bill, which passed the House 87-26 and the Senate 26-13.

An analysis by the House of Representatives staff found that the length of time for foreclosures in Florida are abnormally long.  The national average is 414 days from the time a foreclosure case is first filed to the date when a bank repossesses a property, but in Florida that time period is more than double at 853 days.

That’s not all. Analysts also found that the caseload backlog is disproportionately spread across the state, with a greater percentage of backlogs plaguing South Florida.

Who would it help?

Supporters of the bill say it would help energize the state’s sluggish economy by jumpstarting a weak housing market beset with foreclosures.

But critics are concerned that homeowners would be unfairly affected and lose certain protective measures that would make it easier for them to lose their homes.

“So what we’re going to see here is, we’re going to reduce property rights … that have been on the books for generations and it’s not even going to work,” Sen. Darren Soto told the Associated Press.   “This isn’t a legacy that I want to leave.”

The bill, which was sent to the governor on Friday, would apply to existing and pending cases.

Other things to know about foreclosures in Florida:

• Florida has the largest share of foreclosure inventory of any state in the nation, with 305,766 properties in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned as of the end of 2012

• The metro area with the highest rate of foreclosure in the country is Palm-Bay–Melbourne-Titusville. 

• The number of foreclosures jumped from 57,106 in 2005 before the housing crisis to 305,766 by the end of 2012.