Surviving Homeowners Bill of Rights Signed Into Law
Oakland, California, September 30, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA) is happy to announce that Senate Bill 1150, the Surviving Homeowners Bill of Rights (SBOR) was signed into law!
SBOR will protect widows, widowers, and other heirs from unnecessary foreclosures. Surviving homeowners have faced foreclosure because banks and servicers refuse to speak with them after the death of the mortgage-holder. Surviving homeowners can include widowed spouses, domestic partners, heirs, siblings and joint tenants.
"Surviving homeowners deserve better than the senseless obstacles created by mortgage servicers which were too often leading to unnecessary foreclosures. Our attorneys will monitor the implementation of SBOR closely and will work to inform surviving homeowners about these important new protections. We encourage mortgage servicers to immediately start working with these at-risk homeowners and to start training their staff and updating their policies and procedures now so that they'll be compliant when this law takes effect in January"
Maeve Elise Brown, executive director of Housing and Economic Rights Advocates
"My husband, Andrew Nava, passed away in March 2012, he was the legal mortgage holder of our home in Salinas. After his death, myself and our two children, ages 5 and 7 at the time, were uncertain about the future and feared that we would lose the only home we had ever known... Our mortgage lender was clearly not interested in helping me with my circumstance and would not talk with me. If SB1150 would have been in law at the time of my husband's death it would have saved my children and I hours and hours of agony and worry," Surviving homeowner Gloria Nava from Salinas, California
Under SBOR mortgage servicers will have to speak with surviving homeowners and provide information and guidance on their options and the process of assuming the mortgage or seeking a modification. SBOR will take effect in January of 2017, and will allow surviving homeowners to sue banks and mortgage servicers that are not compliant with the law.
“Surviving homeowners deserve better than the senseless obstacles created by mortgage servicers which were too often leading to unnecessary foreclosures. Our attorneys will monitor the implementation of SBOR closely and will work to inform surviving homeowners about these important new protections. We encourage mortgage servicers to immediately start working with these at-risk homeowners and to start training their staff and updating their policies and procedures now so that they’ll be compliant when this law takes effect in January” explains Maeve Elise Brown, executive director of Housing and Economic Rights Advocates
Thank you to Governor Brown, Senators Leno and Galgiani, Allies and our Co-Sponsors California Reinvestment Coalition and California Alliance for Retired Americans and Attorney General Harris! And a special thanks to the surviving homeowners who were willing to share their experiences publicly.
Source: Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA)
