Foreclosures Lead To Harassment Of Lenders

Posted in Foreclosure, March 13th, 2008 |

Lenders are going all out to evict renters and resorting to ugly measures like not paying water bills. Oakland duplex residents are loud in their complaints. Their rent was inclusive of this and other amenities but nobody is willing to listen to reason. After the lender foreclosed the landlord vanished. Local laws give some protection to lenders. Knowing this the landlord is taking extreme measures to throw them out and get the house vacated. In East Bay water supply was snapped in 543 instances – a rise of 65% from the previous year. A housing rights group, Just Cause Oakland has located six cases of water supply being disconnected but says that there are many more yet to be found out. This game has become quite common.

In June West Oakland duplex slipped into foreclosure. Through the agent managing the property the lender offered Ida Hancox $1,000 to vacate. This was followed up by threats of bringing in the Sheriff’s force to do the needful. Eviction Defense Center took up the matter and filed court action. Immediately the lender retreated. But they did not pay water dues. When she and another tenant contacted Just Cause, water began to flow again.

Oakland is one of the many Californian cities that have strong protection laws favouring tenants even if foreclosures start to roll. But illegal attempts to force out tenants are rampant throughout the state. The tenants are a vulnerable lot – they pay regular rents and do not abuse the property and yet they are the targets of avaricious lenders. San Francisco’s utility company now chases the owners if such a situation arises when the rent is inclusive of amenities.

The heads of East Bay Municipal Utility District, that includes Oakland, decided on a moratorium on cutting off water supplies giving time to the agency to hold the owners and lenders responsible for such lapses during the foreclosure proceedings. There was unanimous decision about even initiating legal suits against the accountable offenders.

A spokesperson of California Mortgage Bankers Association says that this sort of behaviour is an aberration rather than the rule. There are always some rotten baskets in the apple. The big companies are afraid of the grave consequences if the lenders get involved in costly litigation. But observers feel that such strong arm tactics have become common in California. Cash-for-keys are being offered to tenants to get the house vacated quietly without fuss.