With many Queens homeowners ensnared in the national foreclosure crisis, local elected officials are stepping up to the plate to protect an often overlooked and under-protected element of the equation – renters.
On Tuesday, March 24, New York City Councilmember Helen Sears announced her support for The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 – H.R. 1247 – introduced in early March by Minnesota Congressmember Keith Ellison. The same day, City Councilmember Thomas White introduced his own legislation, Intro.956, with similar intentions – to notify tenants when a lender initiates a legal action to force a sale of their property.
Presently, White explained that renters can be given as little as three days notice before they have to vacate a foreclosed property, which, he said, is “grossly unfair.” Subsequently, tenants’ credit histories can be negatively impacted by a foreclosure, making it more difficult for them to rent a home in the future.
In a statement, White said his legislation, which would require that tenants be notified within 10 days of any foreclosure action, would give renters “ample time to make life altering decisions rather than just several days.”
Under White’s proposed legislation, a foreclosure notification must include a statement of the tenants’ rights and list a governmental agency at which renters can direct questions. A failure to provide such a notice would result in a fine.
The Congressional bill supported by Sears would create a uniform federal standard – which would not preempt comprehensive state or local laws, such as the one proposed by White – to protect tenants living in foreclosed properties. H.R. 1247 mandates that tenants receive notice 90 days prior to eviction.
“Oftentimes the best way to protect ourselves is to protect each other, and that is why it is critical that we see this legislation passed,” Sears said in a statement in which she urged members of the New York delegation to support the House of Representatives’ bill.
According to her Director of Communications, Jeremy Drucker, Sears has put in a request for a City Council resolution to be written up in support of the federal legislation and has signed on to White’s “good bill” as a co-sponsor.
White noted that the proposed federal legislation – which he supports – gives states and locales “the right to administer any additional legislation that they may deem necessary” with regard to protecting renters of homes in foreclosed properties. He added that the federal and City Council bills “are in unison with one another.”
