Owner Fights Foreclosure for Eleven Years

Posted in Foreclosure, January 10th, 2008 |

A story of determination, perseverance and grit unfolds in Cleveland. Unlike the majority of house owners who turn tail and run at the first sight of trouble Richard Davet crossed swords with foreclosure for nearly a dozen years. His wife Lynn aptly supported him. The couple had been living in their spacious house consisting of 6 bedrooms for the last 20 years. In 1996 they were served with a foreclosure notice.

Richard flooded the court with papers and fenced off foreclosure for long 11 years. In January 2007 the Sheriff finally evicted the couple. For 11 years the Davets had been living free – without doing anything illegal. Usually a foreclosure procedure is completed within few months from the time of serving the notice. Sometimes it may take some years.
With foreclosures on the rise the house owners are not such a frightened lot as was the case previously. Many are filing for bankruptcy just on the eve of the property sale auctions while others are just refusing to answer the door when the representative of the plaintiff comes to serve the notice. More and more lawyers are being paid fees to fence off the impending danger and win some time.

Nevertheless few are as gritty as Richard Davet. He was in the jewellery trade while his wife had been a graphics art tutor. They had purchased their house for $150,000 in 1978. With the housing boom the value of the property increased tempting Richard to take a loan. They were particular in repayments but tripped on once occasion. But the mortgage company denied this and charged for penalties amounting to $4,000. The Davets refused to pay the late fees. The mortgage company in retaliation refused to accept mortgage instalments and sued for foreclosure after this impasse had continued for two years. By that time the couple owed $80,000 on the principal and $160,000 on another mortgage. Davet insisted that the late fees were wrongly charged. He conceded an instance where NationsBanc employee had admitted that the lender could not do this.

Even after being evicted Richard is not lying low. He is still determined to get his quaint 1940 house back. Richard is raking up a recent legal argument that has made the headlines. According to the judgment a lender can only file a foreclosure suit if it can prove ownership documents of the mortgage.