Thanks to bills passed recently by both houses of Congress, renters affected by the wave of foreclosures sweeping across the country may soon be protected from sudden eviction.
The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act, passed by the House of Representatives on May 7, includes provisions introduced by Congressmember Keith Ellison that would establish minimum protections for renters of properties that fall into foreclosure.
The provisions, introduced by the Minnesota legislator as a stand-alone bill – the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 – during the 110th Congress, would provide renters with a minimum 90 days notice prior to eviction from a foreclosed property. The provisions would also allow tenants in homes that have been purchased for use as investment properties to stay in their units until the end of their lease.
Similarly, New York’s junior Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, was at the helm, along with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, an amendment to a larger housing bill passed by the Senate on May 1.
The amendment – itself introduced as a stand-alone bill by Kerry last year – like the provision in the House’s legislation, ensures that tenants nationwide have at least 90 days to find their next home if their building falls into foreclosure. Under the amendment, renters with a lease have the right to stay in a foreclosed building until their lease is up. If the property buyer plans to use the building as a primary residence, tenants must have at least 90 days to vacate.
“Families without the means to find temporary housing or move into another unit can be kicked out onto the streets, because their landlord failed to meet his or her obligation to pay,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “This is wrong and I am proud to partner with my colleagues to pass new protections for these families.”
Unlike the House bill, which has no sunset date, the Senate amendment is set to expire in 2012.
Before any renter protections take effect, the Senate and House must arrive at a resolution of differences, which insiders say could happen within a matter of weeks.
